# The Best Literary Fiction Books

> Answers the query: “best literary fiction books”

_Last updated: 2026-07-25_

## The list

1. **Fieldwork as a Sex Object**, Meena Kandasamy
   https://www.altbook.net/book/fieldwork-as-a-sex-object
2. **Bunny**, Mona Awad (ISBN 9781788545440)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/bunny
3. **Pachinko**, Min Jin Lee (ISBN 9781838930509)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/pachinko
4. **Gravel Heart**, Abdulrazak Gurnah (ISBN 9781526603692)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/gravel-heart
5. **In the eye of the sun**, Ahdaf Soueif (ISBN 9780747545897)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/in-the-eye-of-the-sun
6. **The Memory of Love**, Aminatta Forna, Aminatta Forna (ISBN 9781408809655)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/the-memory-of-love
7. **Thirst**, Benjamin Warner (ISBN 9781408865057)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/thirst
8. **Songs**, Charles Elton (ISBN 9781408882344)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/songs
9. **Our Young Man**, Edmund White (ISBN 9781408858967)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/our-young-man
10. **Signature of All Things**, Elizabeth Gilbert (ISBN 9781408841921)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/signature-of-all-things
11. **Peach**, Emma Glass (ISBN 9781408886519)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/peach
12. **Bright, Precious Days**, Jay McInerney (ISBN 9781408876558)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/bright-precious-days
13. **Blind Astronomer's Daughter**, John Pipkin (ISBN 9781632861894)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/blind-astronomers-daughter
14. **House at Bishopsgate**, Katie Hickman (ISBN 9781408843338)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/house-at-bishopsgate
15. **Oryx and Crake [Hardcover] Atwood, Margaret,**, Margaret Atwood (ISBN 9781408802779)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/oryx-and-crake-hardcover-atwood-margaret
16. **I am an executioner**, Rajesh Parameswaran (ISBN 9781408825747)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/i-am-an-executioner
17. **Here Are the Young Men**, Rob Doyle (ISBN 9781408863732)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/here-are-the-young-men
18. **The legend of Jesse Smoke**, Robert Bausch (ISBN 9781632863973)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/the-legend-of-jesse-smoke
19. **Please Do Not Disturb**, Robert Glancy (ISBN 9781408866320)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/please-do-not-disturb
20. **How to Pronounce Knife**, Souvankham Thammavongsa (ISBN 9781526610430)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/how-to-pronounce-knife
21. **How to Pronounce Knife**, Souvankham Thammavongsa (ISBN 9781526610454)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/how-to-pronounce-knife-0454
22. **At Certain Points We Touch**, Lauren J. Joseph (ISBN 9781526631336)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/at-certain-points-we-touch
23. **At Certain Points We Touch**, Lauren J. Joseph (ISBN 9781526631329)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/at-certain-points-we-touch-1329
24. **Social Creature**, Tara Isabella Burton (ISBN 9781408896075)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/social-creature
25. **Modes of Modern Writing**, David Lodge (ISBN 9781474244213)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/modes-of-modern-writing
26. **Madame Bovary**, Gustave Flaubert (ISBN 9781847493224)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/madame-bovary
27. **Oryx and Crake**, Margaret Atwood (ISBN 9780349004068)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/oryx-and-crake
28. **The Mothers**, Brit Bennett (ISBN 9780349701493)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/the-mothers
29. **Mend the Living**, Maylis de Kerangal, Jessica Moore, Jordi Martín Lloret (ISBN 9780857053855)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/mend-the-living
30. **Manhattan Beach**, Jennifer Egan (ISBN 9781472150905)
   https://www.altbook.net/book/manhattan-beach

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Source: AltBook, https://www.altbook.net/collections/best-literary-fiction-books