Order of Book Series
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Kate Atkinson Books in Order

Kate Atkinson has written 19 books, published between 1995 and 2026. The first book is Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1995) and the newest is Our Noble Selves (2026). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
19
Published
1995–2026
Confirmed
19 of 19 titles
Pages on record
3,683 in 11 of 19 books
Reading time
61–92 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,683 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 11 of 19 titles with a page count on record.

See all 19 books in order Printable Kate Atkinson checklist
Photo of Kate Atkinson, author

Kate Atkinson is an English author of novels, plays and short stories, born 20 December 1951. The fiction spans historical, detective and family novels with postmodern and magical realist elements. Behind the Scenes at the Museum, the 1995 debut, won the Whitbread Book Award; Life After Life and A God in Ruins won the Costa Novel Award in 2013 and 2015. The Jackson Brodie detective series became the BBC One series Case Histories. The catalogue holds 19 books from 1995 to Our Noble Selves (2026), and a Todd Family series appears alongside Jackson Brodie.

How many Kate Atkinson books are there?

Kate Atkinson has 19 books, released between 1995 and 2026. They include 2 separate series.

Kate Atkinson Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 19 Kate Atkinson books in the order they were released, 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 Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson, book 1 of the Kate Atkinson Standalone Novels series (1995)
  2. Cover of Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson, book 2 of the Kate Atkinson Standalone Novels series (1997)
  3. Cover of Abandonment by Kate Atkinson, book 1 of the Standalone Plays series (2000)
  4. Cover of Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson, book 3 of the Kate Atkinson Standalone Novels series (2000)
  5. Cover of Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson, book 1 of the Kate Atkinson Short Story series (2002)
  6. Cover of Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, book 1 of the Jackson Brodie series (2004)
  7. Cover of One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson, book 2 of the Jackson Brodie series (2006)
  8. Cover of When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson, book 3 of the Jackson Brodie series (2008)
  9. Cover of Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson, book 4 of the Jackson Brodie series (2010)
  10. Cover of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, book 1 of the Todd Family series (2013)
  11. Cover of A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, book 2 of the Todd Family series (2015)
  12. Cover of Big Sky by Kate Atkinson, book 5 of the Jackson Brodie series (2019)
  13. Cover of Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson, book 5 of the Kate Atkinson Standalone Novels series (2022)
  1. 1
    Behind the Scenes at the MuseumKate Atkinson Standalone Novels #11995 · 332 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1995332
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Human CroquetKate Atkinson Standalone Novels #21997 · 352 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1997352
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    AbandonmentStandalone Plays #12000 · 107 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2000107
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Emotionally WeirdKate Atkinson Standalone Novels #32000 · 368 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2000368
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Not the End of the WorldKate Atkinson Short Story #12002 · 288 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2002288
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Case HistoriesJackson Brodie #12004 · confirmed 3/4
    2004–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    One Good TurnJackson Brodie #22006 · 448 pages · confirmed 4/4
    2006448
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    When Will There Be Good News?Jackson Brodie #32008 · confirmed 4/4
    2008–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    Started Early, Took My DogJackson Brodie #42010 · confirmed 4/4
    2010–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    Life After LifeTodd Family #12013 · 529 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2013529
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    A God in RuinsTodd Family #22015 · 468 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2015468
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    TranscriptionKate Atkinson Standalone Novels #42018 · 343 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2018343
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Festive SpiritsKate Atkinson Short Story #22019 · 80 pages · confirmed 3/4
    201980
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    Big SkyJackson Brodie #52019 · 368 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2019368
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    Shine, Pamela! Shine!Out Of Line #72020 · confirmed 3/4
    2020–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    Shrines of GaietyKate Atkinson Standalone Novels #52022 · confirmed 3/4
    2022–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    Normal Rules Don't ApplyKate Atkinson Short Story #32023 · confirmed 3/4
    2023–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    Death at the Sign of the RookJackson Brodie #62024 · confirmed 3/4
    2024–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    Our Noble SelvesKate Atkinson Standalone Novels #62026 · confirmed 3/4
    2026–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Kate Atkinson series in order

The series linked below has its own reading-order page.

Kate Atkinson 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.

Kate Atkinson Standalone Novels

6 books

6 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.

Kate Atkinson Short Story

3 books

3 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.

Todd Family in order

2 books
  1. 1. Life After Life
  2. 2. A God in Ruins

Standalone Plays

1 book

1 title published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.

Out Of Line in order

1 book
  1. 7. Shine, Pamela! Shine!

Kate Atkinson Books in Chronological Order

By publication date, the Kate Atkinson books run from Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1995) to Our Noble Selves (2026), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Kate Atkinson in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.

Do you have to read Kate Atkinson books in order?

You only need to read Kate Atkinson books in order within each series: the books listed here span 2 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

What order should you read Kate Atkinson books in?

Read them in publication order, starting with Case Histories (2004), the first Jackson Brodie book. The earliest catalogued title overall is Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1995).

What is the newest Kate Atkinson book?

Our Noble Selves (2026) is the newest Kate Atkinson book released so far.

Is there a new Kate Atkinson book coming?

No next Kate Atkinson 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 Kate Atkinson has won

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

  • Not the Booker Prize2013Won
  • Saltire Awards2005Won
  • E. M. Forster Award1998Won
  • Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel2016Shortlistedfor A God in Ruins
  • Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel2014Shortlistedfor Life After Life
  • Dagger in the Library2007Shortlisted

Kate Atkinson at a glance

Still publishing
Kate Atkinson published a book as recently as 2026.
Release pace
Kate Atkinson books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
Length
3,683 pages across the 11 of 19 books with a recorded length, a median of 352 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Kate Atkinson books, 6 of 19, were published in the 2010s.
Corroboration
3 of the 19 titles appear in all four independent book listings, and every one of them in at least three.

What the Kate Atkinson books are about

15 of the 19 Kate Atkinson books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: england is tagged on 4 of 15. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.