1920s Books: Top Writers, Novels And Reading Trends

Modernism breaks the novel apart, and the detective story finds its feet.

Below: books published in the 1920s, the writers who defined it, what was changing in publishing, and how people actually got hold of a book.

Every title and date is real. Useful for a reading list, a quiz round or a reminiscence session.

Books published in the 1920s

• Ulysses by James Joyce (1922).
• The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot (1922).
• Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925), then To the Lighthouse (1927).
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925).
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (1920), her first Poirot.
• A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (1924).
• Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne (1926).
• Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence (1928), banned in Britain for decades.

Writers who defined the decade

• Virginia Woolf, also running the Hogarth Press with Leonard Woolf.
• James Joyce, published in Paris because nobody in Britain would touch him.
• Agatha Christie, starting the career that made her the best-selling novelist ever.
• P. G. Wodehouse, with Jeeves and Blandings in full flow.
• T. S. Eliot, poet and editor, shaping what got taken seriously.
• Dorothy L. Sayers, whose Lord Peter Wimsey arrived in 1923.

Publishing and writing trends

• Modernism: stream of consciousness, unreliable narration and no tidy endings.
• The golden age of detective fiction begins, with fair-play puzzles and country houses.
• Small presses and little magazines publish what the big houses would not.
• Obscenity law shapes what could be printed, and where.
• War poetry and war memoirs keep arriving, ten years after the Armistice.

How people read

• Boots Booklovers Library lent books from the chemist's for a subscription.
• Public libraries expanding fast after the 1919 Libraries Act.
• Weekly story papers and magazines were what most households actually read.
• Hardbacks were expensive; borrowing was normal, buying was not.

Years covered in the 1920s

• 1920 - The first Remembrance at the Cenotaph and a country still counting its losses. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1920
• 1921 - A miners' lockout, mass unemployment and the first British Legion poppy appeal. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1921
• 1922 - The BBC's first broadcast, the Austin Seven and Tutankhamun's tomb. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1922
• 1923 - The White Horse Final at Wembley and the first Radio Times. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1923
• 1924 - The first Labour government, the Empire Exhibition and the Chariots of Fire Olympics. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1924
• 1925 - The Charleston, the return to the gold standard and a summer of dance halls. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1925
• 1926 - The General Strike, the birth of Elizabeth II and Baird's public television demonstration. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1926
• 1927 - The BBC became a corporation, talking pictures arrived and the FA Cup went to Wales. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1927
• 1928 - Votes for all women, penicillin discovered and the Thames flood. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1928
• 1929 - Britain's first talkie, a second Labour government and the Wall Street Crash. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1929
• That is every 1920s year we have written up so far: 1920 to 1929.

How to use this

• Reading list: pick one novel and one non-fiction title from the decade someone was born in.
• Quiz round: read a title and ask for the decade, or read a writer and ask for one book.
• Reminiscence: ask what they were made to read at school, and what they read in secret.
• Anyone born in 1920 turns 50 in 1970, 60 in 1980 and 70 in 1990.

Shop prints and posters

How to write it so it lands

• Publication year and the year someone read it are rarely the same - paperbacks arrived a year or two later.
• For a birthday, a first edition is expensive but a decent second-hand copy from their birth year is not.
• Libraries can order almost anything on this list for free.

Where to shop next

• Look back to 1920
• Look back to 1921
• Look back to 1922
• Look back to 1923
• Look back to 1924
• Look back to 1925
• Look back to 1926
• Look back to 1927
• Look back to 1928
• Look back to 1929
• 1920s books, films and TV
• 1920s food and recipes
• 1920s films and directors
• 1920s calendar: year by year
• 1920s trivia: fun facts
• The 1920s: the whole decade
• Victorian and vintage parlour games
• Village fete and church hall games
• Card games your nan taught you
• Traditional British party games
• Decade literature: writers and books by era
• Decade guides: books, films and TV by era
• Decade films: best movies and directors by era
• Decade history: key events, politics and culture by era
• Decade art: artists, styles and trends by era
• Food by decade: dishes and food trends
• Music by decade: albums, artists and songs
• Decade calendar: every year from 1920
• Decade trivia: fun facts by era
• Decade trivia game: play for points
• Nostalgia gift shop
• Milestone birthday cards
• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Pin badges
• All guides

Frequently asked questions

What are the best books from the 1920s?

Ulysses by James Joyce (1922). The full list above gives the novels and non-fiction worth reading from the decade, with publication years.

Which writers defined the 1920s?

Virginia Woolf, also running the Hogarth Press with Leonard Woolf. The writers section above names the rest.

What was changing in publishing in the 1920s?

Modernism: stream of consciousness, unreliable narration and no tidy endings. The trends section covers how books were made, priced and sold.

Do you sell books?

No. We make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK. This page is free to read and free to copy - try a library or a second-hand bookshop for the books.