58 1957 American novels

The Assistant is the second novel by Bernard Malamud, published in 1957. Set in a working-class neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, it explores the situation of first- and second-generation Americans in the early 1950s as experienced by three main characters and the relationships among them: an aging Jewish refugee from the Russian Empire who owns and operates a failing small grocery store; a young Italian American drifter trying to overcome a bad start in life by becoming the grocer's assistant; and the grocer's daughter, who becomes romantically involved with her father's assistant despite parental objections and misgivings of her own.

Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. Rand's fourth and final novel, it was also her longest, and the one she considered to be her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing. Atlas Shrugged includes elements of science fiction, mystery, and romance, and it contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction. The theme of Atlas Shrugged, as Rand described it, is "the role of man's mind in existence". The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism. In doing so, it expresses the advocacy of reason, individualism, and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw to be the failures of governmental coercion.

Big Planet is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance. It is the first novel sharing the same setting, an immense, but metal-poor and backward world called Big Planet.

The Big War is the second novel of Anton Myrer, published by Appleton-Century-Crofts in 1957. While Myrer is best known for his 1968 novel Once an Eagle, this was his first commercial and critical success.

Bunny Lake Is Missing is a 1957 novel by Merriam Modell set in New York City.

By Love Possessed is a novel written by James Gould Cozzens in the middle 1950s. It was published on August 26, 1957, by Harcourt Brace and Company, and became a critically acclaimed best-seller. In 1960, it was awarded the William Dean Howells Medal, an award given every five years to the best novel of the previous five years.

Calico Captive is Elizabeth George Speare's first historical fiction children's novel. It was inspired by the true story of Susanna Willard Johnson (1730–1810) who, along with her family and younger sister, were kidnapped in an Abenakis Indian raid on Charlestown, New Hampshire in August 1754.

Citizen of the Galaxy is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in Astounding Science Fiction and published in hardcover in 1957 as one of the Heinlein juveniles by Scribner's. The story is heavily influenced by Rudyard Kipling's Kim.

City on the Moon is a science fiction novel by Murray Leinster. This story was first published by Avalon Books in 1957. City on the Moon forms part of the To the Stars series by the same author, with two preceding books being Space Platform and Space Tug. It was released in 1958 by Ace Books under authority from Thomas Bouregy & Co using their Ace Double imprint reference number D-277. The novel details the events that unfold subsequent to an apparent sabotage attempt made against a lunar jeep on its return journey to the multinational civilian lunar city.

The Cosmic Puppets is a science fiction novel by American author Philip K. Dick, published in 1957. It is a revision of A Glass of Darkness, first published in the December 1956 issue of Satellite Science Fiction.

Dandelion Wine is a 1957 novel by Ray Bradbury set in the summer of 1928 in the fictional town of Green Town, Illinois, based upon Bradbury's childhood home of Waukegan, Illinois. The novel developed from the short story "Dandelion Wine", which appeared in the June 1953 issue of Gourmet magazine.

Danny Dunn on a Desert Island is the second novel in the Danny Dunn series of juvenile science fiction/adventure books written by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams. The book was first published in 1957 and originally illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats.

David and the Phoenix is a 1957 children's novel about a young boy's adventures with a phoenix. It was the first published book by American children's writer Edward Ormondroyd.

A Death in the Family is an autobiographical novel by author James Agee, set in Knoxville, Tennessee. He began writing it in 1948, but it was not quite complete when he died in 1955. It was edited and released posthumously in 1957 by editor David McDowell. Agee's widow and children were left with little money after Agee's death and McDowell wanted to help them by publishing the work. Agee won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1958 for the novel. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923.

Deep Water is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith, first published in 1957 by Harper & Brothers. It is Highsmith's fifth published novel, the working title originally being The Dog in the Manger. It was brought back into print in the US in 2003 by W. W. Norton & Company.

The Dice Spelled Murder, by American novelist Al Fray, was published in 1957 by Dell Publishing Company, Inc. as a Dell (paperback) First Edition. The jacket notes to Fray's subsequent novel, Come Back for More, refer to The Dice Spelled Murder as a "best selling" novel.

The Door into Summer is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. It was published in hardcover in 1957. The novel is largely hard science fiction, but includes elements of fantasy and a romance.

Empire of the Atom is a science fiction novel by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt. It was first published in 1957 by Shasta Publishers in an edition of 2,000 copies. The novel is a fix-up of the first five of van Vogt's Gods stories, which originally appeared in the magazine Astounding. The remaining Gods stories are combined in the sequel The Wizard of Linn. A genealogical chart of the ruling family of the Empire of Linn is included.

