John Cowper Powys books in order
British writer, lecturer and philosopher
- Lived
- 1872–1963
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Books
- 39
John Cowper Powys published 21 novels, 9 non-fiction books, 3 poetry collections and 6 other books, beginning with Wolf Solent (1929).
Updated September 2026
Where to start with John Cowper Powys
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Wolf Solent
John Cowper Powys's most-read book.
Standalone novels in order
Wood and Stone (1915)
Rodmoor (1916)
The Art of Happiness (1923)
Wolf Solent (1929)
In Defence of Sensuality (1930)
A Glastonbury Romance (Mar 1932)
A Philosophy of Solitude (1933)
Autobiography (1934)
Weymouth Sands (1934)
Maiden Castle (1936)
Morwyn (1937)
Owen Glendower, an Historical Novel (1940)
The Art of Growing Old (1944)
Obstinate Cymric (1947)
Porius: A Romance of the Dark Ages (1951)
The Inmates (1952)
In Spite of (1953)
Atlantis (1954)
The Brazen Head (1956)
Up and Out (1957)
Three Fantasies (1985)
Non-fiction in order
Confessions of Two Brothers, John Cowper Powys [and] Llewellyn Powys (1900)
Visions and Revisions (1915)
Suspended Judgments (1916)
The Complex Vision (1920)
The Meaning of Culture (1929)
The Pleasures of Literature (1938)
Mortal Strife (1941)
Dostoievsky (1946)
Rabelais (1948)
Poetry in order
Odes and Other Poems (1896)
Homer and the Aether (1959)
John Cowper Powys (1963)
Other books in order
The War and Culture (1914)
Wolf's-bane Rhymes (1916)
Mandragora (1917)
One Hundred Best Books (1922)
One Hundred Dante Books (1922)
Samphire (1922)
Free to read
All free classics
About John Cowper Powys
John Cowper Powys was an English novelist, philosopher, lecturer, critic and poet born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879. Powys appeared with a volume of verse in 1896 and a first novel in 1915, but gained success only with his novel Wolf Solent in 1929. He has been seen as a successor to Thomas Hardy, and Wolf Solent, A Glastonbury Romance (1932), Weymouth Sands (1934), and Maiden Castle (1936) have been called his Wessex novels. As with Hardy, landscape is important to his works. So is elemental philosophy in his characters' lives. In 1934 he published an autobiography. His itinerant lectures were a success in England and in 1905–1930 in the United States, where he wrote many of his novels and had several first published. He moved to Dorset, England, in 1934 with a US partner, Phyllis Playter. In 1935 they moved to Corwen, Merionethshire, Wales, where he set two novels, and in 1955 to Blaenau Ffestiniog, where he died in 1963.
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
John Cowper Powys FAQ
- How many books has John Cowper Powys written?
- John Cowper Powys published 21 novels, 9 non-fiction books, 3 poetry collections and 6 other books that we list, as of September 2026.
- What order should I read John Cowper Powys's books in?
- Publication order is a safe choice; the full list is above. Most readers start with Wolf Solent.
- What is John Cowper Powys's last book?
- Up and Out (1957).
- What is John Cowper Powys's most famous book?
- Wolf Solent (1929) is John Cowper Powys's most widely read book.
- Can I read John Cowper Powys's books for free?
- Yes. 8 books by John Cowper Powys are in the public domain in the US and free to read online or download here.
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Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers, free texts from Project Gutenberg. Last updated September 2026.