A Better Life
novel · First published 2026
Author guide
Lionel Shriver Books in Order
Lionel Shriver is an American novelist and journalist whose work often examines family, identity, morality, politics, economics, health, and social conformity. Her novels include We Need to Talk About Kevin, which won the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction, as well as The Post-Birthday World, So Much for That, Big Brother, The Mandibles, Should We Stay or Should We Go, and Mania. She has also published a novella, a collection of short fiction, and a collection of essays. Shriver has written extensively for newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harper's Magazine, and The Spectator.
literary fictionpsychological fictionsocial satiredystopian fictionnovellashort storiesessays
Catalog record updated .
Lionel Shriver's Newest Book
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Her breakthrough and most widely recognized novel, winner of the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (17)
- The Female of the Species
novel · 1987
Still unattached and childless at fifty-nine, world-renowned anthropologist Gray Kaiser is seemingly invincible-and untouchable. Returning to make a documentary at the site of her first great triumph in Kenya, she is accompanied by her…
- Checker and the Derailleurs
novel · 1988
Beautiful and charismatic, nineteen-year-old Checker Secretti is the most gifted and original drummer that the club-goers of Astoria, Queens, have ever heard. When he plays, conundrums seem to solve themselves, brilliant thoughts spring…
- The Bleeding Heart
novel · 1990
- Game Control
novel · 1994
Eleanor Merritt, a do-gooding American family-planning worker, was drawn to Kenya to improve the lot of the poor. Unnervingly, she finds herself falling in love with the beguiling Calvin Piper despite, or perhaps because of, his…
- A Perfectly Good Family
novel · 1996
Following the death of her worthy liberal parents, Corlis McCrea moves back into her family's grand Reconstruction mansion in North Carolina, willed to all three siblings. Her timid younger brother has never left home. When her bullying…
- Double Fault
novel · 1997
Tennis has been Willy Novinsky's one love ever since she first picked up a racquet at the age of four. A middle-ranked pro at twenty-three, she's met her match in Eric Oberdorf, a low-ranked, untested Princeton grad who also intends to…
- We Need to Talk About Kevin
novel · 2003
The gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry. "Eva never really wanted to be a mother -- and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and…
- The Post-Birthday World
novel · 2007
In this eagerly awaited new novel, Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, delivers an imaginative and entertaining look at the implications, large and small, of whom we…
- So Much for That
novel · 2010
"A novel about a crumbling marriage resurrected in the face of illness, and a family's struggle to come to terms with disease, dying, and the cost of medical care in modern America"--Provided by publisher.
- The New Republic
novel · 2012
"Ostracized as a kid, Edgar Kellogg has always yearned to be popular. A disgruntled New York corporate lawyer, he's more than ready to leave his lucrative career for the excitement and uncertainty of journalism. When he's offered the post…
- Big Brother
novel · 2013
When her massively overweight brother, a once slim, hip New York Jazz pianist, comes for a visit, Pandora is forced to choose between her exercise fanatic husband and her brother, who desperately needs her support in losing weight.
- The Mandibles: A Family, 2029–2047
novel · 2016
The brilliant new novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk about Kevin centres on three generations of The Mandible family as a fiscal crisis hits a near-future America. It is 2029. The Mandibles have been counting on…
- The Standing Chandelier
novella · 2017
- The Motion of the Body Through Space
novel · 2020
From the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin ‘Enjoyably abrasive... a compelling read... sardonic and elegant’ Evening Standard ‘Scabrously funny... few authors can be as entertainingly problematic as Shriver’…
- Should We Stay or Should We Go
novel · 2021
When her father dies, Kay Wilkinson can’t cry. Over ten years, Alzheimer’s had steadily eroded this erudite man into a paranoid lunatic. Surely one’s own father passing should never come as such a relief. Both medical professionals, Kay…
- Mania
novel · 2024
What if calling someone stupid was illegal? In a reality not too distant from our own, where the so-called Mental Parity Movement has taken hold, the worst thing you can call someone is 'stupid'. Everyone is equally clever, and…
- A Better Life
novel · 2026
Short fiction (1)
- Property: Stories Between Two Novellas
short-story-collection · 2018
Essays and speeches (1)
- Abominations: Selected Essays from a Career of Courting Self-Destruction
essay-collection · 2022
Novelist, cultural observer, and social satirist Lionel Shriver is among the sharpest talents of our age. A writer who embraces “under-expressed, unpopular or downright dangerous” points of view, she filets cherished shibboleths and the…
Frequently asked questions about Lionel Shriver
What was Lionel Shriver’s birth name, and why did she choose the name Lionel?
She was born Margaret Ann Shriver in Gastonia, North Carolina, and changed her name to Lionel at age 15 because she considered herself a tomboy who had grown up with brothers.
What is Lionel Shriver best known for?
She is best known for We Need to Talk About Kevin, an international bestseller. Her career also includes extensive journalism published in outlets such as The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
What inspired Lionel Shriver to write We Need to Talk About Kevin?
Shriver researched hundreds of articles about U.S. school shootings before beginning the novel, which centers on a difficult boy and his ambiguous relationship with his mother.
Which major literary awards has Lionel Shriver won?
She won the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction for We Need to Talk About Kevin and the 2014 BBC National Short Story Award for “Kilifi Creek.”
Sources: womensprize.com (opens in a new tab)theguardian.com (opens in a new tab)
Why is Lionel Shriver a controversial literary figure?
Her 2016 Brisbane Writers’ Festival speech defended writers’ freedom to write across cultural identities and criticized concerns about cultural appropriation, prompting substantial public backlash and debate.
Source: time.com (opens in a new tab)