The best short books under 250 pages
From classic to contemporary, discover our favourite short books and novellas, guaranteed to stay with you long after the final page.
As rewarding as tackling an immersive epic can be, sometimes short novels that can be finished in a weekend linger with us the longest. So, we've curated our edit of the best novellas and short books. Each is under 250 pages, and while much easier to finish in our busy lives than a 600+ page tome, these short novels are still guaranteed to make a lasting impact.
Discover our edit of the best literary fiction.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales From the Cafe
by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

This short book is another beautiful, simple tale about the time-travelling customers of the Cafe Funiculi Funicula from the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Customers include a man who travels to see the girl he couldn’t marry, a son who had to miss his mother’s funeral and a man who travels back to see his friend who died twenty-two years ago.
The Silence
by Don DeLillo

This novella from one of America’s greatest literary fiction writers is an illuminating and essential guide to our navigation of a bewildering world. Set on Super Bowl Sunday 2022, this compelling novel about what happens when an unpredictable crisis strikes is a profoundly moving examination of what makes us human. A retired physics professor and her husband are hosting a dinner party. One of her former students has already arrived, but another couple has been delayed by a dramatic flight from Paris. As they wait for kick-off, something happens that severs the digital connections in all our lives.
The Girl Who Reads on the Métro
by Christine Féret-Fleury

Juliette takes the métro to the job she hates each morning, her only escape the books she reads on her journey. But one day she gets off a few stops early, and meetds Soliman – the owner of the most enchanting bookshop Juliette has ever seen. And this encounter will change her life forever, because Soliman also believes in the power of books, and he has the perfect job for Juliette . . .
Our Souls at Night
by Kent Haruf

The final novel from the acclaimed American author, about an elderly man and woman who come together to tackle their loneliness. A low-key, melancholy yet beautifully tender read about making the most of life.
Available now in paperback and ebook, this novel was adapted into a film starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.
Sula
by Toni Morrison
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Toni Morrison's Sula is an essential book in the formation of black feminist literary criticism, tackling themes of womanhood, race, slavery and love.
Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
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A classic from 1958 set in 1890s Nigeria, about the fight between colonialism and traditional societies. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is one of the first African novels to receive global critical acclaim.
The Vegetarian
by Han Kang
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Set in South Korea, this is the story of Yeong-hye and her decision to become a vegetarian and the shocking reaction that this ‘rebellion’ triggers in her family. A deserving winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2016.
The Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

One of the best-selling books of all time, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novel tells the story of a pilot stranded in the Sahara and his strange encounter with a young boy from another world. Beautifully poetic with wonderful illustrations.
Available in hardback from the Macmillan Collector's Library, as well as in paperback and ebook formats.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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Covering a single day in the life of an ordinary prisoner in a 1950s Soviet labour camp, this short novel was described by the Sunday Times as ‘a blow struck for human freedom all over the world'.
Mrs Dalloway
by Virginia Woolf

Bold and experimental, Virginia Woolf's story of one day in the lives of Clarissa Dalloway, a fashionable, wealthy and accomplished hostess; and Septimus Warren Smith, a shellshocked survivor of the Great War, is a landmark in twentieth-century fiction.
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?
by Lorrie Moore
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An exploration of adolescence and then middle age, as the narrator recalls her youth and experiences while growing up in New York.
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers
by Max Porter
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Winner of the 2016 International Dylan Thomas Prize and one of the most highly acclaimed novels of recent times, Max Porter’s debut novel is an astonishing, and surprisingly humorous, study of a man and his two sons dealing with the loss of their mother
A Whole Life
by Robert Seethaler

Andreas is a simple man of few words, yet he lives an extraordinary life. At under 160 pages, Robert Seethaler's novel is a tender book about finding dignity and beauty in solitude.
Available in paperback and ebook formats.
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A book that surely needs little introduction, this is one of Fitzgerald’s greatest works, capturing the flamboyance, the carelessness and the cruelty of the wealthy during America's Jazz Age.
Available in hardback from the Macmillan Collector's Library, as well as in ebook format.
The Old Man and the Sea
by Ernest Hemingway
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Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953, this was Hemingway’s last major work of fiction to be published during his lifetime, and tells the story of an aging Cuban fisherman’s battle with a giant marlin.
Wide Sargasso Sea
by Jean Rhys
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Written as a prequel and postcolonial response to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, this explores the story of a Creole heiress, Antoinette, who is forced into an unhappy marriage with an unnamed English gentleman (implied to be Mr Rochester)
The Body Artist
by Don DeLillo

An elliptical meditation on the mysteries of love, life and time, this is a sad yet beautiful novel from America’s true masters of fiction, Don DeLillo.
Available in paperback, ebook and audiobook formats.
The Yellow Wall-Paper and Other Stories
by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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One of the shortest reads on our list at just over 60 pages, this was first published in 1892 and depicts the effects of under-stimulation on the narrator, which lead her to become obsessed with the colour of her wallpaper. An important early work of American feminist literature.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams

The first in the classic sci-fi comedy ‘trilogy of five’, introducing us to Arthur Dent and Adams’ unique universe. DON’T PANIC.
Available in paperback, as part of the Pan 70th Anniversary collection, and in ebook and audiobook formats.
Bonjour Tristesse
by Françoise Sagan
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Bonjour Tristesse scandalised 1950s France with its portrayal of precocious teenager Cécile, a heroine who rejects conventional notions of love, marriage and responsibility to choose her own sexual freedom.
Wilful Disregard
by Lena Andersson

Highly praised by the likes of Lena Dunham and Alice Sebold, this is a compelling read about a poet leaving behind her sensible boyfriend for a renowned artist, a decision which causes her rational world to begin to unravel.
Available in paperback and ebook formats.
All This Has Nothing To Do With Me
by Monica Sabolo

MS interviews the mysterious XX for a job and hires him because she fancies him. As their relationship develops, and then collapses, MS lays bare her feelings in emails, text messages and photographs that show the tragedy and the comedy of her obsession.
Available in paperback and ebook formats.
The Guest Cat
by Takashi Hiraide

This charming novel about a cat that brings joy into a couple's life was a surprise bestseller around the world.
Available in paperback and ebook formats.
The Salmon Who Dared to Leap Higher
by Ahn Do-hyun

Wise, tender and inspiring, this is the story of a salmon whose silver scales mark him out as different - who dares to leap beyond his fate. It's a story about growing up, and about aching and ardent love.
Available in paperback and ebook formats.
The End We Start From
by Megan Hunter

In the midst of a mysterious environmental crisis, as London is submerged below flood waters, a woman gives birth to her first child, Z. Days later, the family are forced to leave their home in search of safety. As they move from place to place, shelter to shelter, their journey traces both fear and wonder as Z's small fists grasp at the things he sees, as he grows and stretches, thriving and content against all the odds.