Author guide

John Irving Books in Order

John Irving is an American-Canadian novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, and screenwriter. His sixteen novels span comic literary fiction, historical fiction, family sagas, and stories of sexual identity and social justice. His best-known works include The World According to Garp, The Hotel New Hampshire, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany, A Widow for One Year, and The Last Chairlift. He won the National Book Award for The World According to Garp and an Academy Award for his screenplay of The Cider House Rules. His nonfiction includes memoirs about writing, wrestling, filmmaking, and family history, and he has also published a short-fiction and nonfiction collection, a screenplay, and a children's picture book.

literary fictionnovelsshort storiesmemoirnonfictionscreenplayschildren's literature

Catalog record updated August 25, 2026.

John Irving's Newest Book

Queen Esther

novel · First published 2025

After forty years, John Irving returns to the world of his bestselling classic novel and Academy Award–winning film, The Cider House Rules, revisiting the orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Dr. Wilbur Larch takes in Esther—a Viennese-born Jew whose life is shaped by anti-Semitism. Esther Nacht is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board the ship to Portland, Maine; her mother is murdered by anti-Semites in Portland. Dr. Larch knows it won’t be easy to find a Jewish family to adopt Esther; in fact, he won’t find any family who’ll adopt her. When Esther is fourteen, soon to be a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a philanthropic New England family with a history of providing foster care for unadopted orphans. The Winslows aren’t Jewish, but they despise anti-Semitism. Esther’s gratitude for the Winslows is unending; even as she retraces her roots back to Vienna, she never stops loving and protecting the Winslows. In the final chapter, set in Jerusalem in 1981, Esther Nacht is seventy-six. John Irving’s sixteenth novel is a testament to his enduring ability to weave complex characters and intricate narratives that challenge and captivate. Queen Esther is not just a story of survival but a profound exploration of identity, belonging, and the enduring impact of history on our personal lives showcasing why Irving remains one of the world’s most beloved, provocative, and entertaining authors—a storyteller of our time and for all time.

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

The World According to Garp

Irving's breakthrough novel and National Book Award winner.

A Prayer for Owen Meany

His best-selling novel and a strong introduction to his characteristic blend of comedy, family drama, and moral seriousness.

The Cider House Rules

A major historical and ethical novel that also connects directly to his Oscar-winning screenplay.

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

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Novels (16)

Setting Free the Bears
novel · 1968

It is 1967 and two Viennese university students want to liberate the Vienna Zoo, as was done after World War II. But their good intentions have both comic and gruesome consequences, in this first novel written by a twenty-five year old…
The Water-Method Man
novel · 1972

Fred "Bogus" Trumper has troubles. A divorced, broke graduate student of Old Norse in 1970s New York, Trumper is a wayward knight-errant in the battle of the sexes and the pursuit of His ex-wife has moved in with his childhood best…
The 158-Pound Marriage
novel · 1974

The 158-Pound Marriage is the third novel by American author John Irving. The book explores the sexual revolution-era trend of "swinging" (partner-swapping) via a glimpse into the lives of two couples in a small New England college town…
The World According to Garp
novel · 1978

This is the life and times of T. S. Garp, the bastard son of Jenny Fields—a feminist leader ahead of her times. This is the life and death of a famous mother and her almost-famous son; theirs is a world of sexual extremes—even of sexual…
The Hotel New Hampshire
novel · 1981

“The first of my father’s illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.” So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of…
The Cider House Rules
novel · 1985

Raised from birth in the orphanage at St. Cloud's, Maine, Homer Wells has become the protege of Dr. Wilbur Larch, its physician and director. There Dr. Larch cares for the troubled mothers who seek his help, either by delivering and…
A Prayer for Owen Meany
novel · 1989

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice—not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I…
A Son of the Circus
novel · 1994

A Hindi film star . . . an American missionary . . . twins separated at birth . . . a dwarf chauffeur . . . a serial killer . . . all are on a collision course. In the tradition of A Prayer for Owen Meany, Irving's characters transcend…
A Widow for One Year
novel · 1998

