12 literary ane-hit wonders we wish had written more

oscar wilde picture of dorian gray

Oscar Wilde's sole novel was "The Film of Dorian Gray."
Wikipedia and Amazon
  • When we talk about one-hit wonders, information technology's assumed that musicians and songs are being discussed.
  • Notwithstanding, in that location are a off-white few literary ane-hit wonders — authors who wrote i huge striking novel, and then nothing ever again.
  • Ahead of National Book Lovers Day on August 9, we've compiled a list of these i-hitting wonders.
  • JD Salinger wrote multiple short stories and novellas, but only one novel: the classic "Catcher in the Rye."
  • Visit Insider'south homepage for more stories.

For every author that churns out dozens of books, like Stephen King or Jodi Picoult, there are those who have one great idea, and are never published again.

Sometimes, an author's life is cutting short earlier they get the chance to write another novel. Others are perfectionists who are never satisfied enough with their writing to put it out into the world over again.

From Oscar Wilde to Margaret Mitchell, here are 12 authors who can only be described as literary 1-striking wonders.

Emily Brontë died in 1848, simply one year after writing her one and only novel, "Wuthering Heights."

Brontë and "Wuthering Heights."
Public domain

The Brontë sisters all met untimely deaths, and Emily was no unlike. She died due to tuberculosis at historic period thirty, simply not before publishing "Wuthering Heights," a classic piece of English literature about two star-crossed lovers, Catherine and Heathcliff, that spans generations.

Anna Sewell's only novel, "Black Beauty" was completed simply one yr earlier she died.

Sewell and "Black Beauty."
Public domain and Penguin Random Firm

"Blackness Beauty" is a story told by a horse named Blackness Beauty, detailing how he goes from living on an idyllic English language farm to pulling cabs in London. Information technology was published in 1877, and has go 1 of the acknowledged children'due south books of all time.

"Black Beauty" was published when Sewell was 58 years one-time — not much is known well-nigh her career or life before then. Sadly, Sewell died simply five months after its publication.

Oscar Wilde wrote many plays, curt stories, and poems — only only one novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray."

Wilde and "The Picture of Dorian Gray."
Public domain and Amazon

In that location's no shortage of words written by Wilde, who became an accomplished playwright and poet during his 46 years. But he only ever published one novel, "The Picture of Dorian Grayness" in in 1890.

"Dorian Grayness," an exploration of morality through the eyes of a vain man, was controversial at the time — and withal is — for its homosexual themes. Wilde was eventually convicted for his "crimes" of sodomy and gross indecency in 1895. He died five years later.

Margaret Mitchell merely published "Gone with the Wind" during her lifetime.

Mitchell and "Gone with the Air current."
AP Images and Amazon

"Gone with the Current of air" tells the story of Scarlett O'Hara, a immature Southern woman living in the time of the Ceremonious War, and later Reconstruction. It was published in 1936, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the next year. Information technology was made into a film in 1939 — when adjusted for inflation, information technology's notwithstanding the highest-grossing movie of all fourth dimension.

Withal, the book and the film oasis't anile well, due to racist linguistic communication, stereotypical characters, and its romanticization of the Antebellum South and slavery — Mitchell chose to ignore the horrors of slavery for her own narrative. In a 1936 interview, she said of her upbringing: "In fact, I heard everything in the globe except that the Confederates lost the war. When I was ten years old, it was a violent shock to learn that General Lee had been defeated. I didn't believe information technology when I get-go heard it and I was indignant. I however find it difficult to believe, and then strong are childhood impressions."

Mitchell wrote the story while she was recovering from an ankle injury. She died in 1949, after getting struck by a drunk driver. In 1996, 47 years after her decease, a manuscript was discovered. It was published as "Lost Laysen," a novella set in the South Pacific.

"Lost Laysen" was found handwritten in two notebooks past the son of i of Mitchell'south ex-boyfriends, who discovered it while he was going through his father's correspondence with Mitchell — he had planned on donating the letters to a museum.

Ross Lockridge Jr. wrote ane novel in his short life, "Raintree County." Some consider it to be the Great American Novel.

Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor in the movie adaptation, and "Raintree County."
Apic/Getty Images and Amazon

Lockridge's Civil War epic "Raintree County" spans i,000 pages and decades, from pre-Ceremonious State of war to the Labor Movement of the 1920s, all told through the eyes of John "Johnny" Shawnessy. It follows him through the state of war as a soldier, through his career every bit a instructor, unsuccessful political leader, and playwright, and through multiple romantic relationships.

