Order of Book Series
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Madison Smartt Bell Books in Order

Madison Smartt Bell has written 27 books, published between 1983 and 2020. The first book is The Washington Square Ensemble (1983) and the newest is Child of Light: A Biography of Robert Stone (2020). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
27
Published
1983–2020
Pages on record
8,181 in 22 of 27 books
Reading time
136–205 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 8,181 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 22 of 27 titles with a page count on record.

See all 27 books in order Printable Madison Smartt Bell checklist

Born in Nashville, Tennessee on 1 August 1957, Madison Smartt Bell is an American novelist whose three novels on Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution appeared between 1995 and 2004; the catalogue files them as the Haitian Revolutionary Trilogy. Earlier fiction established Bell as a writer, beginning with The Washington Square Ensemble (1983) and continuing through Waiting for the End of the World (1985), Straight Cut (1986) and The Year of Silence (1987). The 27 catalogued titles reach Child of Light: A Biography of Robert Stone (2020), and slave insurrections, Haiti, history, terrorists and American short stories appear among the subjects.

How many Madison Smartt Bell books are there?

Madison Smartt Bell has 27 books, released between 1983 and 2020. 3 of them belong to the Haitian Revolutionary Trilogy series.

Madison Smartt Bell Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 27 Madison Smartt Bell 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 Washington Square Ensemble by Madison Smartt Bell (1983)
  2. Cover of Waiting for the End of the World by Madison Smartt Bell (1985)
  3. Cover of Straight Cut by Madison Smartt Bell (1986)
  4. Cover of Zero DB and Other Stories by Madison Smartt Bell (1987)
  5. Cover of The Year of Silence by Madison Smartt Bell (1987)
  6. Cover of Soldier's Joy by Madison Smartt Bell (1989)
  7. Cover of Barking Man and Other Stories by Madison Smartt Bell (1990)
  8. Cover of Doctor Sleep by Madison Smartt Bell (1991)
  9. Cover of Save Me, Joe Louis by Madison Smartt Bell (1993)
  10. Cover of All Souls' Rising by Madison Smartt Bell, book 1 of the Haitian Revolutionary Trilogy (1995)
  11. Cover of Narrative Design by Madison Smartt Bell (1997)
  12. Cover of Master of the Crossroads by Madison Smartt Bell, book 2 of the Haitian Revolutionary Trilogy (2000)
  13. Cover of Anything Goes by Madison Smartt Bell (2002)
  14. Cover of The Stone That the Builder Refused by Madison Smartt Bell, book 3 of the Haitian Revolutionary Trilogy (2004)
  15. Cover of Lavoisier in the Year One by Madison Smartt Bell, book 3 of the Great Discoveries series (2005)
  16. Cover of Charm City by Madison Smartt Bell (2007)
  17. Cover of Toussaint Louverture by Madison Smartt Bell (2007)
  18. Cover of Devil's Dream by Madison Smartt Bell (2009)
  19. Cover of New Stories from the South 2009 by Madison Smartt Bell, book 19 of the New Stories From The South series (2009)
  20. Cover of The Color of Night by Madison Smartt Bell (2011)
  1. 1
    The Washington Square Ensemble1983 · 342 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1983342
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    History of the Owen School1985 · confirmed 2/4
    1985–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Waiting for the End of the World1985 · 322 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1985322
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Straight Cut1986 · 256 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1986256
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 6
    The Year of Silence1987 · 194 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1987194
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 7
    Soldier's Joy1989 · 584 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1989584
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 9
    Doctor Sleep1991 · 290 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1991290
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 10
    Save Me, Joe Louis1993 · 368 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1993368
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 11
    All Souls' RisingHaitian Revolutionary Trilogy #11995 · 530 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1995530
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 12
    Ten Indians1996 · 264 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1996264
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 13
    Narrative Design1997 · 392 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1997392
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 14
    Master of the CrossroadsHaitian Revolutionary Trilogy #22000 · 732 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2000732
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 15
    Anything Goes2002 · 306 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2002306
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 16
    The Stone That the Builder RefusedHaitian Revolutionary Trilogy #32004 · 747 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2004747
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 17
    Lavoisier in the Year OneGreat Discoveries #32005 · 256 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2005256
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 18
    Charm City2007 · 240 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2007240
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 19
    Toussaint Louverture2007 · 352 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2007352
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 20
    Devil's Dream2009 · 352 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2009352
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 21
    New Stories from the South 2009New Stories From The South #192009 · 357 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2009357
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 22
    Prey2010 · confirmed 2/4
    2010–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 23
    The Color of Night2011 · confirmed 2/4
    2011–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 24
    Boy With a Coin2011 · confirmed 2/4
    2011–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  23. 25
    Zig Zag Wanderer2013 · confirmed 2/4
    2013–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  24. 26
    Behind the Moon2017 · 280 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2017280
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  25. 27
    Child of Light: A Biography of Robert Stone2020 · 608 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2020608
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Madison Smartt Bell 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.

Haitian Revolutionary Trilogy in order

3 books
  1. 1. All Souls' Rising
  2. 2. Master of the Crossroads
  3. 3. The Stone That the Builder Refused

Great Discoveries in order

1 book
  1. 3. Lavoisier in the Year One

New Stories From The South in order

1 book
  1. 19. New Stories from the South 2009

Standalone books

22 books

22 Madison Smartt Bell titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Madison Smartt Bell books in order?

You only need to read Madison Smartt Bell books in order within the Haitian Revolutionary Trilogy series, which holds 3 of the 27 Madison Smartt Bell books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.

Where to start with Madison Smartt Bell

Start with The Washington Square Ensemble (1983), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Madison Smartt Bell book?

Child of Light: A Biography of Robert Stone (2020) is the newest Madison Smartt Bell book released so far.

Is there a new Madison Smartt Bell book coming?

No next Madison Smartt Bell book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Madison Smartt Bell at a glance

No recent titles
The newest Madison Smartt Bell title on record dates from 2020, 6 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
Release pace
Madison Smartt Bell books have appeared about one a year on average.
Length
8,181 pages across the 22 of 27 books with a recorded length, a median of 332 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Madison Smartt Bell books, 8 of 27, were published in the 2000s.

What the Madison Smartt Bell books are about

23 of the 27 Madison Smartt Bell 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 7 of 23. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.