The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
A young poet's observations and reflections in Paris.
Greatest Novels
150 summaries · Page 4 of 5
The Obscene Bird of Night
A surreal Chilean novel about identity and transformation.
The Odyssey
The epic journey of Odysseus returning home after the Trojan War.
The Opposing Shore
A diplomat's wait for war in an imaginary Mediterranean country.
The Piano Teacher
A disturbing exploration of power, sexuality, and violence in Vienna.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
A man stays eternally young while his portrait ages and shows his corruption.
The Portrait of a Lady
Isabel Archer's journey from America to Europe and her fateful marriage to Gilbert Osmond.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
An unconventional teacher's influence on her students in 1930s Edinburgh.
The Radetzky March
The decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire through three generations.
The Rainbow
Three generations of the Brangwen family and their sexual and emotional relationships.
The Recognitions
An exploration of authenticity and forgery in art and life through multiple interconnected stories.
The Red and the Black
The rise and fall of Julien Sorel in post-Napoleonic France.
The Red Badge of Courage
A young soldier's experience in the American Civil War.
The Remains of the Day
A butler reflects on his life of service in post-war England.
The Savage Detectives
A group of young poets' quest across Mexico and Europe.
The Scarlet Letter
Hester Prynne's punishment for adultery in Puritan Boston.
The Sea, The Sea
A retired theater director's obsessive love and self-deception.
The Sleepwalkers
A trilogy about the disintegration of values in modern Europe.
The Sound and the Fury
The decline of the Compson family told through multiple narratives and stream of consciousness.
The Stranger
An exploration of existentialism through Meursault's indifference to his mother's death and subsequent murder.
The Tale of Genji
The world's first novel, following the romantic life of Prince Genji in imperial Japan.
The Tartar Steppe
A military officer wastes his life waiting for an enemy that never comes.
The Temple of Dawn
Part of the Sea of Fertility tetralogy exploring reincarnation.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
A woman's escape from an abusive marriage.
The Time of the Hero
Violence and corruption in a Peruvian military academy.
The Tin Drum
The story of Oskar, who decides to stop growing at age three, set against the rise of Nazism.
The Trial
The surreal story of Josef K., prosecuted by a remote authority without knowing his crime.
The Tunnel
A professor writing about Nazi Germany confronts his own prejudices and darkness.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Love and politics in Prague during the Soviet invasion.
The Waves
The intertwined lives of six friends told through soliloquies.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
A surreal story of a man searching for his missing wife in Tokyo.
The Woman in White
Switched identities and institutionalization.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Janie Crawford's quest for identity and love in the American South.
Things Fall Apart
The story of Okonkwo and the impact of British colonialism on Nigerian Igbo society.
Three Trapped Tigers
A kaleidoscopic view of pre-revolutionary Havana nightlife.
To Kill a Mockingbird
A powerful examination of racial injustice in the American South through the eyes of young Scout Finch.