The 25 novels were published in each decade since the 1910s. The majority – seven – of the novels on our list were published during the 1970s, followed by five novels published during the 2010s.
Our list includes 13 novels by 8 women and 12 novels by 10 men.
The novels include 15 female protagonists and 10 male protagonists.
The majority – eighteen – of the novels are under 100,000 total words. The shortest novel on our list is Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929), with just over 35,000 total words, and the longest novel on our list is Alex Haley’s Roots (1976) with more than 281,500 total words.
Eight of the novels on our list have been adapted into a film or streaming series. Prior to adaptation for the screen, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Toni Morrison’s Beloved – won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction prior to being adapted into a streaming television series.
Ten of the novels won prestigious awards. Two novels – Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad – won both the National Book Award for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Jesmyn Ward won two National Book Awards for Fiction, and Whitehead won two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction.