Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/the-longest-novels-published-in-english-and-how-long-they-take-to-read/
Length in fiction is slippery. Page counts shift with typeface and trim size, and word counts for older books are often estimates.
That makes the numbers in this article approximate. The reading times below use a simple assumption of about 250 words per minute, a comfortable pace for most adults, so treat them as rough guides.
Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson’s epistolary novel is usually named the longest novel in the English canon. The first two volumes appeared in December 1747, and five more followed in 1748. Its word count is approximately 970,000.
Estimates do vary. One library blog puts it at 984,870 words in one thick volume, while a publisher’s list gives a lower figure of 943,000. Richardson also revised the book several times, so different editions don’t match exactly. At 250 words per minute, a reader needs roughly 65 hours to finish it.
Poor Fellow My Country by Xavier Herbert
Xavier Herbert’s Australian epic is the heavyweight of the single volume category. It is cited as the longest single volume English language novel, at nearly 1500 pages and over 850,000 words. It first appeared in the 1970s and won the Miles Franklin Award.
The book follows life in northern Australia before and during the Second World War. Sources disagree on its exact length, with one library blog giving 852,000 words. At a steady…
—-
Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-10-13 11:20:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
—-
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8