Books set in New York
Every state has its hallmark writers. Mississippi has William Faulkner and his incomparable (fictional) Yoknapatawpha County and Missouri can lay claim to Mark Twain. The state of Maine is gifted with Pulitzer winner Richard Russo and horror icon Stephen King. Rural Pennsylvania is the playground of the much-heralded (and occasionally maligned) John Updike, and when many bibliophiles think of New Jersey, they also think of Richard Ford's series of novels featuring recurring Everyman character Frank Bascombe. Illinois can lay claim to William Maxwell, Sandra Cisneros, and Adam Langer, among numerous others. And what reader can think of Washington State without contending with the sparkle-vampire yarns of Stephanie Meyer?
What makes authors like these inextricably associated with a particular state is not simply the matter of their having been born there or choosing to live there. The connection, from a writerly standpoint, is deeper than that—their work, nearly all of it, is set in "their" state.
Of course, there are certainly exceptions. Whether a writer sets a tale in the town where they went to college or spent part of their childhood—like Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" and its New England arts school setting and the almost-factual small town of Jo Ann Beard's "In Zanesville," respectively—or crafts a story that follows a social or political theme to a location they know little about but lay narrative claim to anyway, the world is rife with books known, loved, and respected that also capture the essence of place—books where setting itself is one of the strongest characters.
Stacker compiled a list of books set in New York from Goodreads. Whether you're looking for a good read set in the state you call home, or you're looking to expand your curiosity with a writer you're already familiar with, we've got you covered.
The Great Gatsby
- Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Published: April 10, 1925
- Genres: Classics, Fiction, School, Historical Fiction
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- Author: Betty Smith
- Published: August 18, 1943
- Genres: Classics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
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The Alienist (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #1)
- Author: Caleb Carr
- Published: March 15, 1994
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Thriller
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The Catcher in the Rye
- Author: J.D. Salinger
- Published: January 1, 1951
- Genres: Classics, Fiction, Young Adult, Literature
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Boy Meets Girl (Boy, #2)
- Author: Meg Cabot
- Published: January 6, 2004
- Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary
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The Godfather (The Godfather, #1)
- Author: Mario Puzo
- Published: March 10, 1969
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, Crime, Thriller
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The Gift of the Magi
- Author: O. Henry
- Published: December 10, 1905
- Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Christmas
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Ragtime
- Author: E.L. Doctorow
- Published: January 1, 1975
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, Novels
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Firestarter
- Author: Stephen King
- Published: September 29, 1980
- Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Science Fiction
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Flowers for Algernon
- Author: Daniel Keyes
- Published: April 1, 1959
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, Science Fiction, Young Adult
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From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- Author: E.L. Konigsburg
- Published: January 1, 1967
- Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Middle Grade
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The Thin Man
- Author: Dashiell Hammett
- Published: January 1, 1934
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Classics, Crime
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Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
- Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
- Published: January 1, 2005
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Historical Fiction, Novels
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The House of Mirth
- Author: Edith Wharton
- Published: October 14, 1905
- Genres: Classics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature
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Miracle on 34th Street
- Author: Valentine Davies
- Published: January 1, 1947
- Genres: Christmas, Fiction, Classics, Holiday
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Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories
- Author: Truman Capote
- Published: October 28, 1958
- Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Romance, Literature
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The Group
- Author: Mary McCarthy
- Published: January 1, 1963
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Novels
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
- Author: Washington Irving
- Published: January 1, 1820
- Genres: Classics, Horror, Fiction, Short Stories
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Stuart Little
- Author: E.B. White
- Published: January 1, 1945
- Genres: Childrens, Classics, Fiction, Fantasy
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The Cricket in Times Square (Chester Cricket and His Friends, #1)
- Author: George Selden
- Published: January 1, 1960
- Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Classics, Fantasy
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The Princess Diaries (The Princess Diaries, #1)
- Author: Meg Cabot
- Published: September 19, 2000
- Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary
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Death of a Salesman
- Author: Arthur Miller
- Published: January 1, 1949
- Genres: Classics, Plays, Fiction, Drama
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The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
- Author: Rick Riordan
- Published: June 28, 2005
- Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Mythology, Fiction
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The Age of Innocence
- Author: Edith Wharton
- Published: October 1, 1920
- Genres: Classics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance
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City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)
- Author: Cassandra Clare
- Published: May 27, 2007
- Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
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Rip Van Winkle
- Author: Washington Irving
- Published: January 1, 1819
- Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy
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Seventh Heaven
- Author: Alice Hoffman
- Published: January 1, 1990
- Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Historical Fiction, Fantasy
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The Pink Suit
- Author: Nicole Mary Kelby
- Published: April 10, 2014
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, Fashion
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Jazz
- Author: Toni Morrison
- Published: January 1, 1992
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, African American
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Jaws (Jaws #1)
- Author: Peter Benchley
- Published: May 6, 1974
- Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Classics
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Here Is New York
- Author: E.B. White
- Published: January 1, 1948
- Genres: Nonfiction, New York, Essays, Travel
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New York
- Author: Edward Rutherfurd
- Published: September 3, 2009
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, New York
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Farmer Boy (Little House, #2)
- Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Published: January 1, 1933
- Genres: Classics, Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction
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My Side of the Mountain (Mountain, #1)
- Author: Jean Craighead George
- Published: January 1, 1959
- Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Classics, Childrens
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Wonderstruck
- Author: Brian Selznick
- Published: September 13, 2011
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult
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Grand Central: Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion
- Author: Jenna Blum
- Published: July 1, 2014
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, World War II
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The Orphanmaster
- Author: Jean Zimmerman
- Published: June 19, 2012
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Historical
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Felix Ever After
- Author: Kacen Callender
- Published: May 5, 2020
- Genres: LGBT, Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
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The Gods of Gotham (Timothy Wilde, #1)
- Author: Lyndsay Faye
- Published: March 15, 2012
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Historical
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The Drawing of the Three
- Author: Stephen King
- Published: May 1, 1987
- Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction
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A Fall of Marigolds
- Author: Susan Meissner
- Published: February 4, 2014
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Romance
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Go Tell It on the Mountain
- Author: James Baldwin
- Published: May 18, 1953
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, African American, Race
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Sophie's Choice
- Author: William Styron
- Published: January 1, 1979
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Holocaust
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Object Lessons
- Author: Anna Quindlen
- Published: April 9, 1991
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Novels
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Breath, Eyes, Memory
- Author: Edwidge Danticat
- Published: April 1, 1994
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Novels
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Another Country
- Author: James Baldwin
- Published: May 1, 1962
- Genres: Fiction, Classics, LGBT, Queer
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Rules of Civility
- Author: Amor Towles
- Published: July 26, 2011
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, New York
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Size 12 Is Not Fat (Heather Wells, #1)
- Author: Meg Cabot
- Published: December 27, 2005
- Genres: Chick Lit, Mystery, Romance, Fiction
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Gingerbread (Cyd Charisse, #1)
- Author: Rachel Cohn
- Published: March 1, 2002
- Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Teen
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Deacon King Kong
- Author: James McBride
- Published: March 3, 2020
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Literary Fiction
- Read more on Goodreads