Best novels set in that long period before history was written down.

For novels written about ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc., see Best Novels Set in the Ancient World
1

by
4.10 avg rating — 281,807 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.04 avg rating — 95,879 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
3.96 avg rating — 77,524 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.86 avg rating — 61,909 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
3.88 avg rating — 51,974 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.46 avg rating — 37,009 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
3.90 avg rating — 9,965 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.98 avg rating — 8,769 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.04 avg rating — 8,551 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.05 avg rating — 2,762 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.19 avg rating — 3,345 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.02 avg rating — 24,623 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,900 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.29 avg rating — 3,085 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.05 avg rating — 1,650 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.22 avg rating — 2,251 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.22 avg rating — 2,979 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.51 avg rating — 5,564 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,666 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.23 avg rating — 1,973 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.09 avg rating — 945 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.14 avg rating — 4,265 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.19 avg rating — 2,637 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.27 avg rating — 2,206 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.14 avg rating — 1,288 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.24 avg rating — 1,834 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
3.94 avg rating — 65 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.26 avg rating — 2,004 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.96 avg rating — 9,677 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.21 avg rating — 29,220 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.97 avg rating — 8,882 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,425 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,834 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.09 avg rating — 674 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.02 avg rating — 1,022 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,957 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.10 avg rating — 106 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.11 avg rating — 814 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.10 avg rating — 837 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
4.16 avg rating — 687 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.77 avg rating — 4,822 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.08 avg rating — 548 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.99 avg rating — 1,703 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.27 avg rating — 20,490 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.30 avg rating — 661 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.05 avg rating — 402 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.60 avg rating — 300 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,506 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.82 avg rating — 2,049 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.35 avg rating — 1,147 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.06 avg rating — 77 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.27 avg rating — 15 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.06 avg rating — 699 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.14 avg rating — 455 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.26 avg rating — 1,116 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
3.54 avg rating — 28 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.84 avg rating — 822 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.23 avg rating — 30 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.85 avg rating — 3,683 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.66 avg rating — 9,985 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.94 avg rating — 751 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.30 avg rating — 20 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.24 avg rating — 798 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.07 avg rating — 665 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.40 avg rating — 856 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.38 avg rating — 271 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.38 avg rating — 26 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.84 avg rating — 492 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.12 avg rating — 42 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.56 avg rating — 57 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,675 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.92 avg rating — 53 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.61 avg rating — 148 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,025 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.87 avg rating — 1,903 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.87 avg rating — 1,676 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.43 avg rating — 600 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.40 avg rating — 525 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.17 avg rating — 229 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.96 avg rating — 220 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.92 avg rating — 78 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.25 avg rating — 91 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
4.07 avg rating — 219 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.82 avg rating — 56 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.81 avg rating — 32 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.75 avg rating — 44 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.66 avg rating — 522 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.13 avg rating — 317 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.93 avg rating — 5,176 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.02 avg rating — 4,334 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.15 avg rating — 26 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.54 avg rating — 92 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
3.96 avg rating — 222 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.69 avg rating — 13,465 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.75 avg rating — 113 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.62 avg rating — 228 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
4.29 avg rating — 573 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
4.05 avg rating — 49,471 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
3.83 avg rating — 273 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
4.01 avg rating — 86 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
170 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Linda 1638 books
105 friends
Susan 9010 books
691 friends
Deidre 3492 books
105 friends
Andrea 119 books
6 friends
Megan 611 books
65 friends
Alison 791 books
17 friends
Jj873 634 books
115 friends
Amber 18 books
2 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-31 of 31 (31 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads I see Ms. Auel's latest in the adventures of Ayla, The Land of Painted Caves, has 25 copies up for grabs in GR's First Reads program.


message 2: by Linda (new)

Linda I don't know what the first reads program is. I'll have to check it out.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads It's under the arrow at "explore," listed as "giveaways." I found it fairly high up under the "recently listed" tab. Should be fairly high up under "popular authors" as well.


message 4: by Betty (new)

Betty Excuse me but since when do Sense And Sensibility or the Irish Rebellion of 1916 belong in the pre-history category!?!


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads For that matter, both House of Echoes (seems to be set at an English manor house) and Beard (about the World Beard and Mustache Championships) seem odd choices for this list.

