
The Trial
Czech novelist, 1883–1924.
The Trial is a 1925 novel by Franz Kafka, translated from German.
On 5 of the 11 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Franz Kafka
- First published
- 1925
- Length
- 208 pages (UK paperback)
- Original language
- Translated from German
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Philosophical, Political
Is The Trial worth reading?
5 of the 11 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 books of the century (Le Monde) and The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 books of the century (Le Monde, 1999) | No. 3 | See the list |
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 76 | See the list |
| Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs, 2002) | Listed | See the list |
| The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 27 | See the list |
| The 100 greatest novels of all time (The Observer, 2003) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of The Trial
The edition we link to is the Penguin Classics paperback (2015), 208 pages, translated by Idris Parry.
- Publisher
- Penguin Classics (paperback, 2015)
- Pages
- 208
- Translator
- Idris Parry
- ISBN
- 9780241197790
How critics and readers rate The Trial
Critics rate it most highly: it earned 87% of the points available on critics' lists, against 0% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like The Trial
If you liked The Trial, try Nineteen Eighty-Four, Catch-22 or The Stranger.



