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Armchair Travel

Maine Book List: Books Set in the Pine Tree State

From nonfiction to fiction, these books are sure to transport you Downeast.

Last Updated on June 30, 2023 by BiblioLifestyle

Books Set in Maine, Maine Book List

If you’re looking for a good book to read, why not check out one set in the Pine Tree State?  Maine is beautiful, and its landscapes and history make great settings for books.  Maine has been the backdrop for many books, both fiction and nonfiction.  It’s a state with a lot of history and culture, which makes it the perfect setting for stories.  Whether you’re looking for something to read on your next vacation or are just interested in learning more about Maine, these books are a great place to start.  So put on your reading glasses and get ready to be transported Downeast!

Books Set in Maine: Maine Book List

Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore
Landslide by Susan Conley

Landslide by Susan Conley

After a fishing accident leaves her husband hospitalized across the border in Canada, Jill is left to look after her teenage boysthe wolvesalone. Nothing comes easy in their remote corner of Maine: money is tight; her son Sam is getting into more trouble by the day; her eldest, Charlie, is preoccupied with a new girlfriend; and Jill begins to suspect her marriage isn’t as stable as she once believed. As one disaster gives way to the next, she begins to think that it’s not enough to be a caring wife and mother anymorenot enough to show up when needed, to nudge her boys in the right direction, to believe everything will be okay. But how to protect this life she loves, this household, this family?

Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly

Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly

A powerful and beautifully written debut novel that intimately explores a fractured marriage and the struggles of modern parenthood, set against the backdrop of the chaotic spring of 2020.

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Happy Place by Emily Henry

A couple who broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton

The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton

The Girls meets Fight Club in this coming-of-age novel about queer desire, religious zealotry, and the hunger for transcendence among the devoted members of a cultic chapel choir in a prestigious Maine boarding school–and the obsessively ambitious, terrifyingly charismatic girl that rules over them.

The Other Mrs by Mary Kubica

The Other Mrs by Mary Kubica

A woman is drawn into a mysterious web of secrets in this twisty whodunnit from New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica

Margreete's Harbor by Eleanor Morse

Margreete’s Harbor by Eleanor Morse

A literary novel set on the coast of Maine during the 1960s, tracing the life of a family and its matriarch as they negotiate sharing a home.

Barefoot in the Sand by Holly Chamberlin

Barefoot in the Sand by Holly Chamberlin

Set against the backdrop of the beautiful Maine coast, Holly Chamberlin’s novels are a summer staple. Now she weaves a heartfelt story of past and present summers and new beginnings, as a mother and daughter reconnect after decades apart…

Downeast by Gigi Georges

Downeast by Gigi Georges

In Downeast, Gigi Georges follows five girls as they come of age in one of the most challenging and geographically isolated regions on the Eastern seaboard. Their stories reveal surprising truths about rural America and offer hope for its future.

Halloween Party Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, Barbara Ross

Halloween Party Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, Barbara Ross

Small town traditions are celebrated throughout Maine during the holiday season. But when it comes to Halloween, some people are more than willing to reap a harvest of murder…

Haven Point by Virginia Hume

Haven Point by Virginia Hume

A sweeping debut novel about the generations of a family that spends summers in a seaside enclave on Maine’s rocky coastline.

Over seven decades of a changing America, through wars and storms, betrayals and reconciliations, Haven Point explores what it means to belong to a place, and to a family, which holds as tightly to its traditions as it does its secrets.

Finding Freedom by Erin French

Finding Freedom by Erin French

From Erin French, owner of the critically acclaimed The Lost Kitchen, a TIME world dining destination, a life-affirming memoir about survival, renewal, and finding a community to lift her up.

The Lowering Days by Gregory Brown

The Lowering Days by Gregory Brown

A promising literary star makes his debut with this emotionally powerful saga, set in 1980s Maine, that explores family love, the power of myths and storytelling, survival and environmental exploitation, and the ties between cultural identity and the land we live on.

