Which Is World’s Longest Novel?

You may have read many books, but do you know the total words it had? Probably not. When we read a book or novel, it’s the number of pages that we may notice. In most cases, the usual set of books and novels we read has up to 100,000 words on an average.

But some books are extra-long and come in multiple volumes. Reading these can require a great deal of patience. It also makes us wonder about the time and effort that has gone into writing these mega books. To give you an idea, here’s a look at some of the world’s longest novels in terms of word count.

Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus – Written in French, Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus is considered to be the work of French writer Georges de Scudéry. However, experts are of the opinion that the writer’s sister along with fellow writer Madeleine had also contributed to the novel. The book was first published in 17th century in ten volumes. The book has 1,954,300 words in total.

Men of Good Will (Les Hommes de bonne volonté) – Originally written in French by Jules Romains, Les Hommes de bonne volonté was published during 1932 and 1946 in 27 volumes. The book was later published in English, wherein it came in 14 volumes. The novel has an expansive plot and covers the stories of a large number of individuals. The passage of time covered in the book runs through Word War I and ends close to the beginning of second World War. In its English version, the book has a total of 2,070,000 words.

Devta – A fantasy thriller novel, Devta was written by Mohiuddin Nawab in Urdu language. It was originally published as a monthly series in Pakistani magazine Suspense Digest. It ran through 1977 to 2010, covering a period of 33 years. The book is primarily about a fictional character Farhad Ali Taimoor, who has telepathic powers. Devta novel has 56 volumes and a total of 2,206,310 words.

Venmurasu – Based on a modern interpretation of Indian classical epic Mahabharata, Venmurasu was written in Tamil language by Jeyamohan. Even when writing every day, it took the writer around 6 years to complete the book. Venmurasu is available in 26 volumes and has 22,400 pages. Total words are estimated to be around 2,300,000.

A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight – Published in English language, A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight is the world’s longest novel. It was authored by Henry Williamson. The novel was originally published in 1951-1969. The book is essentially based on the real story of the author. It covers the passage of time when the author’s parents met and his own experiences during World War I. The book has 15 volumes and total word count is 2,436,924 words.