41 1953 British novels

After the Funeral is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1953 under the title of Funerals are Fatal and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 18 May of the same year under Christie's original title. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6).

Beyond This Place is a novel by Scottish author A. J. Cronin first published in 1950. The first edition for Australia and New Zealand was in 1953. A serial version appeared in Collier's under the title of To Live Again.

Casino Royale is the first novel by the British author Ian Fleming. Published in 1953, it is the first James Bond book, and it paved the way for a further eleven novels and two short story collections by Fleming, followed by numerous continuation Bond novels by other authors.

The Charioteer is a war novel by Mary Renault first published in London in 1953. Renault's US publisher (Morrow) refused to publish it until 1959 due to its generally positive portrayal of homosexuality. The Charioteer is significant because it features a prominent - and positive - gay theme at an early date and quickly became a bestseller - particularly within the gay community.

Childhood's End is a 1953 science fiction novel by the British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival begins decades of apparent utopia under indirect alien rule, at the cost of human identity and culture.

Cotillion is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer that was released in 1953. It is one of the most light-hearted of Heyer's romances, avoiding the mystery, intrigue, and sensational events present in many of her novels. The story is set in 1816.

The Fair Bride is a 1953 novel by Scottish writer Bruce Marshall.

Fear to Tread is a mystery–crime thriller by the British mystery writer Michael Gilbert, first published in 1953 by Hodder and Stoughton in England and by Harper & Brothers in the United States. Set mostly in London, it was his seventh novel in six years and built upon the favourable reputation he had achieved earlier with the well-received Smallbone Deceased and Death Has Deep Roots. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award.It is one of numerous stories and novels by Gilbert presenting a gritty, realistic depiction of organized gangs, frequently directed by a deeply concealed mastermind who is not unearthed until the final pages.

For the post-punk band see Five Go Down to the Sea?

Five Roundabouts to Heaven is a 1953 thriller novel by the British writer John Bingham. It was published in the United States by Dodd Mead using the alternative title The Tender Poisoner. It was his second published novel following his debut My Name Is Michael Sibley the previous year.

The Go-Between is a novel by L.P. Hartley published in 1953. His best-known work, it has been adapted several times for stage and screen. The book gives a critical view of society at the end of the Victorian era through the eyes of a naïve schoolboy outsider.

Hornblower and the Atropos is a 1953 historical novel by C.S. Forester.

In the Wet is a novel by Nevil Shute that was first published in the United Kingdom in 1953. It contains many of the typical elements of a hearty and adventurous Shute yarn such as flying, the future, mystic states, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Jane and Prudence is the third novel by Barbara Pym, first published in 1953.

A Kid for Two Farthings is a 1953 novel by the British writer Wolf Mankowitz, based on the author's experiences of growing up within a Jewish community in London's East End.

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table is a novel for children written by Roger Lancelyn Green. It was first published by Puffin Books in 1953 and has since been reprinted. In 2008 it was reissued in the Puffin Classics series with an introduction by David Almond, and the original illustrations by Lotte Reiniger.

The Kraken Wakes is an apocalyptic science fiction novel by John Wyndham, originally published by Michael Joseph in the United Kingdom in 1953, and first published in the United States in the same year by Ballantine Books under the title Out of the Deeps as a mass market paperback. The title is a reference to Alfred Tennyson's sonnet The Kraken.

The Long Goodbye is a novel by Raymond Chandler, published in 1953, his sixth novel featuring the private investigator Philip Marlowe. Some critics consider it inferior to The Big Sleep or Farewell, My Lovely, but others rank it as the best of his work. Chandler, in a letter to a friend, called the novel "my best book".

The Lost Planet is a 1953 juvenile science fiction novel by Angus MacVicar, published by Burke, London. It is the first of the popular novel series The Lost Planet, which was adapted for radio and television.

The Lotus and the Wind is a spy novel by John Masters published in 1953. It continues his saga of the Savage family, who are part of the British Raj in India, and is set against the backdrop of the Great Game, the period of tension between Britain and Russia in Central Asia during the late nineteenth century.

Love Among the Ruins: A Romance of the Near Future is a 1953 novel by Evelyn Waugh. It is a satire set in a dystopian, quasi-egalitarian Britain.

Love for Lydia is a semi-autobiographical novel written by British author H. E. Bates, first published in 1952.

