The Buddha of Suburbia (Hanif Kureishi, 1990)ĩ4. Memoirs of a Survivor (Doris Lessing, 1974)ĩ5. The Chronicles of Narnia (CS Lewis, 1949-1954)ĩ6. Under the Volcano (Malcolm Lowry,1947)ĩ7. The Code of the Woosters (PG Wodehouse, 1938)ĩ8. The points were added up to produce the final list. Each who participated submitted a list of 10 British novels, with their pick for the greatest novel receiving 10 points. Others are literary scholars, including Terry Castle, Morris Dickstein, Michael Gorra, Carsten Jensen, Amitava Kumar, Rohan Maitzen, Geoffrey O’Brien, Nilanjana Roy and Benjamin Taylor. Some of the critics we invited to participate are regular book reviewers or editors at newspapers, magazines or literary blogs – Lev Grossman (Time), Mary Ann Gwinn (Seattle Times), Ainehi Edoro (Brittle Paper), Mark Medley (Toronto Globe and Mail), Fintan O’Toole (The Irish Times), Stephen Romei and Geordie Williamson (The Australian), Sam Sacks (The Wall Street Journal) and Claiborne Smith (Kirkus Reviews). The critics we polled live and work all over the world, from the United States and continental Europe to Australia, Africa, Asia, India and the Middle East.

The British novel has influenced the form around the world for centuries, so we felt it was important to get a global perspective.

This list includes no nonfiction, no plays, no narrative or epic poems (no Paradise Lost or Beowulf), no short story collections (no Morte D’Arthur) – novels only, by British authors (which means no James Joyce). What does the rest of the world see as the greatest British novels? In search of a collective critical assessment, BBC Culture contributor Jane Ciabattari polled 82 book critics, from Australia to Zimbabwe – but none from the UK.

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