# The BBC's Big Read: Britain's best-loved novels (top 50)

The Lord of the Rings ahead of Pride and Prejudice and His Dark Materials: the top 50 of The Big Read, the 2003 BBC survey that drew more than 700,000 votes for the UK's best-loved novel.

- 58 votes · 50 items
- Dec 12, 2021 · B. Johnston
- https://even.best/en/l/5129/the-bbc-s-big-read-britain-s-best-loved-novels-top-50

## Top 50

1. **Winnie-the-Pooh** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — By A. A. Milne. No. 7 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
2. **The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — By C. S. Lewis. No. 9 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
3. **Rebecca** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — By Daphne du Maurier. No. 14 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
4. **His Dark Materials** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — By Philip Pullman. No. 3 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
5. **The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — By Douglas Adams. No. 4 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
6. **Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — By J. K. Rowling. No. 5 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
7. **Catch-22** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — By Joseph Heller. No. 11 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
8. **Wuthering Heights** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — By Emily Brontë. No. 12 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
9. **Great Expectations** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — By Charles Dickens. No. 17 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
10. **War and Peace** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — By Leo Tolstoy. No. 20 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
11. **A Town Like Alice** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — By Nevil Shute. No. 37 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
12. **Dune** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — By Frank Herbert. No. 39 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
13. **Brideshead Revisited** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — By Evelyn Waugh. No. 45 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
14. **The Lord of the Rings** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — By J. R. R. Tolkien. No. 1 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
15. **The Count of Monte Cristo** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — By Alexandre Dumas. No. 44 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
16. **Nineteen Eighty-Four** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By George Orwell. No. 8 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
17. **Jane Eyre** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By Charlotte Brontë. No. 10 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
18. **Birdsong** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By Sebastian Faulks. No. 13 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
19. **The Catcher in the Rye** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By J. D. Salinger. No. 15 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
20. **The Wind in the Willows** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By Kenneth Grahame. No. 16 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
21. **Little Women** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By Louisa May Alcott. No. 18 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
22. **Captain Corelli's Mandolin** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By Louis de Bernières. No. 19 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
23. **Gone with the Wind** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By Margaret Mitchell. No. 21 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
24. **Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By J. K. Rowling. No. 22 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
25. **Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By J. K. Rowling. No. 24 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
26. **A Prayer for Owen Meany** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By John Irving. No. 28 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
27. **The Grapes of Wrath** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By John Steinbeck. No. 29 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
28. **The Great Gatsby** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — By F. Scott Fitzgerald. No. 43 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
29. **Pride and Prejudice** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — By Jane Austen. No. 2 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
30. **One Hundred Years of Solitude** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — By Gabriel García Márquez. No. 32 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
31. **Goodnight Mister Tom** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — By Michelle Magorian. No. 49 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
32. **To Kill a Mockingbird** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Harper Lee. No. 6 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
33. **Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By J. K. Rowling. No. 23 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
34. **The Hobbit** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By J. R. R. Tolkien. No. 25 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
35. **Tess of the d'Urbervilles** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Thomas Hardy. No. 26 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
36. **Middlemarch** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By George Eliot. No. 27 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
37. **The Story of Tracy Beaker** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Jacqueline Wilson. No. 31 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
38. **The Pillars of the Earth** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Ken Follett. No. 33 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
39. **David Copperfield** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Charles Dickens. No. 34 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
40. **Charlie and the Chocolate Factory** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Roald Dahl. No. 35 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
41. **Persuasion** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Jane Austen. No. 38 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
42. **Emma** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Jane Austen. No. 40 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
43. **Anne of Green Gables** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Lucy Maud Montgomery. No. 41 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
44. **Watership Down** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Richard Adams. No. 42 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
45. **Animal Farm** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By George Orwell. No. 46 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
46. **A Christmas Carol** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Charles Dickens. No. 47 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
47. **Far from the Madding Crowd** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Thomas Hardy. No. 48 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
48. **The Shell Seekers** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — By Rosamunde Pilcher. No. 50 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
49. **Alice's Adventures in Wonderland** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — By Lewis Carroll. No. 30 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).
50. **Treasure Island** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — By Robert Louis Stevenson. No. 36 in the BBC's The Big Read (2003).

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.