The Modern Library: The Two Hundred Best Novels in English Since 1950. Carmen Callil and Colm T[ibn

The essential guide for book lovers to the very best novels in English since 1950.

For Colm Toíbín and Carmen Callil there is no difference between literary and commercial writing - there is only the good novel: engrossing, inspirational, compelling. In their selection of the best 200 novels written since 1950, the editors make a case for the best and the best-loved works and argue why each should be considered a modern classic. Enlightening, often unexpected and always engaging this tour through the world of fiction is full of surprises, forgotten masterpieces and a valuable guide to what to read next.

Authors in the collection include Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, Daphne du Maurier, Patrick Hamilton, Carson McCullers, J. D. Salinger, Bernard Malamud; Flannery O'Connor, Mulk Raj Anand, Raymond Chandler, L. P. Hartley, Amos Tutuola, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Samuel Beckett, Patricia Highsmith, Chinua Achebe, Isak Dineson, Alan Sillitoe, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Grace Paley, Harper Lee, Olivia Manning and Mordecai Richler.

Colm Toibin is one of the most acclaimed novelists writing today. Both The Master and Brooklyn were shortlisted for the Booker prize and the later won the Costa Prize. He lives in Dublin.Carmen Callil founded the publishers, Virago, and later became Managing Director of Chatto and Windus. She is the author of Bad Faith: A Story of Family and Fatherland (2006), which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.