Heinrich Boll Books in Order
29 books are credited to Heinrich Boll, published between 1949 and 2011; 4 of them appeared after Heinrich Boll's death in 1985. The first book is The Train Was On Time (1949) and the newest is The Collected Stories of Heinrich Böll (2011). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 29
- Published
- 1949–2011
- Pages on record
- 4,883 in 21 of 29 books
- Reading time
- 81–122 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 4,883 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 21 of 29 titles with a page count on record.
Heinrich Böll (1917-1985) was a German writer and one of the country's foremost post-war novelists. The Georg Büchner Prize came in 1967, the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972. War and its aftermath shape the fiction: The Train Was On Time (1949), And Where Were You, Adam? (1951), And Never Said a Word (1953) and Billiards at Half-Past Nine (1959). Marriage, German social conditions and short stories fill out a catalogue of 29 titles in English translation, the last of them a collected stories volume in 2011.
How many Heinrich Boll books are there?
Heinrich Boll has 29 books, released between 1949 and 2011. 4 of them were published after Heinrich Boll's death in 1985.
Heinrich Boll Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 29 Heinrich Boll 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.
- 1The Train Was On Time1949 · 133 pages · confirmed 1/419491331/4
- 2And Where Were You, Adam?1951 · 160 pages · confirmed 1/419511601/4
- 3And Never Said a Word1953 · 195 pages · confirmed 1/419531951/4
- 4Tomorrow and Yesterday1954 · 250 pages · confirmed 1/419542501/4
- 5Acquainted With the Night1954 · confirmed 1/41954–1/4
- 6The Bread of Those Early Years1955 · 134 pages · confirmed 1/419551341/4
- 7Irish Journal1957 · 109 pages · confirmed 1/419571091/4
- 8Missing Persons and Other Essays1957 · 281 pages · confirmed 1/419572811/4
- 9Billiards at Half-Past Nine1959 · 295 pages · confirmed 1/419592951/4
- 10Pray for the Dawn1959 · confirmed 1/41959–1/4
- 11The Clown1963 · 248 pages · confirmed 1/419632481/4
- 12Absent without Leave1964 · 148 pages · confirmed 1/419641481/4
- 13Eighteen Stories1966 · confirmed 1/41966–1/4
- 14End of a Mission1966 · 207 pages · confirmed 1/419662071/4
- 15Children Are Civilians Too1970 · 188 pages · confirmed 1/419701881/4
- 16Adam and the Train1970 · 268 pages · confirmed 1/419702681/4
- 17Group Portrait with Lady1971 · 452 pages · confirmed 1/419714521/4
- 18The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum1974 · 103 pages · confirmed 1/419741031/4
- 19Land of Israel1978 · confirmed 1/41978–1/4
- 20The Safety Net1979 · 324 pages · confirmed 1/419793241/4
- 21What's to Become of the Boy?1981 · confirmed 1/41981–1/4
- 22A Soldier's Legacy1982 · 131 pages · confirmed 1/419821311/4
- 23The Casualty1983 · 189 pages · confirmed 1/419831891/4
- 24Doktor Murkes Gesammeltes Schweigen and Other Stories1984 · confirmed 1/41984–1/4
- 25Women in a River Landscape1985 · 207 pages · confirmed 1/419852071/4
- 26The Stories of Heinrich Böll1986 · 685 pages · confirmed 1/419866851/4
- 27The Silent Angel1992 · confirmed 1/41992–1/4
- 28The Mad Dog1995 · 176 pages · confirmed 1/419951761/4
- 29The Collected Stories of Heinrich Böll2011 · confirmed 1/42011–1/4
Heinrich Boll 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.
Standalone books
29 books29 Heinrich Boll titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Heinrich Boll books in order?
No. No source lists any of the 29 Heinrich Boll books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.
Where to start with Heinrich Boll
Start with The Train Was On Time (1949), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Heinrich Boll book?
The Collected Stories of Heinrich Böll (2011) is the newest Heinrich Boll book released so far.
Is there a new Heinrich Boll book coming?
No next Heinrich Boll 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 Heinrich Boll has won
Wikidata records 2 awards and 6 nominations for Heinrich Boll. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Nobel Prize in Literature1972Won
- Georg Büchner Prize1967Won
- Nobel Prize in Literature1965Shortlisted
- Nobel Prize in Literature1964Shortlisted
- Nobel Prize in Literature1963Shortlisted
- Nobel Prize in Literature1962Shortlisted
- Nobel Prize in Literature1961Shortlisted
- Nobel Prize in Literature1960Shortlisted
Heinrich Boll at a glance
- Died
- Heinrich Boll died in 1985, according to Wikidata.
- After death
- Books credited to Heinrich Boll are still being published after Heinrich Boll's death in 1985; the newest appeared in 2011.
- Release pace
- Heinrich Boll books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
- Length
- 4,883 pages across the 21 of 29 books with a recorded length, a median of 195 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Heinrich Boll books, 9 of 29, were published in the 1950s.
What the Heinrich Boll books are about
21 of the 29 Heinrich Boll books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: germany is tagged on 4 of 21. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Germany 4 of 21 books
- World War, 1939-1945 4 of 21 books
- Historical fiction 3 of 21 books
- Short stories 2 of 21 books
- Social conditions 2 of 21 books
- Social life and customs 2 of 21 books
- War & military 2 of 21 books