John Fowles Books in Order
John Fowles has written 21 books, published between 1963 and 2005. The first book is The Collector (1963) and the newest is The Journals: Volume 2 (2005). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 21
- Published
- 1963–2005
- Pages on record
- 5,126 in 18 of 21 books
- Reading time
- 85–128 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 5,126 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 18 of 21 titles with a page count on record.
John Fowles was an English novelist whose work sits between modernism and postmodernism, with Sartre and Camus among the influences on it. The Collector opened the catalogue in 1963. The Magus (1965) came out of a spell teaching English on the Greek island of Spetses after Oxford, and sold immediately, in tune with the anarchism and experimental philosophy of the 1960s. The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) followed: a Victorian-era romance given a postmodern turn, set in Lyme Regis, Dorset, where Fowles lived for much of his life. Twenty-one titles run to The Journals: Volume 2 in 2005, taking in The Ebony Tower (1974) and Daniel Martin (1977).
How many John Fowles books are there?
John Fowles has 21 books, released between 1963 and 2005.
John Fowles Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 21 John Fowles 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 Collector1963 · 320 pages · confirmed 1/419633201/4
- 2The Aristos1964 · 206 pages · confirmed 1/419642061/4
- 3The Magus1965 · 672 pages · confirmed 1/419656721/4
- 4The French Lieutenant's Woman1969 · 448 pages · confirmed 1/419694481/4
- 5The Ebony Tower1974 · confirmed 1/41974–1/4
- 6Shipwreck1974 · confirmed 1/41974–1/4
- 7Cinderella1974 · 32 pages · confirmed 1/41974321/4
- 8Daniel Martin1977 · 629 pages · confirmed 1/419776291/4
- 9Steep Holm1978 · 222 pages · confirmed 1/419782221/4
- 10Islands1978 · 108 pages · confirmed 1/419781081/4
- 11The Tree1979 · 128 pages · confirmed 1/419791281/4
- 12The Enigma of Stonehenge1980 · 126 pages · confirmed 1/419801261/4
- 13Mantissa1982 · 208 pages · confirmed 1/419822081/4
- 14A Short History of Lyme Regis1982 · 52 pages · confirmed 1/41982521/4
- 15Thomas Hardy's England1984 · 192 pages · confirmed 1/419841921/4
- 16A Maggot1985 · 464 pages · confirmed 1/419854641/4
- 17Lyme Regis Camera1990 · 96 pages · confirmed 1/41990961/4
- 18Behind the Magus1994 · 24 pages · confirmed 1/41994241/4
- 19Wormholes1998 · 495 pages · confirmed 1/419984951/4
- 20The Journals: Volume 12003 · 704 pages · confirmed 1/420037041/4
- 21The Journals: Volume 22005 · confirmed 1/42005–1/4
John Fowles 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
21 books21 John Fowles titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read John Fowles books in order?
No. No source lists any of the 21 John Fowles books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.
Where to start with John Fowles
Start with The Collector (1963), the earliest published title.
What is the newest John Fowles book?
The Journals: Volume 2 (2005) is the newest John Fowles book released so far.
Is there a new John Fowles book coming?
No next John Fowles book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
John Fowles at a glance
- Died
- John Fowles died in 2005, according to Wikidata.
- Last book
- The newest book credited to John Fowles on record dates from 2005.
- Release pace
- John Fowles books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
- Length
- 5,126 pages across the 18 of 21 books with a recorded length, a median of 207 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most John Fowles books, 7 of 21, were published in the 1970s.
What the John Fowles books are about
19 of the 21 John Fowles books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: history is tagged on 6 of 19. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.