Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Confessions of Nat Turner | 1951 | William Styron | Buy |
| 2 | Lie Down in Darkness | 1951 | William Styron | Buy |
| 3 | The Long March | 1952 | William Styron | Buy |
| 4 | Set This House On Fire | 1960 | William Styron | Buy |
| 5 | Sophie’s Choice | 1979 | William Styron | Buy |
| 6 | Shadrach | 1979 | William Styron | Buy |
| 7 | Inheritance of Night | 1980 | William Styron | Buy |
| 8 | Mr Jefferson and our times | 1984 | William Styron | Buy |
William Styron’s eight novels and novellas span three decades. Lie Down in Darkness (1951) is a Southern gothic debut that established his literary credentials. The Long March (1952) is a compact novella about a brutal forced march at a Marine Corps training base, drawn from Styron’s own military experience. Set This House on Fire (1960) moves to Italy for a story of American expatriates and moral collapse.
The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967) and Sophie’s Choice (1979) are his towering works. Both take on immense historical subjects, American slavery and the Holocaust, through intensely personal narratives. Styron brings the same dense, Faulknerian prose to both, building slowly toward devastating revelations. The later works, Shadrach, Inheritance of Night, and Mr. Jefferson and Our Times, are shorter pieces that continued his engagement with Southern history and American identity.