Order of Book Series
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Lionel Shriver Books in Order

Lionel Shriver has written 22 books, published between 1987 and 2026. The first book is The Female of the Species (1987) and the newest is A Better Life (2026). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
22
Published
1987–2026
Confirmed
1 of 22 titles
Pages on record
5,935 in 16 of 22 books
Reading time
99–148 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 5,935 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 16 of 22 titles with a page count on record.

See all 22 books in order Printable Lionel Shriver checklist
Photo of Lionel Shriver, author

Lionel Shriver has 22 books catalogued from The Female of the Species (1987) to A Better Life (2026). Checker and the Derailleurs (1989), Game Control (1994), A Perfectly Good Family (1996) and Double Fault (1997) came first. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2003) won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005, and The Post-Birthday World (2007) and So Much for That (2010) followed. Born Margaret Ann Shriver on May 18, 1957, Shriver is an American author and cultural commentator. Marriage, family life and musicians recur in the subjects.

How many Lionel Shriver books are there?

Lionel Shriver has 22 books, released between 1987 and 2026.

Lionel Shriver Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 22 Lionel Shriver 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 The Bleeding Heart by Lionel Shriver (1990)
  2. Cover of Game Control by Lionel Shriver (1994)
  3. Cover of A Perfectly Good Family by Lionel Shriver (1996)
  4. Cover of Double Fault by Lionel Shriver (1997)
  5. Cover of We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (2003)
  6. Cover of The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver (2007)
  7. Cover of So Much for That by Lionel Shriver (2010)
  8. Cover of The New Republic by Lionel Shriver (2012)
  9. Cover of Big Brother by Lionel Shriver (2013)
  10. Cover of The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver (2016)
  11. Cover of Property by Lionel Shriver (2018)
  12. Cover of Should We Stay or Should We Go by Lionel Shriver (2021)
  13. Cover of Abominations by Lionel Shriver (2022)
  14. Cover of Mania by Lionel Shriver (2024)
  1. 1
    The Female of the Species1987 · 405 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1987405
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Checker and the Derailleurs1989 · 319 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1989319
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    The Bleeding Heart1990 · 427 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1990427
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Ordinary Decent Criminals1993 · 448 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1993448
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Game Control1994 · 277 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1994277
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    A Perfectly Good Family1996 · 277 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1996277
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Double Fault1997 · 342 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1997342
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    We Need to Talk About Kevin2003 · 432 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2003432
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Post-Birthday World2007 · 517 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2007517
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    So Much for That2010 · 436 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2010436
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    The New Republic2012 · confirmed 1/4
    2012–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    The BBC National Short Story Award 2013BBC National Short Story Award #42013 · confirmed 3/4
    2013–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Big Brother2013 · 373 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2013373
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    The Self-Seeding Sycamore2016 · confirmed 1/4
    2016–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    The Mandibles2016 · 402 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2016402
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    The Standing Chandelierla2017 · confirmed 1/4
    2017–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    Property2018 · 336 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2018336
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    The Motion of the Body Through Space2020 · 352 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2020352
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    Should We Stay or Should We Go2021 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2021288
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 20
    Abominations2022 · 304 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2022304
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 21
    Mania2024 · confirmed 1/4
    2024–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 22
    A Better Life2026 · confirmed 1/4
    2026–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Lionel Shriver 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.

BBC National Short Story Award

1 book

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

Standalone books

21 books

21 Lionel Shriver titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Lionel Shriver books in order?

No. No source lists any of the 22 Lionel Shriver books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.

Where to start with Lionel Shriver

Start with The Female of the Species (1987), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Lionel Shriver book?

A Better Life (2026) is the newest Lionel Shriver book released so far.

Is there a new Lionel Shriver book coming?

No next Lionel Shriver 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 Lionel Shriver has won

Wikidata records 1 award for Lionel Shriver. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

  • Women's Prize for Fiction2005Won

Lionel Shriver at a glance

Still publishing
Lionel Shriver published a book as recently as 2026.
Release pace
Lionel Shriver books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
Length
5,935 pages across the 16 of 22 books with a recorded length, a median of 362 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Lionel Shriver books, 8 of 22, were published in the 2010s.

What the Lionel Shriver books are about

17 of the 22 Lionel Shriver books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: marriage is tagged on 4 of 17. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.