I just planned to list some of my faves by decade. I start in 1890,s so we have to take all the early good stuff as read. Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Middlemarch, all of Dickens and so on.
1890; Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891)
00: Rudyard Kipling, Kim (1901)
10; D.H. Lawrence, Sons And Lovers (1913)
20; Virginia Woolf; Mrs Dalloway (1925)
30: Daphne du Maurier, Rebecka (1938)
40; George Orwell; Animal Farm (1945)
50; William Golding, Lord Of The Flies (1954)
60; Evelyn Waugh, Sword of Honour (wartrilogy, completed 1961)
70; Richard Adams, Watership Down (1972)
80; Pat Conroy, The Prince of Tides (1985)
90; Pat Barker, The Regeneration Trilogy (1991, 1993,1995)
00; Hilary Mantel; Wolf Hall (2007)
1890; Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891)
00: Rudyard Kipling, Kim (1901)
10; D.H. Lawrence, Sons And Lovers (1913)
20; Virginia Woolf; Mrs Dalloway (1925)
30: Daphne du Maurier, Rebecka (1938)
40; George Orwell; Animal Farm (1945)
50; William Golding, Lord Of The Flies (1954)
60; Evelyn Waugh, Sword of Honour (wartrilogy, completed 1961)
70; Richard Adams, Watership Down (1972)
80; Pat Conroy, The Prince of Tides (1985)
90; Pat Barker, The Regeneration Trilogy (1991, 1993,1995)
00; Hilary Mantel; Wolf Hall (2007)