This is a list of novelists from France. Novelists in this list should be notable in some way, and have Wikipedia articles on them.
See also French novelists Category Index.
Born before 1800
Honoré d'Urfé (1568–1625) Charles Sorel (c. 1602–1674) Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701) Madame de Lafayette (1634–1693), author of La Princesse de Clèves Alain-René Le Sage (1668–1747) Pierre de Marivaux (1688–1763) Voltaire (1694–1778), philosophe, satirist, playwright, author of Candide Françoise de Graffigny (1695–1758), author of Lettres d'une Péruvienne Abbé Prévost (1697–1763), author of Manon Lescaut Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1707–1777) Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), philosophe, author of Julie, or the New Heloise Denis Diderot (1713–1784), philosophe, author of Rameau's Nephew Marie Jeanne Riccoboni (1714–1792) Restif de la Bretonne (1734–1806) Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737–1814), author of Paul et Virginie Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), author of "Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man", Justine, The 120 Days of Sodom, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Juliette Choderlos de Laclos (1741–1803), author of Les Liaisons dangereuses Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (1766–1817) Benjamin Constant (1767–1830), author of Adolphe Sophie de Renneville (1772–1822), writer, editor, journalist François-René de Chateaubriand (1768–1848), author of Atala and René Étienne Pivert de Senancour (1770–1846) Charles Nodier (1780–1844) Stendhal (1783–1842), author of The Red and the Black, considered by some to be the first modern novel, and The Charterhouse of Parma Élise Voïart, (1786–1866), writer and translator Charles Paul de Kock (1793–1871) Antoinette Henriette Clémence Robert (1797–1872) Charles Dezobry (1798–1871), historian and historical novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), author of La Comédie Humaine, a series of novels presenting a full picture of France in the early 19th century
Born 1800–1900
Alexandre Dumas, père (1802–1870), author of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers Victor Hugo (1802–1885), author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables Prosper Mérimée (1803–1870), author of Carmen Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804–1869) George Sand (1804–1876), pseudonym of Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin, Baroness Dudevant Eugène Sue (1804–1857) Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808–1889) Alfred de Musset (1810–1857) Théophile Gautier (1811–1872) Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), author of Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896) Henri Murger (1822–1861), author of Scènes de la vie de bohème Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824–1895), author of La Dame aux camélias Edmond About (1828–1885) Jules Verne (1828–1905), writer of techno-thrillers like Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, and founding father of science fiction Pauline Cassin Caro (1828/34/35 - 1901), novelist Jules de Goncourt (1830–1870) Hector Malot (1830–1907) Émile Gaboriau (1832–1873), pioneer of modern detective fiction Eugène Le Roy (1836–1907) Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897) Émile Zola (1840–1902), naturalist, author of Germinal and Nana Anatole France (1844–1924) Léon Bloy (1846–1917) Brada (1847-1938) Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848–1907), author of À rebours and Là-bas Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) Pierre Loti (1850–1923) Élémir Bourges (1852–1925) Paul Bourget (1852–1935) René Bazin (1853–1932) Adolphe Chenevière (1855–19??) Maurice Barrès (1862–1923) Henri de Régnier (1864–1936) Jules Renard (1864–1910) Mathilde Alanic (1864-1948) Marie Léra (1864-1958) Juliette Heuzey (1865-1952) Romain Rolland (1866–1944), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1915 Gaston Leroux (1868–1927), author of The Phantom of the Opera and The Mystery of the Yellow Room which is recognized as the first locked room puzzle mystery novel Gabrielle Réval (1869-1938) André Gide (1869–1951) Henri Bordeaux (1870–1963) Marcel Proust (1871–1922), author of In Search of Lost Time, sometimes seen as the greatest modernist novel Colette (1873–1954), best known for Gigi and Chéri Alfred Jarry (1873–1907), satirist, inventor of Pataphysics Fanny Clar (1875-1944) Louisa Emily Dobrée (fl. –1917) Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1937 Louis Pergaud (1882–1915) Rose Combe (1883–1932) Georges Duhamel (1884–1966) François Mauriac (1885–1970), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1952 Jules Romains (1885–1972) Alain-Fournier (1886–1914) Ève Paul-Margueritte (1885-1971) Lucie Paul-Margueritte (1886-1955) René Maran (1887-1960) Georges Bernanos (1888–1948) Adrien Bertrand (1888–1917) Henri Bosco (1888–1976) Louis Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961), author of Journey to the End of the Night and Death on the Installment Plan or Mort à Crédit Henri de Montherlant (1895–1972) Jean Giono (1895–1970)
