A.J. Cronin Books in Order
28 books are credited to A.J. Cronin, published between 1931 and 2020; 3 of them appeared after A.J. Cronin's death in 1981. The first book is Hatter's Castle (1931) and the newest is Jupiter laughs. A play in three acts (2020). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 28
- Published
- 1931–2020
- Pages on record
- 5,202 in 19 of 28 books
- Reading time
- 87–130 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 5,202 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 19 of 28 titles with a page count on record.
A.J. Cronin was a Scottish physician who turned novelist, and medicine runs through the work: doctors, nurses, hospitals and the relations between them. His 28 catalogued titles open with Hatter's Castle (1931) and include The Stars Look Down (1935), The Citadel (1937), The Keys of the Kingdom (1941) and The Green Years (1944), alongside the Dr. Finlay stories and several plays. The Citadel follows a Scottish doctor from a Welsh mining village into a lucrative London private practice, where disillusion with the greed and incompetence of some doctors sets in. That novel exposed unfairness in British medicine and helped inspire the National Health Service. Cronin drew on his own work as a medical inspector of mines and as a Harley Street physician, and lived from 1896 to 1981.
How many A.J. Cronin books are there?
A.J. Cronin has 28 books, released between 1931 and 2020. 3 of them were published after A.J. Cronin's death in 1981. 2 of them belong to the Dr. Finlay series.
A.J. Cronin Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 28 A.J. Cronin books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1Hatter's Castle1931 · 402 pages · confirmed 1/419314021/4
- 2Three Loves1932 · 602 pages · confirmed 1/419326021/4
- 3Grand Canary1933 · confirmed 1/41933–1/4
- 4The Stars Look Down1935 · confirmed 1/41935–1/4
- 5The Citadel1937 · 368 pages · confirmed 1/419373681/4
- 6Vigil in the Night1939 · confirmed 1/41939–1/4
- 7Beyond This Place1940 · 316 pages · confirmed 1/419403161/4
- 8The Valorous Years1940 · 168 pages · confirmed 1/419401681/4
- 9The Keys of the Kingdom1941 · 344 pages · confirmed 1/419413441/4
- 10The Green Years1944 · 311 pages · confirmed 1/419443111/4
- 11Adventures of a Black Bag1947 · confirmed 1/41947–1/4
- 12Shannon's Way1948 · confirmed 1/41948–1/4
- 13The Spanish Gardener1950 · 186 pages · confirmed 1/419501861/4
- 14Crusader's Tomb / A Thing Of Beauty1955 · confirmed 1/41955–1/4
- 15The Innkeeper's Wife1958 · confirmed 1/41958–1/4
- 16The Northern Light1958 · 221 pages · confirmed 1/419582211/4
- 17The Judas Tree1961 · 287 pages · confirmed 1/419612871/4
- 18A Song of Sixpence1964 · 254 pages · confirmed 1/419642541/4
- 19A Pocketful of Rye1969 · 224 pages · confirmed 1/419692241/4
- 20Great Unsolved Crimes1975 · 351 pages · confirmed 1/419753511/4
- 21The Minstrel Boy1975 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/419752881/4
- 22Desmonde1975 · 340 pages · confirmed 1/419753401/4
- 23Lady with Carnations1976 · 173 pages · confirmed 1/419761731/4
- 241978501/4
- 25Gracie Lindsay1978 · 157 pages · confirmed 1/419781571/4
- 2619851601/4
- 27Adventures In Two Worlds2010 · confirmed 1/42010–1/4
- 282020–1/4
A.J. Cronin books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Dr. Finlay in order
2 booksStandalone Plays
1 book1 title published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Standalone books
25 books25 A.J. Cronin titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read A.J. Cronin books in order?
You only need to read A.J. Cronin books in order within the Dr. Finlay series, which holds 2 of the 28 A.J. Cronin books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with A.J. Cronin
Start with Hatter's Castle (1931), the earliest published title.
What is the newest A.J. Cronin book?
Jupiter laughs. A play in three acts (2020) is the newest A.J. Cronin book released so far.
Is there a new A.J. Cronin book coming?
No next A.J. Cronin book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards A.J. Cronin has won
Wikidata records 1 award for A.J. Cronin. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- National Book Award1937Won
A.J. Cronin at a glance
- Died
- A.J. Cronin died in 1981, according to Wikidata.
- After death
- Books credited to A.J. Cronin are still being published after A.J. Cronin's death in 1981; the newest appeared in 2020.
- Release pace
- A.J. Cronin books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
- Length
- 5,202 pages across the 19 of 28 books with a recorded length, a median of 287 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most A.J. Cronin books, 6 of 28, were published in the 1970s.
What the A.J. Cronin books are about
18 of the 28 A.J. Cronin books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: fiction in english is tagged on 5 of 18. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Fiction in English 5 of 18 books
- Physicians 5 of 18 books
- Fathers and sons 2 of 18 books
- Man-woman relationships 2 of 18 books