Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Accidental Woman | 1987 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 2 | A Touch of Love | 1989 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 3 | The Dwarves of Death | 1990 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 4 | The House of Sleep | 1997 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 5 | The Rain Before it Falls | 2007 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 6 | The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim | 2010 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 7 | Expo 58 | 2011 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 8 | Mr Wilder & Me | 2020 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 9 | Bournville | 2022 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 10 | The Proof of My Innocence | 2024 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
Jonathan Coe has published ten standalone novels over nearly four decades, from his debut The Accidental Woman (1987) through The Proof of My Innocence (2024). These books cover a wide range of subjects but tend to share Coe’s interest in British society, quiet comedy, and characters caught in circumstances they cannot quite control.
His best-known standalone is The House of Sleep (1997), which won the Prix Medicis etranger. Set in a clifftop house that has been converted into a sleep clinic, it interweaves the lives of former university housemates reuniting years later. Other notable titles include Expo 58 (2013), a Cold War comedy set at the Brussels World’s Fair, and Mr Wilder & Me (2020), a fictional account of a young woman working with the aging film director Billy Wilder in the late 1970s. His most recent novel, Bournville (2022), traces a Birmingham family from VE Day through seven decades of national events.