Books set in Virginia
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 Virginia 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.
Misty Of Chincoteague
- Author: Marguerite Henry
- Published: January 1, 1947
- Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Classics, Horses
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She's My Dad
- Author: Iolanthe Woulff
- Published: November 13, 2009
- Genres: LGBT, Fiction, Transgender, Young Adult
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The Shaman of Turtle Valley
- Author: Clifford Garstang
- Published: May 14, 2019
- Genres: Fiction
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Bridge to Terabithia
- Author: Katherine Paterson
- Published: October 21, 1977
- Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Classics, Childrens
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Meet Felicity: An American Girl (American Girls: Felicity, #1)
- Author: Valerie Tripp
- Published: September 1, 1991
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Historical
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Wish You Were Here (Mrs. Murphy, #1)
- Author: Rita Mae Brown
- Published: November 1, 1990
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Animals
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The Fallen Snow
- Author: John J. Kelley
- Published: December 18, 2012
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, War
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Big Stone Gap (Big Stone Gap, #1)
- Author: Adriana Trigiani
- Published: January 1, 2000
- Genres: Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit, Adult Fiction
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The Diva Runs Out of Thyme (A Domestic Diva Mystery, #1)
- Author: Krista Davis
- Published: September 7, 2008
- Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- Author: Rebecca Skloot
- Published: February 2, 2010
- Genres: Nonfiction, Science, History, Biography
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True Places
- Author: Sonja Yoerg
- Published: January 1, 2019
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Mystery, Literary Fiction
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Boat Girl: A Memoir of Youth, Love & Fiberglass
- Author: Melanie Neale
- Published: September 29, 2012
- Genres: Memoir, Travel, Nonfiction, Biography
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Be Still My Soul (The Cadence of Grace, #1)
- Author: Joanne Bischof
- Published: October 1, 2012
- Genres: Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Christian
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Murder With Peacocks (Meg Langslow, #1)
- Author: Donna Andrews
- Published: January 1, 1999
- Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Humor
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The Known World
- Author: Edward P. Jones
- Published: September 1, 2003
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, African American, Historical
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Rest in Pieces (Mrs. Murphy #2)
- Author: Rita Mae Brown
- Published: August 1, 1992
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Animals
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The Winter Calf (Maple Gap #1)
- Author: Michael S. Nuckols
- Published: February 28, 2014
- Genres: Horror, Novels
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Gray Mountain
- Author: John Grisham
- Published: October 21, 2014
- Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Legal Thriller
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The Kitchen House
- Author: Kathleen Grissom
- Published: February 2, 2010
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Book Club
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Absolute Power
- Author: David Baldacci
- Published: October 4, 1995
- Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
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To Have and to Hold
- Author: Mary Johnston
- Published: January 1, 1899
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Classics, Fiction, Historical
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The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University
- Author: Kevin Roose
- Published: March 12, 2009
- Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, Memoir, Biography
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Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague (Misty, #2)
- Author: Marguerite Henry
- Published: January 1, 1949
- Genres: Horses, Childrens, Fiction, Animals
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Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County: A Family, a Virginia Town, a Civil Rights Battle
- Author: Kristen Green
- Published: May 19, 2015
- Genres: Nonfiction, History, Education, Race
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The Dying of the Light
- Author: Robert Goolrick
- Published: July 3, 2018
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Adult
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The Killing Hour (Quincy & Rainie, #4)
- Author: Lisa Gardner
- Published: July 15, 2003
- Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Suspense
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Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta, #1)
- Author: Patricia Cornwell
- Published: January 9, 1990
- Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller
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Weird Virginia: Your Travel Guide to Virginia's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
- Author: Jeff Bahr
- Published: June 1, 2007
- Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History, Ghosts
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Crazy, VA (Lil and Boris, #1)
- Author: Shannon Hill
- Published: December 31, 2012
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Animals
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Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger, #1)
- Author: V.C. Andrews
- Published: January 1, 1979
- Genres: Fiction, Horror, Young Adult, Classics
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The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter, #2)
- Author: Thomas Harris
- Published: July 1, 1988
- Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
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A Little Maid of Virginia
- Author: Alice Turner Curtis
- Published: January 1, 1922
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction
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The Next Accident (Quincy & Rainie, #3)
- Author: Lisa Gardner
- Published: August 20, 2001
- Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Fiction
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Split Second (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell, #1)
- Author: David Baldacci
- Published: January 1, 2002
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Crime
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I, Alex Cross (Alex Cross, #16)
- Author: James Patterson
- Published: November 16, 2009
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Crime
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First Lady (Wynette, Texas, #4)
- Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
- Published: January 1, 2000
- Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Chick Lit
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Dead of Night (Doc Ford Mystery, #12)
- Author: Randy Wayne White
- Published: March 17, 2005
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller
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Tail Spin (FBI Thriller, #12)
- Author: Catherine Coulter
- Published: June 24, 2008
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Romance, Thriller
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Miss Ophelia
- Author: Mary Burnett Smith
- Published: August 20, 1997
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Coming Of Age, Fiction, Drama
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Candle in the Darkness (Refiner's Fire, #1)
- Author: Lynn Austin
- Published: November 1, 2002
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction, Fiction, Christian
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In the Land of Cotton
- Author: Maryann Austin
- Published: May 16, 2013
- Genres: Civil War, Historical Fiction
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Boy in the Ivy: The Inner Child of a Buried Man
- Author: T. McKinley
- Published: June 4, 2013
- Genres: Psychology
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Killer Sweet Tooth: A Daphne Martin Cake Mystery
- Author: Gayle Trent
- Published: October 11, 2011
- Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Chick Lit, Fiction
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Jericho
- Author: Ann McMan
- Published: December 1, 2010
- Genres: Romance, LGBT, Lesbian, Fiction
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Heartsick
- Author: Caitlin Sinead
- Published: February 16, 2015
- Genres: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Mystery
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Imagining Reality
- Author: Lynn Galli
- Published: July 27, 2007
- Genres: Lesbian, Lesbian Romance, LGBT, Romance
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His Everlasting Love: 50 Loving States, Virginia
- Author: Theodora Taylor
- Published: September 25, 2015
- Genres: Romance, Paranormal, Interracial Romance, Ghosts
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The Killer Angels (The Civil War Trilogy, #2)
- Author: Michael Shaara
- Published: January 1, 1974
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Civil War, War
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