Joyce Carol Oates books in order
American author
- Born
- 1938
- Country
- United States
- Books
- 130
- Series
- 2
- Also writes as
- Rosamond Smith, Lauren Kelly
Joyce Carol Oates has published 81 novels, 6 novellas, 29 short story collections, 8 non-fiction books, 5 poetry collections and 1 other book, beginning with You Must Remember This (1987). The 2 series include The Gothic Saga (5 books, starting with Bellefleur) and The Wonderland Quartet (4 books, starting with A Garden of Earthly Delights). The best-known is The Best American Essays of the Century (2000). The latest is Fox (2025).
Updated September 2026
The Gothic Saga books in order (5)Series page
Reading order: 1 Bellefleur (1980) · 2 A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982) · 3 Mysteries of Winterthurn (1984) · 4 My Heart Laid Bare (1998) · 5 The Accursed (2013)
- 1.
Bellefleur (1980)
- 2.
A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982)
- 3.
Mysteries of Winterthurn (1984)
- 4.
My Heart Laid Bare (1998)
- 5.
The Accursed (2013)
The Wonderland Quartet books in order (4)Series page
Reading order: 1 A Garden of Earthly Delights (1967) · 2 Expensive People (1968) · 3 Them (1969) · 4 Wonderland (1971)
- 1.
A Garden of Earthly Delights (1967)
- 2.
Expensive People (1968)
- 3.
Them (Jun 1969)
- 4.
Wonderland (1971)
Where to start with Joyce Carol Oates
Start here
The Best American Essays of the Century
Joyce Carol Oates's most-read book.
Newest
Fox
Published 2025.
Standalone novels in order
With Shuddering Fall (1964)
The Wheel of Love (1970)
The Poisoned Kiss, and Other Stories from the Portuguese (1971)
The Goddess and Other Women (1974)
The Assassins (1975)
Childwold (1976)
A Sentimental Education (1978)
Son of the Morning (1978)
Cybele (1979)
Unholy Loves (1979)
Angel of Light (1981)
Solstice (1985)
Marya (1986)
Lives of the Twins (1987)
You Must Remember This (1987)
American Appetites (1989)
Soul/mate (1989)
Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart (1990)
Nemesis (1990)
Twelve Plays (1991)
Black Water (1992)
Snake Eyes (1992)
Foxfire (1993)
What I Lived For (1994)
Will You Always Love Me? (1994)
Zombie (1995)
We Were the Mulvaneys (1996)
Double Delight (1997)
Man Crazy (1997)
Telling Stories (1998)
The Collector of Hearts (1998)
Broke Heart Blues (1999)
Starr Bright Will Be with You Soon (1999)
Blonde (2000)
The Barrens (2001)
Middle Age: A Romance (Sep 2001)
Big Mouth & Ugly Girl (2002)
I'll Take You There (2002)
Freaky Green Eyes (2003)
Rape (2003)
The Faith of a Writer (2003)
The Tattooed Girl (2003)
The Falls (2004)
Missing Mom (2005)
Mother, Missing (2005)
The Stolen Heart (2005)
Uncensored (2005)
Sexy (Feb 2005)
Black Girl/White Girl (2006)
Blood Mask (2006)
Joyce Carol Oates (2006)
"After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away" (Aug 2006)
The Museum of Dr. Moses (2007)
The Gravedigger's Daughter (Jun 2007)
My Sister, My Love (Jun 2008)
Little Bird of Heaven (2009)
Mudwoman (2012)
Daddy Love (2013)
Evil Eye (2014)
High Crime Area (2014)
Jack of Spades (2015)
A Book of American Martyrs (2017)
Hazards of Time Travel (Nov 2018)
Cutting Edge (2019)
My Life as a Rat (2019)
Night. Sleep. Death. the Stars (2020)
Breathe (2021)
Cardiff, by the Sea (2021)
Darker Shade of Noir (2023)
Butcher (2024)
Flint Kill Creek (2024)
Fox (2025)
Novellas in order
I Lock My Door Upon Myself (1990)
The Rise of Life on Earth (1991)
First Love (1996)
Beasts (Nov 2001)
A Fair Maiden (2010)
Mystery, Inc (2015)
Short story collections in order
Upon the Sweeping Flood (1966)
By the North Gate (1971)
Marriages and Infidelities (1972)
Do with Me What You Will (1973)
The Hungry Ghosts (1974)
The Seduction & Other Stories (1975)
Crossing the Border (1976)
The Triumph of the Spider Monkey (1976)
Night-side (1977)
Last Days (1984)
Raven's Wing (1986)
The Assignation (1988)
Heat, and Other Stories (1991)
Oxford Book of American Short Stories (1992)
Where Is Here? (1992)
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? (1993)
Haunted (1994)
American Gothic Tales (1996)
Faithless (2001)
Small Avalanches and Other Stories (2003)
I Am No One You Know (2004)
The Female of the Species (2005)
High Lonesome (2006)
The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction (2008)
Wild Nights! (2008)
Dear Husband (2009)
Give Me Your Heart (2011)
The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares (2011)
Dis Mem Ber (2017)
Non-fiction in order
The Edge of Impossibility: Tragic Forms in Literature (1972)
New Heaven, New Earth (1974)
First Person Singular (1983)
Profane Art (1983)
On Boxing (1987)
Reading the Fights (1990)
The Best American Essays of the Century (2000)
Lost Landscape (2015)
Poetry in order
Angel Fire; Poems (1973)
The Hostile Sun (1973)
Invisible Woman (1982)
The Time Traveler (1987)
Tenderness (1996)
Other books in order
Big Mouth and Ugly Girl (2003)
Film and TV adaptations
- We Were the Mulvaneys (2002)TV · from We Were the Mulvaneys
- Blonde (2001)TV · from Blonde
- Blonde (2022)Film · from Blonde
About Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collection Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Joyce Carol Oates FAQ
- How many books has Joyce Carol Oates written?
- Joyce Carol Oates has published 81 novels, 6 novellas, 29 short story collections, 8 non-fiction books, 5 poetry collections and 1 other book that we list, as of September 2026.
- What order should I read Joyce Carol Oates's books in?
- Read each series in its own order: start The Gothic Saga with Bellefleur and The Wonderland Quartet with A Garden of Earthly Delights. The other books stand alone and can be read in any order.
- What is Joyce Carol Oates's latest book?
- Fox (2025).
- What is Joyce Carol Oates's most famous book?
- The Best American Essays of the Century (2000) is Joyce Carol Oates's most widely read book.
- Are Joyce Carol Oates's books connected?
- 9 books belong to 2 series (The Gothic Saga and The Wonderland Quartet); the other 121 books stand alone.
- Does Joyce Carol Oates write under a pen name?
- Yes: Joyce Carol Oates has also published as Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
- Which Joyce Carol Oates books have been adapted?
- 2 books have been adapted for film or TV, including We Were the Mulvaneys (TV, 2002) and Blonde (TV, 2001).
Authors like Joyce Carol Oates
Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.