Order of Book Series
0

Edmund White Books in Order

Edmund White has written 35 books, published between 1973 and 2025. The first book is Forgetting Elena (1973) and the newest is The Loves of My Life (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
35
Published
1973–2025
Confirmed
1 of 35 titles
Pages on record
8,844 in 30 of 35 books
Reading time
147–221 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 8,844 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 30 of 35 titles with a page count on record.

See all 35 books in order Printable Edmund White checklist
Photo of Edmund White, author of the Edmund Trilogy

Edmund Valentine White III (1940-2025) was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer and essayist, and a pioneering figure in gay literature after the Stonewall riots. White wrote with rare candour about gay identity, relationships and sex, at a time when coming out still carried real danger. The semi-autobiographical trilogy runs from A Boy's Own Story (1982) through The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988) to The Farewell Symphony (1997). This catalogue holds 35 titles from Forgetting Elena (1973) to The Loves of My Life (2025), among them States of Desire (1980), Caracole (1985), Genet (1993) and Our Paris: Sketches from Memory (1994). Subjects cover gay men and gay authors, biography, AIDS, coming of age and intellectual life.

How many Edmund White books are there?

Edmund White has 35 books, released between 1973 and 2025. 3 of them belong to the Edmund Trilogy series.

Edmund White Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 35 Edmund White 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.

  1. Cover of Forgetting Elena by Edmund White (1973)
  2. Cover of Nocturnes for the King of Naples by Edmund White (1978)
  3. Cover of Caracole by Edmund White (1985)
  4. Cover of The Beautiful Room Is Empty by Edmund White, book 2 of the Edmund Trilogy (1988)
  5. Cover of The Darker Proof by Edmund White, book 3 of the Adam Mars-Jones series (1988)
  6. Cover of The Faber Book of Gay Short Fiction by Edmund White (1991)
  7. Cover of Genet by Edmund White (1993)
  8. Cover of The Burning Library by Edmund White (1994)
  9. Cover of Our Paris: Sketches from Memory by Edmund White (1994)
  10. Cover of Skinned Alive by Edmund White (1995)
  11. Cover of The Farewell Symphony by Edmund White, book 3 of the Edmund Trilogy (1997)
  12. Cover of The Married Man by Edmund White (2000)
  13. Cover of Loss within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS by Edmund White (2000)
  14. Cover of Fanny by Edmund White (2003)
  15. Cover of Arts and Letters by Edmund White (2004)
  16. Cover of My Lives by Edmund White (2005)
  17. Cover of Terre Haute by Edmund White (2007)
  18. Cover of Chaos by Edmund White (2007)
  19. Cover of Hotel de Dream by Edmund White (2007)
  20. Cover of Jack Holmes and His Friend by Edmund White (2012)
  21. Cover of Our Young Man by Edmund White (2016)
  22. Cover of A Saint from Texas by Edmund White (2020)
  23. Cover of Edmund White's A Boy's Own Story: The Graphic Novel by Edmund White (2023)
  24. Cover of The Humble Lover by Edmund White (2023)
  1. 1
    Forgetting Elena1973 · 184 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1973184
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Nocturnes for the King of Naples1978 · 148 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1978148
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    States of Desire1980 · 344 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1980344
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    A Boy's Own StoryEdmund Trilogy #11982 · 208 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1982208
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Caracole1985 · 342 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1985342
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    The Beautiful Room Is EmptyEdmund Trilogy #21988 · 227 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1988227
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    The Darker ProofAdam Mars-Jones #31988 · 309 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1988309
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    The Faber Book of Gay Short Fiction1991 · 586 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1991586
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    Genet1993 · 728 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1993728
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    The Burning Library1994 · confirmed 1/4
    1994–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    Our Paris: Sketches from Memory1994 · 121 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1994121
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Skinned Alive1995 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1995288
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    The Farewell SymphonyEdmund Trilogy #31997 · 413 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1997413
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    Marcel ProustPenguin Lives #41999 · confirmed 3/4
    1999–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s1999 · 304 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1999304
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    The Married Man2000 · 321 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2000321
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    Loss within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS2000 · 312 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2000312
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    The FlaneurWriter and the City #12001 · confirmed 2/4
    2001–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    Fanny2003 · 369 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2003369
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 20
    Arts and Letters2004 · 360 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2004360
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 21
    My Lives2005 · 356 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2005356
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 22
    Terre Haute2007 · 49 pages · confirmed 1/4
    200749
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  23. 23
    Chaos2007 · 184 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2007184
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  24. 24
    Hotel de Dream2007 · 225 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2007225
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  25. 25
    Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel2008 · 192 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2008192
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  26. 26
    Sacred Monsters2011 · 255 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2011255
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  27. 27
    Jack Holmes and His Friend2012 · 400 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2012400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  28. 28
    Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris2014 · confirmed 1/4
    2014–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  29. 29
    Our Young Man2016 · 282 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2016282
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  30. 30
    The Unpunished Vice2018 · 225 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2018225
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  31. 31
    A Saint from Texas2020 · 304 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2020304
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  32. 32
    A Previous Life2021 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2021288
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  33. 33
    Edmund White's A Boy's Own Story: The Graphic Novel2023 · 264 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2023264
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  34. 34
    The Humble Lover2023 · confirmed 1/4
    2023–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  35. 35
    The Loves of My Life2025 · 256 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2025256
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Edmund White 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.

Edmund Trilogy in order

3 books
  1. 1. A Boy's Own Story
  2. 2. The Beautiful Room Is Empty
  3. 3. The Farewell Symphony

Writer and the City in order

1 book
  1. 1. The Flaneur

Adam Mars-Jones in order

1 book
  1. 3. The Darker Proof

Penguin Lives in order

1 book
  1. 4. Marcel Proust

Standalone books

29 books

29 Edmund White titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Edmund White books in order?

You only need to read Edmund White books in order within the Edmund Trilogy series, which holds 3 of the 35 Edmund White books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.

Where to start with Edmund White

Start with Forgetting Elena (1973), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Edmund White book?

The Loves of My Life (2025) is the newest Edmund White book released so far.

Is there a new Edmund White book coming?

No next Edmund White 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 Edmund White has won

Wikidata records 3 awards and 2 nominations for Edmund White. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

  • National Book Award2019Won
  • National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography1993Won
  • Bill Whitehead Award1989Won
  • Otherwise Award1996Shortlisted
  • Pulitzer Prize for Biography1994Shortlisted

Edmund White at a glance

Died
Edmund White died in 2025, according to Wikidata.
Last book
The newest book credited to Edmund White on record dates from 2025.
Release pace
Edmund White books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
Length
8,844 pages across the 30 of 35 books with a recorded length, a median of 288 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Edmund White books, 10 of 35, were published in the 2000s.

What the Edmund White books are about

31 of the 35 Edmund White books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: gay men is tagged on 15 of 31. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.