The 100 greatest novels of all time
The Observer, 2003. A critics list. See the original list
We use only the titles, authors and places from this list. 98 novels from it are in The Novel Index.
The Novel Index earns a small commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never affects our rankings. More about how we earn.
Dangerous Liaisons
Pierre Choderlos De Laclos, 1782
On 1 of the 10 lists it was eligible for
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Milan Kundera, 1979
On 1 of the 11 lists it was eligible for
The Charterhouse of Parma
Stendhal, 1839
On 1 of the 10 lists it was eligible for
The Diary of a Nobody
George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith, 1892
On 1 of the 13 lists it was eligible for
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Laurence Sterne, 1759
On 7 of the 13 lists it was eligible for
The Riddle of the Sands
Erskine Childers, 1903
On 1 of the 15 lists it was eligible for
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson, 1886
On 2 of the 13 lists it was eligible for
The lists that agree with this one most
| List | Books in common |
|---|---|
| The 100 best novels written in English (The Guardian / Observer, 2015) | 50 |
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | 43 |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | 31 |
| The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026) | 30 |
| The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture, 2015) | 28 |