Ranking Patrick White’s Novels

Ronald Wakelin, Syncromy in Orange major (1919)

These rankings are always changing (hence the reason why this page is a hidden gem of the website). But below is my current thinking as of 2023. (I have not added The Hanging Garden, despite its many strengths, as it seems unfair to include an unfinished manuscript on the list.)

It’s worth noting that I consider the top 8 books on this list to be absolute classics, so the bar is set exceptionally high — this list is very much relative!

1. The Tree of Man

2. Riders in the Chariot

3. The Vivisector

4. The Solid Mandala

5. The Eye of the Storm

6. Voss

7. The Twyborn Affair

8. The Aunt’s Story

9. A Fringe of Leaves

10. Happy Valley

11. The Living and the Dead

12. Memoirs of Many in One