It was soon acclaimed by critics and readers alike, but its reception has been hostile in some Polish nationalistic circles and Olga Tokarczuk became a target of an internet hate and harassment campaign. In regard to the historical and ideological divides of Polish literature, the novel has been characterized as anti- Sienkiewicz. Writing for Polityka, Justyna Sobolewska wrote that 'Tokarczuk proved that it is possible to write an over 900-page novel, full of pictorial descriptions, religious disputes and letters, which keeps you in suspense' and called it an 'extremely interesting panorama of 18th-century Poland.' Writing for Gazeta Wyborcza, Przemysław Czapliński wrote that the novel 'revolutionizes the image of religious life in the 18th century, but also changes the perception of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.' A US publication by Riverhead Books was released on 1 February 2022. Croft won a 2015 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for The Books of Jacob. An English translation by Jennifer Croft was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions on 15 November 2021.

When Tokarczuk was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel Committee said that it was 'very impressed' by The Books of Jacob. By October 2015, the novel's circulation had reached 100,000 copies. Upon publication, it was an instant best-seller and won Poland's most prestigious literary prize, the Nike Award. The novel combines dozens of third-person perspectives of those connected to Jacob Frank. Its title subject is Jacob Frank, a Polish Jew who claimed to be the messiah.

It begins in 1752 in Rohatyn and ends in Holocaust-era Korolówka. The Books of Jacob is a 912-page novel divided into seven books. It is Tokarczuk's ninth novel and is the product of extensive historical research, taking her seven years to write. The Books of Jacob ( Polish: Księgi Jakubowe ) is an epic historical novel by Olga Tokarczuk, published by Wydawnictwo Literackie in October 2014.

The books of jacob fitzcarraldo