The complete reading shelf
50 Public-Domain Novels
Choose a book, read its story at a glance, then join the conversation. All 50 dialogues are ready.
The first 41 books follow the order of qualifying novels on the Modern Library Board’s list. The final nine are our additions. These numbers are shelf positions; Board ranks appear beside the relevant titles.
Explore the books ↓Modern Library selections · 1–20
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Modern Library selections · 21–41
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Nine additions
These nine broaden the shelf’s voices, settings, and forms. Their positions do not imply that the Board ranked them below its other selections.
- Our addition
Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf · 1925
A single day opens into a city of memory, grief, and divided consciousness.
- Our addition
Passing
Nella Larsen · 1929
A taut study of friendship, racial passing, and the desire for security.
- Our addition
My Ántonia
Willa Cather · 1918
Prairie life and immigration are recalled through a narrator whose memory has limits.
- Our addition
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
James Weldon Johnson · 1912
A fictional self-portrait tests race, art, and the cost of choosing a public identity.
- Our addition
The Marrow of Tradition
Charles W. Chesnutt · 1901
A political novel confronts white supremacist violence after Reconstruction.
- Our addition
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair · 1906
Immigrant labor and industrial exploitation become the center of the story.
- Our addition
Babbitt
Sinclair Lewis · 1922
A satire of commerce, conformity, and the difficulty of changing a life.
- Our addition
The Enchanted April
Elizabeth von Arnim · 1922
A comic escape asks how space, friendship, and care can change a person.
- Our addition
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Arthur Conan Doyle · 1902
A detective novel pits evidence against inherited fear and superstition.
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About the list and public-domain status
These selections concern the original English-language texts in the United States as of 2026. A modern edition’s introduction, notes, artwork, or translation may have separate rights, and copyright rules differ by country. A free reading link is a starting point; check the edition and your local rules before reusing its text.
Sources: Modern Library Board list · U.S. Copyright Office duration guide. This is an independent selection, not an official Modern Library list.