Ruth Cole is a complex, often self-contradictory character--a "difficult" woman. By no means is she conventionally "nice," but she will never be forgotten. Ruth's story is told in three parts, each focusing on a crucial time in her life.…
The Fourth Hand
novel · 2001

While reporting a story from India, a New York television journalist has his left hand eaten by a lion; millions of TV viewers witness the accident. In Boston, a renowned hand surgeon awaits the opportunity to perform the nation’s first…
Until I Find You
novel · 2005

When he is four years old, Jack travels with his mother Alice, a tattoo artist, to several North Sea ports in search of his father, William Burns. From Copenhagen to Amsterdam, William, a brilliant church organist and profligate…
Last Night in Twisted River
novel · 2009

In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable’s girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced…
In One Person
novel · 2012

In One Person is a story of unfulfilled love—tormented, funny, and affecting—and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character of In One Person, tells the tragicomic story (lasting more…
Avenue of Mysteries
novel · 2015

John Irving returns to the themes that established him as one of our most admired and beloved authors in this absorbing novel of fate and memory. In Avenue of Mysteries, Juan Diego—a fourteen-year-old boy, who was born and grew up in…
The Last Chairlift
novel · 2022

In Aspen, Colorado, in 1941, Rachel Brewster is a slalom skier at the National Downhill and Slalom Championships. Little Ray, as she is called, finishes nowhere near the podium, but she manages to get pregnant. Back home, in New England,…
Queen Esther
novel · 2025

After forty years, John Irving returns to the world of his bestselling classic novel and Academy Award–winning film, The Cider House Rules, revisiting the orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Dr. Wilbur Larch takes in Esther—a…

Nonfiction (2)

The Imaginary Girlfriend
memoir · 1995

Dedicated to the memory of two wrestling coaches and two writer friends, The Imaginary Girlfriend is John Irving's candid memoir of his twin careers in writing and wrestling. The award-winning author of best-selling novels from The World…
My Movie Business
memoir · 1999

John Irving's memoir begins with his account of the distinguished career and medical writings of the novelist's grandfather Dr. Frederick C. Irving, a renowned obstetrician and gynecologist, and includes Mr. Irving's incisive history of…

Short fiction (1)

Trying to Save Piggy Sneed
short-fiction-and-nonfiction-collection · 1993

A collection of one dozen short works includes the title piece, a loving portrait of the author's grandmother, and additional stories, including "The Pension Grillparzer" and "Dinner at the White House" Here is a treat for John Irving…

Children's books (1)

A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound
children's-picture-book · 2003

When a young boy wakes up in the middle of the night, an unfamiliar sound conjures frightening images in his mind.

Plays (1)

The Cider House Rules: A Screenplay
screenplay · 1999

Frequently asked questions about John Irving

Who is John Irving, and what is he known for?

John Irving is an American-Canadian novelist and screenwriter born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942. He is known for internationally popular literary fiction and lives in Toronto.

Source: john-irving.com (opens in a new tab)

What was John Irving’s birth name, and why did he change it?

He was born John Wallace Blunt Jr. In 1948, his stepfather, Colin Irving, legally adopted him, and his name became John Winslow Irving.

Source: achievement.org (opens in a new tab)

What influenced John Irving’s writing?

Irving has cited Charles Dickens—especially Great Expectations—as a major influence on his plotted, character-driven style. His own experiences with wrestling, Vienna, and New England schools also recur in his fiction.

Source: john-irving.com (opens in a new tab)

What major awards has John Irving won?

He won the 1980 National Book Award for The World According to Garp and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules at the 72nd Oscars.

Sources: nationalbook.org (opens in a new tab)awardsdatabase.oscars.org (opens in a new tab)

What themes define John Irving’s literary legacy?

Irving is especially associated with unconventional families, tolerance for sexual minorities, moral conflict, and social justice. His books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages.

Source: john-irving.com (opens in a new tab)