Joy Williams Books in Order
Joy Williams has written 14 books, published between 1973 and 2025. The first book is State of Grace (1973) and the newest is The Pelican Child: Stories (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 14
- Published
- 1973–2025
- Pages on record
- 396 in 2 of 14 books
Joy Williams is an American novelist, essayist and short-story writer, born 11 February 1944 and known above all for short fiction. The novels include State of Grace (1973), The Quick and the Dead (2000) and Harrow. The catalogue counts 14 books through The Pelican Child: Stories (2025), among them Taking Care, Ill Nature, The Florida Keys: A History & Guide and 99 Stories of God. Williams holds a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rea Award for the Short Story, a Kirkus Award and the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.
How many Joy Williams books are there?
Joy Williams has 14 books, released between 1973 and 2025.
Joy Williams Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 14 Joy Williams 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.
- 1State of Grace1973 · confirmed 1/41973–1/4
- 2The Changeling1978 · confirmed 1/41978–1/4
- 3Taking Care1982 · confirmed 1/41982–1/4
- 4The Florida Keys: A History & Guide1987 · confirmed 1/41987–1/4
- 5Breaking and Entering1988 · confirmed 1/41988–1/4
- 6Escapes1990 · 168 pages · confirmed 1/419901681/4
- 7The Quick and the Dead2000 · confirmed 1/42000–1/4
- 8Ill Nature2001 · 228 pages · confirmed 1/420012281/4
- 9Honored Guest2004 · confirmed 1/42004–1/4
- 1099 Stories of God2013 · confirmed 1/42013–1/4
- 11The Visiting Privilege: New and Collected Stories2015 · confirmed 1/42015–1/4
- 12Harrow2021 · confirmed 1/42021–1/4
- 13Concerning the Future of Souls2024 · confirmed 1/42024–1/4
- 14The Pelican Child: Stories2025 · confirmed 1/42025–1/4
Joy Williams 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
14 books14 Joy Williams titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Joy Williams books in order?
No. No source lists any of the 14 Joy Williams books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.
Where to start with Joy Williams
Start with State of Grace (1973), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Joy Williams book?
The Pelican Child: Stories (2025) is the newest Joy Williams book released so far.
Is there a new Joy Williams book coming?
No next Joy Williams book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Joy Williams at a glance
- Still publishing
- Joy Williams published a book as recently as 2025.
- Release pace
- Joy Williams books have appeared about one every 4 years on average.
- Length
- 396 pages across the 2 of 14 books with a recorded length, a median of 198 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Joy Williams books, 3 of 14, were published in the 2020s.
What the Joy Williams books are about
3 of the 14 Joy Williams books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. No subject is tagged on more than one of them, so each one below describes a single book. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Boarding schools 1 of 3 books
- Ecology 1 of 3 books
- Effect of human beings on 1 of 3 books
- Environmental degradation 1 of 3 books
- Environmental ethics 1 of 3 books
- Human ecology 1 of 3 books
- Missing persons 1 of 3 books
- Moral and ethical aspects 1 of 3 books
- Nature 1 of 3 books
- Resorts 1 of 3 books
- Short stories 1 of 3 books