50 Must-Read 50 Beta
← The Must-Read 50
Cover of Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le FanuUncle Silas
Classic · Fiction, Classics, Fantasy

Uncle Silas

by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
1864 · 436 pages · Fiction
Critics' pick
≈ 11 hours to read · about 3 weeks at 30 minutes a day

By the numbers

51.6Must-Read Score
  • Readers2 out of 100 · counts 42%
  • Critics30 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
  • Bestseller5 out of 100 · counts 14%
  • Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%

Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.

Where it ranks

Why it made the list

On the lists
Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read

Reads as

Gripping

How we rank

Already read it? Upload your Goodreads or StoryGraph history and get the 50 best books you haven't read, tuned to your taste.Get my 50

If you like this, read next

Cover of The Godfather by Mario PuzoThe Godfather
The GodfatherMario Puzo
Cover of The Pillars of the Earth by Ken FollettThe Pillars of the Earth
The Pillars of the EarthKen Follett
Cover of The Robots of Dawn by Isaac AsimovThe Robots of Dawn
The Robots of DawnIsaac Asimov
Cover of Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles MaturinMelmoth the Wanderer
Melmoth the WandererCharles Maturin
Cover of Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto EcoFoucault's Pendulum
Foucault's PendulumUmberto Eco
Cover of The Midwich Cuckoos by John WyndhamThe Midwich Cuckoos
The Midwich CuckoosJohn Wyndham

Explore the best-of lists

All 36 best-of lists →