Books set in West 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 West 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.
The Glass Castle
- Author: Jeannette Walls
- Published: March 1, 2005
- Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Biography Memoir
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Shiloh (Shiloh, #1)
- Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- Published: September 30, 1991
- Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Animals, Classics
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The Good Lord Bird
- Author: James McBride
- Published: August 20, 2013
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, African American
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Storming Heaven
- Author: Denise Giardina
- Published: August 17, 1987
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Labor
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No Filter (Barks & Beans Cafe Cozy Mystery #1)
- Author: Heather Day Gilbert
- Published: May 26, 2020
- Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Contemporary, Fiction
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My Name Is River
- Author: Wendy Dunham
- Published: October 1, 2015
- Genres: Christian, Middle Grade, Contemporary, Fiction
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The Boys Start the War (Boy/Girl Battle, #1)
- Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- Published: March 1, 1993
- Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade
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Rocket Boys (Coalwood #1)
- Author: Homer Hickam
- Published: January 1, 1998
- Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Science
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Moon Signs (Moon Mystery #1)
- Author: Helen Haught Fanick
- Published: October 6, 2011
- Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller
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The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart: A Novel
- Author: M. Glenn Taylor
- Published: January 1, 2008
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, Novels
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Missing May
- Author: Cynthia Rylant
- Published: March 1, 1992
- Genres: Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens
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Obsidian (Lux, #1)
- Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
- Published: November 29, 2011
- Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal
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The Finder of Forgotten Things
- Author: Sarah Loudin Thomas
- Published: December 1, 2021
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Christian
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Child of the Mountains
- Author: Marilyn Sue Shank
- Published: April 10, 2012
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Fiction
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The Unquiet Grave (Ballad #12)
- Author: Sharyn McCrumb
- Published: September 12, 2017
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Historical
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Send No Blessings
- Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- Published: January 1, 1990
- Genres: Young Adult
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What Lies in the Hills: A West Virginia Adventure Novel (A Josh Baker and Eddie Debord Series Book 2)
- Author: Steve Kittner
- Published: January 15, 2016
- Genres: Mystery
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River Rocks: A West Virginia Adventure Novel (A Josh Baker and Eddie Debord Series Book 1)
- Author: Steve Kittner
- Published: December 28, 2014
- Genres: Mystery, Amazon, Adventure
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A Killing in the Hills (Bell Elkins #1)
- Author: Julia Keller
- Published: January 1, 2012
- Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Mystery Thriller
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Minna's Patchwork Coat
- Author: Lauren A. Mills
- Published: January 1, 2015
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Picture Books
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June Bug
- Author: Chris Fabry
- Published: July 23, 2009
- Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction, Christian, Mystery
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Snow in Summer
- Author: Jane Yolen
- Published: November 10, 2011
- Genres: Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Young Adult, Historical Fiction
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A Blue-Eyed Daisy
- Author: Cynthia Rylant
- Published: January 1, 1985
- Genres: Fiction, Juvenile, Young Adult, Childrens
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The Promise of Jesse Woods
- Author: Chris Fabry
- Published: July 1, 2016
- Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Christian
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Dirt: Growing Strong Roots in What Makes the Broken Beautiful
- Author: Mary Marantz
- Published: September 15, 2020
- Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Biography
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Finding Family
- Author: Tonya Bolden
- Published: August 31, 2010
- Genres: Historical Fiction, African American, Historical, Middle Grade
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Free Verse
- Author: Sarah Dooley
- Published: March 15, 2016
- Genres: Realistic Fiction, Poetry, Middle Grade, Young Adult
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Under a Cloudless Sky
- Author: Chris Fabry
- Published: January 1, 2017
- Genres: Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Christian
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Sarah
- Author: J.T. LeRoy
- Published: August 1, 2000
- Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Contemporary
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The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes
- Author: Marlane Kennedy
- Published: March 1, 2009
- Genres: Realistic Fiction, Animals, Fiction, Dogs
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The Miner's Daughter
- Author: Gretchen Moran Laskas
- Published: February 6, 2007
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Historical, Fiction
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Close to Famous
- Author: Joan Bauer
- Published: February 1, 2011
- Genres: Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Fiction
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McKendree
- Author: Sandra Belton
- Published: May 31, 2000
- Genres: Young Adult
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Hound Heaven
- Author: Linda Oatman High
- Published: October 1, 1995
- Genres: Middle Grade
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The Evening Hour
- Author: Carter Sickels
- Published: January 17, 2012
- Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Adult Fiction, Class
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The Brightest Light
- Author: Colleen O'Shaughnessy McKenna
- Published: January 1, 1992
- Genres: Young Adult
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All That's Missing
- Author: Sarah Sullivan
- Published: October 8, 2013
- Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Family, Childrens
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Coal Camp Girl
- Author: Lois Lenski
- Published: January 1, 1959
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Classics
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When the Whistle Blows
- Author: Fran Cannon Slayton
- Published: June 11, 2009
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Historical
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Into the Hollow
- Author: Lynn Vroman
- Published: November 6, 2018
- Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance, Fiction
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Wolf's Bane (Otherworld: Kate and Logan, #1)
- Author: Kelley Armstrong
- Published: December 10, 2018
- Genres: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal
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Dogs of God
- Author: Pinckney Benedict
- Published: December 1, 1993
- Genres: Fiction, Novels, Mystery, Southern Gothic
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Melting the Ice
- Author: Amy Leigh Napier
- Published: December 31, 2013
- Genres: Contemporary Romance
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Tumult on the Mountains: Lumbering in West Virginia 1770-1920
- Author: Roy B. Clarkson
- Published: January 1, 1964
- Genres: History, Nature
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Julianna's Choice (The Stone Wolves Book 1)
- Author: Davina Guy
- Published: January 14, 2018
- Genres: Amazon, Paranormal
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A Cold Dark Place (Cold Justice, #1)
- Author: Toni Anderson
- Published: March 25, 2014
- Genres: Romantic Suspense, Romance, Mystery, Suspense
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Whiskey Chaser (Bootleg Springs, #1)
- Author: Lucy Score
- Published: April 13, 2018
- Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Humor
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Funny How Things Change
- Author: Melissa Wyatt
- Published: April 27, 2009
- Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Teen
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Backcountry: Contemporary Writing in West Virginia
- Author: Irene McKinney
- Published: August 19, 2002
- Genres: Poetry, Short Stories
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The Truth According to Us
- Author: Annie Barrows
- Published: June 9, 2015
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Adult
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