The 100 best moderately difficult books about exile and displacement

No. 11 on this list. Tar Baby · Toni Morrison · 1981

On Isle des Chevaliers, a Caribbean island reshaped by Haitian labor and American money, Valerian Street — a retired Philadelphia candy magnate — cultivates hydrangeas in his greenhouse and avoids his neighbors. His wife Margaret, his butler Sydney and cook Ondine, and his niece Jadine, a model trained in Paris, share the villa in a state of maintained tension. When Son — a Black American fugitive who stowed away on their supply boat — is discovered hiding in the house, he breaks open every unspoken arrangement the household depends on. Morrison uses the folk tale of the tar baby as the novel's armature: Jadine and Son become stuck to each other in a relationship that neither can survive and neither can leave. She embodies what he calls racial betrayal — educated in Europe, photographed in furs, at home nowhere. He embodies what she calls romantic primitivism — a man out of time, faithful to a Black Southern past that she finds suffocating. Morrison writes this conflict without a referee. The Caribbean setting is not backdrop but argument — the swamp, the rain forest, the blind horsemen who ride the hills at night all carry the weight of African spiritual history beneath the colonial surface. The novel ends on a mythic image: Son running toward those horsemen, Jadine flying back to Paris. Morrison offers no verdict on who was right.

No. 12 on this list. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao · Junot Diaz · 2008

Things have never been easy for Oscar. A ghetto nerd living with his Dominican family in New Jersey, he's sweet but disastrously overweight. He dreams of becoming the next J. R. R. Tolkien and he keeps falling hopelessly in love. Poor Oscar may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuku - the curse that has haunted his family for generations. With dazzling energy and insight Díaz immerses us in the tumultuous lives of Oscar, his runaway sister Lola, their beautiful mother Belicia, and in the family's uproarious journey from the Dominican Republic to the US and back. Rendered with uncommon warmth and humour, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a literary triumph, that confirms Junot Díaz as one of the most exciting writers of our time.

No. 13 on this list. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting · Milan Kundera · 1979

Considered one of Kundera's two or three masterworks alongside The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Joke. Widely taught in European literature and exile literature courses. No syllabus data appears in the database (0 recorded appearances) but the book's critical standing and continuous print life across forty-five years establish it firmly in the postwar literary canon.

No. 14 on this list. Oedipus at Colonus · Sophocles · c. 401 BCE

Included in: Great Books of the Western World

The final play of one of the three great Athenian tragedians, completing the Theban cycle that includes Oedipus Rex and Antigone.

No. 15 on this list. Housekeeping · Marilynne Robinson · 1980

The most beautiful first novel of its generation. Ruth and Lucille's lives in Fingerbone, Idaho, Sylvie's transient existence—Robinson wrote prose like no one else. Core text in American literature courses. The novel launched a major career.

No. 16 on this list. Fasti · Ovid · 8

Fasti is a core text in Latin studies curricula and appears in most classical literature courses treating Augustan Rome, though it sits in the shadow of Ovid's Metamorphoses and Virgil's Aeneid in breadth of teaching. The Oxford World's Classics edition by Anne and Peter Wiseman (2011, revised 2013) marks its standing as a prestige canonical work. It is not among the most-taught Latin texts in translation courses but is standard reading for specialists.

No. 17 on this list. The Lottery and Other Stories · Shirley Jackson · 1949

The title story 'The Lottery' is one of the most anthologized and taught short stories in the American canon, appearing in virtually every introduction-to-fiction textbook. The collection itself appears regularly on American short-story syllabi. Jackson's work has experienced a major critical reassessment since the 2010s, elevating her from genre curiosity to recognized American master.

No. 18 on this list. Tropic of Cancer · Henry Miller · 1934

Tropic of Cancer holds established position in modernist and 20th-century literature curricula, taught in courses on American modernism, expatriate literature, and the experimental novel. Recognized as significant but not universally required reading at all levels like Gatsby or 1984; more niche canonical status within specific literary traditions.

No. 19 on this list. Tristia · Ovid · 12

Ovid is a core Latin author taught in classics courses worldwide, though Tristia is read less than the Metamorphoses. It is the founding text of exile literature.

