What do you do after you finish a wonderful book by a new author? I’m not sure about you, but I’m going to look for all of their other novels.
But what if there are none? What if the book you adored was the famous author’s one and only work?
Today on my blog, I decided to compile a list of Famous Authors Who Wrote Only One Novel you’ve probably heard of some of those authors who have only authored one novel in their lives.
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963)
When I initially started drafting the Famous Authors Who Wrote Only One Novel list, I immediately thought of Sylvia Plath, a poet who committed suicide the same year her sole work, The Bell Jar, was released. This novel is a semi-autobiographical work in which she discusses her battle with chronic depression.
J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951)
The Catcher in the Rye is the first and only novel written by the American writer J. D. Salinger, who also created short tales. Despite frequent criticism, mostly for the graphic passages, this work is frequently included in lists of the finest literary achievements of the twentieth century and is part of the mandated curricula in many schools throughout the world.
Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind (1936)
Margaret Mitchell, an American journalist, published just one novel, which earned the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1937. “Gone with the Wind” becomes such a famous novel that it gets its film version, which is as successful as the book and wins up to eight Oscars.
Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847)
Almost everyone is familiar with Emily Bronte’s timeless masterpiece Wuthering Heights, which has been transferred to the big screen several times. This Gothic book has received criticism in the past for its frank portrayals of physical and psychological suffering as well as for its opinions on religion, morality, and the status of women in society. However, it is now regarded as one of the finest works of English literature.
The name Emily Bronte appears on the cover of the second, posthumous edition, which was initially published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell.
Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago (1957)
Boris Pasternak’s 1957 epic, which is set during the hazardous Russian Revolution, had to be smuggled out of the Soviet Union to be published, yet it won him the Nobel Prize and was adapted into a 1965 movie. He has published other collections of poetry and prose, but Doctor Zhivago stands out as his only book.
John Kennedy Toole, When A Confederacy of Dunces ( 1980)
The 1980 publication of A Confederacy of Dunces brought John Kennedy Toole a posthumous Pulitzer Prize. The novel had already been completed much earlier by the talented but disturbed Toole. However, Toole’s life and the stress of receiving repeated rejections from publishers took a toll on him.
In 1969, he committed suicide. Toole’s mother worked very hard to get the book published, and it has since been praised as one of the best pieces of American writing from the 20th century.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
Oscar Wilde created several plays, short tales, and poems, but only one novel – “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. Initially received with great controversy and condemnation, as well as being labeled “bland and ugly,” it is now one of the most widely read novels with the most cinematic adaptations.