What is the best Evelyn Waugh novel of all time?

From savage social satires that skewer high society to the wistful elegy of a doomed aristocratic family, this lineup spans a career of sharp wit and quiet heartbreak. Which one earns your vote?

1

Brideshead Revisited

Waugh's 1945 masterwork about nostalgia, faith, and an aristocratic Catholic family seen through a young Oxford friend's eyes.

1000pts

2

Vile Bodies

A 1930 satire of London's frivolous Bright Young Things skewering high society between the wars.

813pts

3

Black Mischief

A 1932 satirical novel about modernization schemes gone awry on the fictional African island of Azania.

724pts

4

Scoop

A 1938 satire of sensationalist journalism following a nature columnist mistakenly sent to cover an African war.

665pts

5

Scott-King's Modern Europe

A 1947 novella satirizing a classics schoolmaster's surreal trip to a fictional Eastern European police state.

517pts

6

Love Among the Ruins

A 1953 dystopian novella satirizing the welfare state and euthanasia in a bleak future Britain.

517pts

7

Put Out More Flags

A 1942 wartime satire tracking a group of English friends and rogues at the outbreak of World War II.

517pts

8

Helena

A 1950 historical novel imagining the life of Saint Helena, mother of Roman Emperor Constantine, and her quest for the True Cross.

423pts

9

The Loved One

A 1948 dark satire of the American funeral industry and Hollywood expatriate life in Los Angeles.

423pts

10

Decline and Fall

Waugh's 1928 debut satire following the misadventures of an Oxford student expelled into a chaotic career in teaching and crime.

310pts

11

Men at Arms

The 1952 opening volume of the Sword of Honour trilogy, following Guy Crouchback's bumbling entry into wartime military service.

310pts

12

Officers and Gentlemen

The 1955 second volume of the Sword of Honour trilogy, centered on the chaotic Battle of Crete.

310pts

13

The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold

A 1957 semi-autobiographical novel about a writer's paranoid hallucinatory breakdown at sea.

310pts

14

A Handful of Dust

A 1934 tragicomic novel about the collapse of an English country marriage and its devastating aftermath.

172pts

15

Unconditional Surrender

The 1961 concluding volume of the Sword of Honour trilogy, following Guy Crouchback through the war's disillusioning final years.

172pts