Get Started with These Famous Literary Fiction Books

Interested in picking up the most famous Literary Fiction books? Let our list lead you in the right direction. These famous Literary Fiction books are written by some of the most well-known authors. Here you’ll find familiar names in sub-genres like drama, romance, and sci-fi – sure to please any reader. Keep scrolling for our famous Literary Fiction book list!

Famous Literary Fiction Books


Famous Literary Fiction Books - Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

1. Nineteen Eighty-Four

by George Orwell

Winston Smith is a good worker – until the day he begins a secret love affair with his co-worker, Julia. He soon starts thinking about how Big Brother and the Party edit history to suit its needs… Leading to Winston’s questioning of his own life. Is this enough to start a revolution?

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Famous Literary Fiction Books - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

2. The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jay Gatsby is a young, handsome man with an obsession for the past. Despite his eloquence and seemingly flawless life, he is often alone in his lavish mansion on Long Island. His late-night parties are full of glamour and glitz, but writer Nick Carraway soon begins to see what is behind the shimmering surface of Gatsby.

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famous literary fiction books - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

3. All the Light We Cannot See

by Anthony Doerr

From Anthony Doerr, the acclaimed, multiple award-winning author of Cloud Cuckoo Land, this is the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive World War II.

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Famous Literary Fiction Books - Atonement by Ian McEwan

4. Atonement

by Ian McEwan

In 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a small moment of flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia’s childhood friend. What happens next brings about a life-changing crime following the chaos of World War II.

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Famous Literary Fiction Books - Beloved by Toni Morrison

5. Beloved

by Toni Morrison

Sethe was a slave for eighteen years before she finally escaped to Ohio. But eighteen years later, she is still not free of her memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

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Famous Literary Fiction Books - Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

6. Anna Karenina

by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina is a tragic exploration of love, loss, and human nature. Set against the backdrop of 19th century Russia, this novel follows Anna’s doomed love affair with Count Vronsky.

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7. To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

One of the most celebrated stories in American literature, To Kill A Mockingbird is a gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice. The novel’s young heroine is Scout Finch, a tomboyish girl who does her best to make sense of a world of great beauty and savage inequities.

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Famous Literary Fiction Books - A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

8. A Little Life

by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life follows four college classmates as they struggle to find success in the fast-paced world of New York. Though their relationships are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude.

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Famous Literary Fiction Books - Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

9. Slaughterhouse-Five

by Kurt Vonnegut

The novel is the result of a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what Kurt Vonnegut witnessed as an American prisoner of war. Combining historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire, it tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee.

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Famous Literary Fiction Books - Normal People by Sally Rooney

10. Normal People

by Sally Rooney

Something life-changing happens when Connell and Marianne, who’ve grown up in the same town, talk for the first time. In their town, Connell is popular while Marianne is known for being a loner. Against all odds, they grow to be irresistibly drawn together.

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