The Executioners is a psychological thriller-suspense novel written by John D. MacDonald, published in 1957.

Eye in the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, originally published in 1957.

Fire, Burn! is a historical mystery novel by John Dickson Carr. It is about a police officer who is transported back in time to 1829 when the British police was first formed. Carr considered this one of his best impossible crime novels.

The Flesh Mask is a novel by American author Jack Vance.

The Flower Drum Song is a novel by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee, first published in 1957. The novel tells the story of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, and was a bestseller in its time. It is the basis of 1958 musical Flower Drum Song, and later a movie of the same title, released in 1961, starring Nancy Kwan and James Shigeta.

"Get Out of My Sky" is a 1957 science fiction novella by American writer James Blish. It was first published by the magazine Astounding Science Fiction in January and February 1957. The story is about two planets, Home and Rathe, whose inhabitants are in contact, and the consequences of this contact are explored.

Gone-Away Lake is a children's novel written by Elizabeth Enright, illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush, and published by Harcourt in 1957. It was a runner-up for the annual Newbery Medal and was named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list in 1970. It tells the story of cousins who spend a summer exploring and discover a lost lake and the two people who still live there.

The Great Wheel is Robert Lawson's final children's book, published in 1957, the year of his death. It was posthumously named as a Newbery Honor book in 1958.

The Green Odyssey is an American science fiction novel written by Philip José Farmer. It was Farmer's first book-length publication, originally released by Ballantine in 1957. Unlike Farmer's most prolific earlier short story work, this book contains no sexual themes, though his next book Flesh returned to these motifs. The novel also appeared in the background of the first episode of The Twilight Zone.

The Haunted Showboat is the thirty-fifth book in the Nancy Drew mystery series. It was first published in 1957 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.

The Hell Bent Kid is a 1957 American Western novel by Charles O. Locke.

Henry and the Paper Route is a book of Henry Huggins series that was written by Beverly Cleary and illustrated by Louis Darling. It was written in 1957 and focused on the main character Henry Huggins' attempts to get a paper route, despite his young age.

If Death Ever Slept is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1957 and collected in the omnibus volume Three Trumps.

Islands of Space is a science fiction novel by American writer John W. Campbell Jr. It was first published in book form in 1957 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 1,417 copies. The novel originally appeared in the magazine Amazing Stories Quarterly; the text was "extensively edited" for book publication, with Campbell's approval, by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach. A paperback edition was published by Ace Books in 1966. In 1973, Islands was included in a Doubleday omnibus of all three "Arcot, Wade, and Morey" novels. A German translation appeared in 1967 as Kosmische Kreuzfahrt, and an Italian translation was published in 1976 as Isole nello spazio.

The Kill-Off is an American crime novel by Jim Thompson first published in 1957, and reprinted by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard in 1999. The novel is a bleak tale of murder in a small, dying resort town being torn apart by gossip, racism, incest, alcoholism and financial difficulties. It was adapted into a film in 1990.

Letter from Peking is a 1957 novel by Pearl S. Buck. The story is about a loving interracial marriage between Gerald and Elizabeth MacLeod, their separation due to the communist uprising in China in 1949, and their separate lives in China and America.

Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter is the fifth novel in the Lucky Starr series, six juvenile science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov that originally appeared under the pseudonym Paul French. The novel was first published by Doubleday & Company in August 1957. It is the only novel by Asimov set in the Jovian system.

Mach 1: A Story of Planet Ionus is a 1957 science fiction novel by Allen A. Adler. A paperback version was published in 1966 by Paperback Library with the alternate title Terror on Planet Ionus.

Mandingo is a novel by Kyle Onstott, published in 1957. The book is set in the 1830s in the antebellum South primarily around Falconhurst, a fictional plantation in Alabama owned by the planter Warren Maxwell. The narrative centers on Maxwell, his son Hammond, and the Mandingo slave Ganymede, or Mede. Mandingo is a tale of cruelty toward the black people of that time and place, detailing the overwhelmingly dehumanizing behavior meted out to the slaves, as well as vicious fights, poisoning, and violent death. The novel was made into a film of the same name in 1975.

No-No Boy is a 1957 novel, and the only novel published by the Japanese American writer John Okada. It tells the story of a Japanese-American in the aftermath of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Set in Seattle, Washington, in 1946, the novel is written in the voice of an omniscient narrator who frequently blends into the voice of the protagonist.

Odd Girl Out is a lesbian pulp fiction novel written in 1957 by Ann Bannon. It is the first in a series of pulp fiction novels that eventually came to be known as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. It was originally published in 1957 by Gold Medal Books, again in 1983 by Naiad Press, and again in 2001 by Cleis Press. Each edition was adorned with a different cover. Not until 1983 did author Ann Bannon learn that her first novel was the second best-selling paperback of 1957.