The Second Mother by Jenny Milchman

The Second Mother by Jenny Milchman

Julie Weathers isn’t sure if she’s running away or starting over, but moving to a remote island off the coast of Maine feels right for someone with reasons to flee her old life. The sun-washed, sea-stormed speck of land seems welcoming, the lobster plentiful, and the community close and tightly knit. She finds friends in her nearest neighbor and Callum, a man who appears to be using the island for the same thing as she: escape.

That Summer in Maine by Brianna Wolfson

That Summer in Maine by Brianna Wolfson

Years ago, during a certain summer in Maine, two young women, unaware of each other, met a charismatic man at a craft fair and each had a brief affair with him. Now, sixteen years later, the family lives these women have made are suddenly upended when their teenage girls meet as strangers on social media. They concoct a plan to spend the summer in Maine with the man who is their biological father.

The Perfect Daughter by Joseph Souza

The Perfect Daughter by Joseph Souza

With The Neighbor and Pray for the Girl, Joseph Souza proved himself a master of twisty and unpredictable psychological suspense. In this riveting new novel, a mother is unwittingly drawn into the dark underbelly of her picture-perfect Maine town . . .

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large.

As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty.

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout continues the life of her beloved Olive Kitteridge, a character who has captured the imaginations of millions.

Olive struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the unforgettable Olive will continue to startle us, to move us, and to inspire us.

Oh, William by by Elizabeth Strout

Oh, William by by Elizabeth Strout

Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout explores the mysteries of marriage and the secrets we keep, as a former couple reckons with where they’ve come from–and what they’ve left behind.

The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen

The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen

The Midcoast by Adam White

The Midcoast by Adam White

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Set in a sleepy seaside town in Maine, a heartfelt debut about the unlikely relationship between a young woman who’s lost her husband and a major league pitcher who’s lost his game.

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes

A woman returns to her small Maine hometown, uncovering family secrets that take her on a journey of self-discovery and new love, in this warm and charming novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over.

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

#1 BESTSELLER – Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem’s Lot in hopes that exploring the history of the Marsten House, an old mansion long the subject of rumor and speculation, will help him cast out his personal devils and provide inspiration for his new book.

The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau

The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau

Over a period of three years, Thoreau made three trips to the largely unexplored woods of Maine. He climbed mountains, paddled a canoe by moonlight, and dined on cedar beer, hemlock tea and moose lips. Taking notes constantly, Thoreau was just as likely to turn his observant eye to the habits and languages of the Abnaki Indians or the arduous life of the logger as he was to the workings of nature. He acutely observed the rivers, lakes, mountains, wolves, moose, and stars in the dark sky. He also told of nights sitting by the campfire, and of meeting men who communicated with each other by writing on the trunks of trees. In The Maine Woods, Thoreau captured a wilder side of America and revealed his own adventurous spirit.

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline; and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors. But the summer after a wealthy young summer guest dies under suspicious circumstances, her best friend lives under a cloud of grief and suspicion.

Edinburgh by Alexander Chee

Edinburgh by Alexander Chee

Twelve-year-old Fee is a shy Korean-American boy growing up in Maine whose powerful soprano voice wins him a place as section leader of the first sopranos in his local boys choir. But when, on a retreat, Fee discovers how the director treats the boys he makes section leader, he is so ashamed, he says nothing of the abuse, not even when Peter, Fee’s best friend, is in line to be next. The director is eventually arrested, and Fee tries to forgive himself for his silence. But when Peter takes his own life, Fee blames only himself.

What do you think about these Maine books?

Have you read any of these Maine books?  Are any of them on your TBR?  What books set in Maine would you add to this list?  Let’s talk about it in the comments below.

Book List - Maine Book List Books Set in the Pine Tree State

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  1. Jacquelyn says:

    Main Clambake Mystery Series by Barbara Ross!

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