The Marlows and the Traitor is the second in the series of novels about the Marlow family by Antonia Forest, first published in 1953. The story is set during the Easter holidays in a small fishing village on the South Coast. It is the first in the series to feature sailing and the first to have a major male character. In fact there are two significant male characters, Peter Marlow and the traitor. This story, more than most in the series, focuses on the younger members of the family. In the introduction to the Girls Gone By edition of The Marlows and the Traitor, Forest admits she never intended to write a series of books about the Marlows. At the time of writing the Nuremberg Trials were happening and Forest decided to write a book about a traitor. Only then did it occur to her to use the Marlows in the book.

Mr Pye is a 1953 novel by English novelist Mervyn Peake.

Mr. Stimpson and Mr. Gorse is a 1953 novel by Patrick Hamilton, the second in the Gorse Trilogy.

The Mystery of Holly Lane is a 1953 mystery novel by English author, Enid Blyton and the eleventh book in Enid Blyton's Mystery Series featuring the Five Find-Outers.

One in Three Hundred is a science fiction novel by British writer J. T. McIntosh. It was originally published as three novellas in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1953-54, and was then published by Doubleday & Company, Inc.. During 1956 the novel was reissued by Ace as Ace Double D-113, in a dos-à-dos binding with Dwight V. Swain's The Transposed Man.

A Pocket Full of Rye is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 9 November 1953, and in the US by Dodd, Mead & Co. the following year. The UK edition retailed at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6) and the US edition at $2.75. The book features her detective Miss Marple.

Warleggan is the fourth of twelve novels in Poldark, a series of historical novels by Winston Graham. It was published in 1953.

The Present and the Past (1953) is a novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett about the head of a family who, although outwardly powerful and in charge, is suffering under the fact that he is being belittled and at some point even outright ignored by family and servants alike.

Queen Jezebel is a 1953 historical novel by Jean Plaidy first published by Robert Hale in the UK.

Ring for Jeeves is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 22 April 1953 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 15 April 1954 by Simon & Schuster, New York, under the title The Return of Jeeves.

Ring Out Bow Bells! is a children's historical novel by Cynthia Harnett. It was first published in London in 1953, and in New York as The Drawbridge Gate in 1954. In 1984 a US edition was published under the title of The Sign of the Green Falcon. It is the story of an apprentice in the time of Henry V, when Dick Whittington was Lord Mayor of London.

The Rose in Splendour: A Story of the Wars of Lancaster and York is an historical novel by Leslie Barringer. It was first published by Phoenix House in 1953.

The Silver Chair is a children's fantasy novel by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1953. It was the fourth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956); it is volume six in recent editions, which are sequenced according to Narnian history. Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions.

Simon is a children's historical novel written by Rosemary Sutcliff, first published in 1953. It is set during the First English Civil War, primarily focusing on the final campaign of 1645-1646 in the West Country and shows the effect of the conflict on two friends, who find themselves on opposite sides.

The Singer Not the Song is a 1953 novel by the British writer Audrey Erskine Lindop. It was published in the United States by Pocket Books under the alternative title of The Bandit and the Priest. A priest sent to a small Mexican town engages in a moral battle with a local bandit.

The Sixth Wife is a 1953 historical novel by noted novelist Jean Plaidy. It recounts the tale of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII, King of England. The novel covers the life of Catherine as Queen, and her fearful feeling of being replaced in the King's eyes. Though the novel conveys Catherine's life, several other characters' lives are foreshadowed as well. Catherine's family play a key role including her sister Anne Parr Herbert, her stepdaughter Elizabeth, niece Jane Grey, doomed friend Anne Askew, rivals Thomas Wriothesley, Stephen Gardiner, Henry Howard, Anne Stanhope, Mary Howard Fitzroy the Dowager Duchess of Richmond and former romantic interest Thomas Seymour. The novel unfolds over a period of five years, recounting Catherine's rise as Queen Consort to her death as Dowager Queen.

Sundry Creditors is a 1953 novel by the British writer Nigel Balchin. A Midlands engineering company is inherited from his elder brother by a ruthless businessmen who attempts to seize total control and alienates almost everybody he encounters.

A Sunset Touch is a 1953 novel by the British writer Howard Spring.

The Victorian Chaise-Longue (1953) is a novella by the English novelist Marghanita Laski. Published in 1953, the book describes the experience of an invalided young woman who wakes up in the body of her alter-ego eighty years previously. Described by Anthony Boucher as 'relentlessly terrifying', and as 'disturbing and compulsive' by Penelope Lively, the novella plays on the fear of the unexpected and unknown.