It was published in 1948, when Lockridge was 33 years erstwhile. Equally the book's popularity grew and his star began to rise, Lockridge began struggling with his mental health. He died by suicide in March 1948, a month afterwards The Atlantic called the volume, "the Great American Novel every newspaperman dreams of writing."

JD Salinger wrote multiple novellas and curt stories, simply "Catcher in the Rye" was his only novel.

Salinger and "Catcher in the Rye."
Amy Sancetta/AP Images

Salinger's only novel, "Catcher in the Rye," is about Holden Caulfield, a high schoolhouse student dealing with low and growing pains. It was published in 1951 as his start stand-lonely piece of work — he had previously had multiple curt stories published in magazines and journals.

Salinger, a notorious recluse, never wrote a total-length book again. In 1961, he published "Franny and Zooey," two related novellas, and two years afterwards "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction," another gear up of novellas.

"Three Early Stories" was published posthumously in 2014, and is a collection of three of his earliest short stories written in the '40s.

Ralph Ellison'southward only novel to exist published in his lifetime was "Invisible Homo." He struggled to consummate a 2d.

Ellison and "Invisible Man."
Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images and Penguin Random Firm

According to Amazon, the complex, decade-long plot of "Invisible Human being" tin be summed up every bit  the story of a man "growing upward in a blackness community in the Southward, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the principal spokesman of the Harlem branch of 'the Brotherhood,' and retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be."

Information technology was published in 1952 — the but other work published in Ralph Ellison's lifetime was "Shadow and Act," a collection of short stories and essays. Ellison died in 1994.

After the publication of "Invisible Man," Ellison spent the next 42 years writing a follow-up novel. While he is said to have written ii,000 pages by the time of his expiry, he was never able to turn them into a coherent novel. In 1999, a 368-page condensation of these pages was published called "Juneteenth." A longer version called "Three Days Before the Shooting" was published in 2010. All the same, information technology'southward impossible to say what the story would take been like if Ellison had been able to finish it himself.

For 55 years, Harper Lee'southward only published novel was American archetype, "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Lee and "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images and HarperCollins

"To Kill a Mockingbird," a story about a family in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, dealing with racism, loss of innocence, and classism, is one of the almost beloved books in American history, and a literary classic.

It was published in 1960, when Harper Lee was 34. For decades, Lee adamantly refused publicity and didn't publish another piece of piece of work — which is why it was surprising when "Become Prepare a Watchman," said to exist its sequel, was published in 2015, and to mixed reviews at best.

"Watchman" has since been considered a first draft of "To Impale a Mockingbird," thus keeping Lee a i-hit wonder.

Sylvia Plath wrote dozens, if not hundreds, of poems, but only published one novel, "The Bell Jar," before dying by suicide.

Plath and "The Bell Jar."
Bettmann/Getty Images and Amazon

Considered to exist semi-autobiographical, the 1963 novel "The Bell Jar" is about a immature woman living with depression , and struggling to observe her place in the world. The story's stop is where existent life and fiction tragically differ — while the protagonist of "The Bell Jar" goes to therapy and seeks assist for her mental illness, Plath died past suicide at the age of thirty.

Plath was rumored to be working on a second novel at the fourth dimension of her death, called "Double Exposure," only the manuscript has been lost since 1970.

Arthur Aureate completed "Memoirs of a Geisha" in 1997 and hasn't written anything since.

Gold and "Memoirs of a Geisha."
Vince Bucci/Getty Images and Penguin Random House

"Memoirs of a Geisha" is a historical fiction novel about a geisha living in mid-20th century Japan. Information technology was published in 1997 as Arthur Aureate'south first and only novel. It was a huge success, and fifty-fifty adapted by Steven Spielberg into a picture in 2005.

Gold has been serenity in the twenty years since its release. In a 2013 interview, he confirmed he was writing another novel, but it's yet to be released.

Mary Ann Shaffer'southward alone novel, "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Social club," was published posthumously in 2008.

Lily James in the film and "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society."
Netflix and Amazon

The novel was turned into a Netflix movie in 2018 starring Lily James and Michiel Huisman, a decade afterward it was published in 2008.

Before writing the novel, Shaffer worked as an editor, librarian, and in book stores, according to Penguin Random House. She first visited the British isle of Guernsey in the '70s, and decades later returned to the setting for her novel. Shaffer got ill, and asked her niece to help her edit and rewrite portions of the book before she died — and thus, her niece Annie Barrows is credited as a co-author.

The novel is about Juliet Ashton, a British author in the 1940s who is intrigued to learn well-nigh a a group called the Guernsey Literary and Tater Skin Society, which was formed as a cover during the German language occupation of the island. Every bit Juliet learns more than about the group and its members, she grows closer with one fellow member in particular.

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