No. 20 on this list. The Lonely Londoners · Sam Selvon · 1956

Taught in schools: Pearson Edexcel GCSE and A-level English Literature (UK)

The Lonely Londoners (1956) is the foundational text of the Black British literary tradition and a set text on postcolonial and British literature syllabuses worldwide. It is treated as a canonical work by critics such as Caryl Phillips and George Lamming, appears in major literary histories, and has been continuously in print since publication. Its canonical status among works of West Indian and British literature is secure, though it remains less widely assigned than the most prominent European modernist novels.

No. 21 on this list. The Sympathizer · Viet Thanh Nguyen · 2015

Published in 2015 and already appearing on 132 university syllabi, The Sympathizer has established itself rapidly as a required text in American literature, postcolonial studies, and Asian-American studies courses. Its Pulitzer Prize and HBO adaptation have cemented its cultural presence, though at a decade old it has not yet accumulated the multi-generational teaching record of older canonical fixtures.

No. 22 on this list. Jazz · Toni Morrison · 1992

Jazz stands as the middle volume of Morrison's trilogy examining African American history through myth and music. While less taught than Beloved, it appears on graduate syllabi and critical studies of Morrison's work, recognized as an ambitious experiment in narrative voice and jazz-influenced form.

No. 23 on this list. North · Louis-Ferdinand Céline · 1972

Nord appears on French literature syllabi covering Céline's oeuvre and in comparative literature courses on World War II fiction, but it sits firmly in the shadow of Journey to the End of the Night, which absorbs most of the canonical attention. Rarely taught as a standalone text outside specialist courses on 20th-century French prose or the literature of collaboration.

No. 24 on this list. Interpreter of Maladies · Jhumpa Lahiri · 2000

Since winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2000, the collection has become a staple of American literature and creative writing curricula, particularly in courses on immigration, diaspora, and the contemporary short story. It occupies a secure position in late-20th-century American literature anthologies and is widely taught in high schools and universities.

No. 25 on this list. In a Free State · V.S. Naipaul · 1971

Appears on 25 university syllabi according to Open Syllabus, primarily in postcolonial literature and Commonwealth fiction courses. Wikipedia presence in only 5 languages understates its literary standing; it is the book most associated with Naipaul's 1971 Booker Prize win and remains the work most frequently discussed in assessments of his career. Broadly read in Anglophone academic contexts.

No. 26 on this list. The Family Moskat · Isaac Bashevis Singer · 1950

Listed in the Open Syllabus Top 500 Literature titles and published in prestige editions by both Library of America and NYRB Classics, signaling recognition among specialists. Its Wikipedia article exists in only 5 languages, reflecting limited global cultural penetration compared to Singer's better-known short stories. It occupies a place in the canon as Singer's major novel, taught in Jewish literature and 20th-century world literature courses, though less universally than works by the Nobel laureates it stands beside.

No. 27 on this list. Goodbye, Columbus · Philip Roth · 1960

Appears on 225 university syllabi (59th percentile), and the title novella and stories such as 'The Conversion of the Jews' and 'Defender of the Faith' are anthology standards. The Library of America includes it in its Roth edition.

No. 28 on this list. War Dances · Sherman Alexie · 2010

As winner of the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award, 'War Dances' secured immediate literary recognition and appears on numerous syllabi exploring contemporary Native American literature. While Alexie's earlier work had already established him as a major voice, this collection reinforced his canonical position in 21st-century American letters, particularly within the Native renaissance.

No. 29 on this list. A Bend in the River · V.S. Naipaul · 1979

Widely taught in postcolonial literature courses and frequently anthologized in surveys of 20th-century fiction. The novel appears regularly on syllabi examining African literature, postcolonial identity, and late-20th-century British fiction. While not quite achieving the canonical weight of Heart of Darkness (which it consciously echoes), it holds firm status in academic discourse.

No. 30 on this list. The Arrivants · Kamau Brathwaite · 1973

Taught in schools: CSEC English B – Caribbean Examinations Council

A foundational text of Caribbean poetry and postcolonial literature. Widely taught and cited in discussions of Caribbean identity and the politics of language.