You want me to remove anything, Linda?


message 6: by Linda (new)

Linda Yes, please. This is strange. I'm the one who originally made this list and I haven't been back to look at it for quite a while. I didn't even realize that some of these books had been added. Some of the ones I'm seeing don't really fit this category, do they? Although they may be wonderful books, they aren't PREhistory.


message 7: by Betty (new)

Betty I just feel that OT additions dilute or 'crowd' what is otherwise an interesting list and focused resource for books of a particular subject.

...btw I just remembered that my sis has an old copy of Reindeer Moon (with the alternative cover) - I should borrow it! :)


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Which books would you like removed, Linda?


message 9: by Linda (new)

Linda You're right, Betty.

Susanna - I guess we want to start be removing House of Echoes, Irish Rebellion, and Sense and Sensibility.I haven't looked any further to see what else may have gotten put in here accidentally. How can they be removed?


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads It'll need a GR Librarian; I can do it.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Alrighty, I removed House of Echoes, Irish Rebellion, and Sense and Sensibility.


message 12: by Linda (new)

Linda Actually I have the Librarian status too, but I never use it for anything. I don't know how to remove things so thanks for doing this :-)


message 13: by Linda (new)

Linda Now I'm seeing other ones too. I don't know if people are doing this by accident, or what, but here are some more I found that don't belong on this list:

*Beard
*At Road's End

There may be more, I'll look again when I get a chance. Thanks, Susanna!


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Linda wrote: "Actually I have the Librarian status too, but I never use it for anything. I don't know how to remove things so thanks for doing this :-)"

No problem!

It's pretty easy, actually; go to where it says "edit" under the list title, and at the bottom of the options it will say "remove particular books."


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Removed Beard. Couldn't find At Road's End on list (I'm pretty sleepy!).


message 16: by Linda (new)

Linda At Road's End is number 11. Thank you very much :-)


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads I got it; thanks for telling me where it was.


message 18: by Katrina (new)

Katrina Deleted The Color Purple as it's not pre-history.


message 19: by Debbie is on Storygraph (last edited Feb 15, 2013 10:27AM) (new)

Debbie is on Storygraph I think someone got confused on what list they were on. Deleted Comanche Moon, Comanche Heart, Kiss of Crimson, Midnight Awakening, Pleasure Unbound, Lover Revealed, Dead the World, Lover Unbound, and Lover Eternal - all westerns or paranormal romances.

Also deleted Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.


message 20: by Linda (new)

Linda LOL! Yes, they were definitely on the wrong list, weren't they? Thanks for cleaning up :-)


message 21: by Garth (new)

Garth I'm glad The Clan of the Cave Bear is at the top of the list.

I don't know if you've read many cave man novels, but most of them are pretty awful. The Clan of the Cave Bear is a notable exception. A little over the top at times, but it's a fun way to learn about how life might have been for our ancestors.

Here's a post I wrote about The Clan of the Cave Bear for Newsworthy Novels, a blog that matches novels to today's headlines (this post was for an article about a new study on Neanderthals): http://newsworthynovels.blogspot.com/...


message 22: by Susan (new)


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads You add books to the list at the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."


message 24: by Susan (new)

Susan Susanna wrote: "You add books to the list at the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes.""

Sorry, I am new to all of this. This was the first time I have added a book to any lists (other than my own account). Thanks for the instructions.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads No problem. It's not as obvious as GR seems to think.


message 26: by SMi (new)

SMi There is a duplicate: The Plains of Passage (Earth's Children #4) is currently listed as both 4 and 68.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads I combined duplicates - that should have gotten it.


message 28: by posthuman (last edited Aug 12, 2019 04:32PM) (new)

posthuman Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson is a wonderful story in this setting


message 29: by [deleted user] (new)

Sisters of the black moon by F.J Pesando


message 30: by Asterope (last edited Feb 14, 2023 06:37AM) (new)

Asterope Not sure if it should be deleted from the list -- #44
Aztec
Set during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire in 1500s.
Doesn't seem pre-history to me. But it might depend on how one defines that I guess.


message 31: by A Hoppy Reader (new)

A Hoppy Reader Removed Outlander books set th 1700's.


back to top



Related News

The friends-to-lovers plot is a familiar trajectory, in fiction and in life. It’s a path to good times! And bad times. And, as many can attest,...

Anyone can add books to this list.