The Guardian has amended its list of the 100 best novels of all time after discovering a data processing error that wrongly excluded Albert Camus's The Outsider.

The corrected list, published on 27 May, restores The Outsider at number 71. Willa Cather's My Ántonia has moved from position 100 to its correct place at 78. L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between, which had appeared in the flawed version, no longer features on the list at all.

The Guardian noted the changes in a correction appended to the feature: "This list was amended on 27 May 2026. A data processing error meant The Outsider by Albert Camus was omitted from an earlier version and enters at 71 and My Ántonia should have been at 78, not 100. The Go-Between is no longer on the list."

The ranking presents what the paper describes as "the greatest literature ever published in English, as voted for by authors, critics and academics worldwide."

The editorial team behind the list includes Charlotte Northedge, Liese Spencer, Justine Jordan, David Shariatmadari, Ella Creamer, Emma Loffhagen and Lisa Allardice, with production by Julia Longley, Nick Shave, Grainne Mooney and Katie Shimmon. The picture desk comprised Kate Edwards, Caroline Hunter, Louis Siroy and Sadie Gould, while design and development were handled by Barry Ainslie, Fred O'Brien, Pip Lev, Sara Ramsbottom, Rich Cousins, Maggie Murphy, Alessia Amitrano, Harry Fischer, Ellen Wishart and Tara Herman. Data and development credits go to Tom Richards, Seán Clarke and Luke Hoyland.

The correction matters beyond housekeeping. Camus's 1942 novel, published in English translation, is a fixture of any credible canon of world literature, and its absence from a list voted on by authors, critics and academics worldwide had already drawn scrutiny from readers. Cather's 1918 novel My Ántonia, a cornerstone of American frontier literature, was similarly undervalued at the list's foot when it belonged thirty-plus places higher.

Each displacement had a knock-on effect. With The Outsider entering at 71 and My Ántonia rising to 78, every title between those positions shifted down a place — and The Go-Between, Hartley's 1953 novel of class and betrayal, fell off the list entirely.

The Guardian has pointed readers to its standing corrections and clarifications page alongside the amended ranking. The revised list now stands as the definitive version of the paper's canon.