On the Road is a 1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use. The novel is a roman à clef, with many key figures of the Beat movement, such as William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Neal Cassady represented by characters in the book, including Kerouac himself as the narrator Sal Paradise.

A Planet for Texans is a science-fiction novel written by Henry Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire. It was first published in the March 1957 issue of Fantastic Universe as Lone Star Planet and first published in book form in Ace Double D-299 in 1958. The story originated in a suggestion by H. L. Mencken and presents a world on which the assassination of politicians is accepted practice. It eventually won a Prometheus Hall of Fame Award in 1999.

Pnin is Vladimir Nabokov's 13th novel and his fourth written in English; it was published in 1957. The success of Pnin in the United States launched Nabokov's career into literary prominence. Its eponymous protagonist, Timofey Pavlovich Pnin, is a Russian-born assistant professor in his 50s living in the United States, whose character is believed to be based partially on the life of both Nabokov's colleague Marc Szeftel as well as on Nabokov himself. Exiled by the Russian Revolution and what he calls the "Hitler war", Pnin teaches Russian at the fictional Waindell College, loosely inspired by Cornell University and Wellesley College—places where Nabokov himself taught.

The Return of Conan is a 1957 fantasy novel written by Björn Nyberg and L. Sprague de Camp, featuring Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in hardcover by Gnome Press and in paperback by Lancer Books as part of the collection Conan the Avenger in 1968; in this form it has been reprinted a number of times since by various publishers. It has also been translated into Japanese, German and Spanish.

Riders of Judgment is the fifth book chronologically in Frederick Manfred's The Buckskin Man Tales, which trace themes through five novels set in the 19th Century Great Plains. The story fictionalizes Wyoming's Johnson County War, based on Manfred's original research. His analysis of events is close to the story as recounted in Helena Huntington Smith's The War on Powder River, which was published about ten years after Manfred's novel.

Rifles for Watie is a children's novel by American writer Harold Keith. It was first published in 1957, and received the Newbery Medal the following year.

Rocket to Limbo is a 1957 science fiction novel by Alan E. Nourse. It was first published in book form by David McKay Co., Inc, and was later incorporated into an Ace Double. It first appeared in the October 1957 issue of Satellite Science Fiction.

Rogue in Space is a science fiction novel by American writer Fredric Brown, first published in 1957. Brown expanded two earlier novelettes to form the novel.

The Secret of Pirates' Hill is Volume 36 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication is a novel by John Steinbeck published in 1957; his only political satire, the book pokes fun at French politics.

The Shrouded Planet is a 1957 science fiction novel published under the name "Robert Randall", actually the collaborative work of American writers Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett. It consists of three linked stories, each originally published separately in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Linking chapters were added for book release. The first book printing, by Gnome Press in New York, was small and did not sell well. This and the sequel novel, The Dawning Light, were reprinted 25 years later.

Solomon's Stone is a fantasy novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Unknown Worlds in June 1942. It was reprinted in the Summer 1949 issue of the British edition of Unknown, and then published in book form by Avalon Books in 1957.

Star Born is a science fiction novel by American writer Andre Norton, first published in 1957 by World Publishing Company of Cleveland. This is the sequel to The Stars Are Ours! and continues that adventure three generations on.

The Tall Stranger is a western novel by Louis L'Amour. It was written in 1957 and first published by Gold Medal Books. A filmed version starred Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo.

The Temple of Gold is a 1957 novel by William Goldman. It was Goldman's first novel, and launched his career.

Thomasina, the Cat Who Thought She Was God or Thomasina is a 1957 novel by Paul Gallico about a cat, owned by a child whose strict father must learn that love is powerful enough to help others. The book was adapted for the 1963 Disney film The Three Lives of Thomasina.

The Town is a novel by the American author William Faulkner, published in 1957, about the fictional Snopes family of Mississippi. It is the second of the "Snopes" trilogy, following The Hamlet (1940) and completed by The Mansion (1959).

The Velvet Horn is a 1957 novel by American novelist Andrew Nelson Lytle. At the time of its publication, it was very well received both because of its ambitious scope, complex and dynamic style, mythical character and diversity of characters. Because of these characteristics, some critics compared the novel to James Joyce's Ulysses.

Wild Town is a crime novel by Jim Thompson, published in 1957. It weaves together threads of murder, embezzlement, blackmail, and seduction in the post oil boom West Texas of the 1920s. The various locations and characters are all highly influenced by Thompson's jobs and homes growing up and living in Oklahoma and Texas.