Alaska Books: The Best Books Set in the 49th State

Book Summary

The Call of the Wild is perhaps the most classic Alaska book, and it remains an entertaining novel more than 100 years later.

When a domesticated dog living the good life in California is dog-napped, he’s brought to the harsh land of the Alaskan Gold Rush to become a working sled dog. He faces constant challenges and lessons, eventually deciding whether he wants to return to the comfortable domestic life or heed the call of his ancestors to live in the wild.

Book Summary

This adventure novel is based on an Athabascan Indian oral legend that was passed down through many generations of women in Alaska’s Yukon River Valley.

In the midst of a brutal winter famine, two old women are abandoned by their tribe. Although these women had a reputation for complaining more than contributing, once they are cast out on their own, they must rely on each other to survive…or die trying.

Book Summary

Tara grew up a tough boxer in Philadelphia, but her mother’s death and subsequent fights with her father are too much for her to maintain the status quo. Instead, she flees west to “The Rock,” a remote island in Alaska governed by the seasons and the demands of the world of commercial fishing.

She soon works her way up through the ranks of the commercial fishing world, leaning on the discipline she learned as a boxer. When she begins restoring an old tugboat, she creates a new home all of her own.

Book Summary

When Cameron’s husband, John, disappeared while hunting off-grid in the wilderness, the assumption was that he was killed in a bear attack. However, after discovering her husband was hiding his involvement in a string of serial murders in Seattle, Cameron worries that he’s not really dead.

With her reputation and finances ruined by the media, Cameron sets off to Alaska in search of the truth.

Book Summary

After a geological survey team uncovered a frozen woolly mammoth in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park, the team was all found dead at the site of the thawed-out carcass. National Park Service ISB special agent Michael Walker was called in to investigate.

Across the nation, FBI special investigator Gina Delgado traces the murder of an environmental science intern in Florida’s Everglades National Park. Could these seemingly unrelated deaths be connected? The dual investigations include a heavy focus on science, climate change, Tlingit culture, and the effect of power-hungry billionaires.

Book Summary

When Rinn commits some property damage at a logging camp, he has no idea that a Tlingit elder was murdered at the same location around the same time. When his former lover, Kit, is arrested for the crime AND the murder, he’s unsure if he should confess to the property crime and risk being accused of the murder.

Out on bail, Kit is in a major battle with the Alaska legislature to save Alaska’s ancient forests. She needs the help of Dan, a Tlingit who is trying to get what was promised to his people long ago. Can they save the forest and avoid jail?

Book Summary

Vicki takes pride in running a pristine campground in Alaska, so when a camper locks themselves inside the outhouse, at least it’s clean inside. But when the camper fails to emerge, she discovers that it’s because they are dead. How could they be killed inside an outhouse locked from the inside?

The police think it was just a heart attack, but Vicki is sure a killer is lurking around her campground. It’s up to Vicki, her friend Miranda, and Miranda’s dachshund Barksley, to solve this locked-room murder.

Book Summary

In The Snow Child, you’ll be transported to remote 1920s Alaska. Jack and Mabel are nearing 50 when they decide to move to Alaska as part of the Homestead Act. As newcomers to the harsh environment, it is a struggle for them. Between the intense physical labor required and the even more extreme loneliness, they’re not sure they’ve made the right decision with the move.

Then, during the first snowfall of the year, they decide to have some fun and build a child out of snow. In the morning, the snow child is gone, but they see a young girl running through the trees with the items they had used to dress the snow child. Is she real, or are they hallucinating and dreaming of the child they’ve always wanted?

Book Summary

Donna and her younger brother, Will, grew up in an industrial town in Ohio. A talented senior in high school, Donna thinks of little other than her desire to leave her Midwestern home to pursue a career in design. But her father and her brother are both dependent on her.

Will is in poor health and spends all of his time with his mute Siberian Husky named Trusty, watching a television show called Sergeant Striker and the Alaskan Wild.

After an event inspires Donna to reconsider her dreams, she packs up her yellow convertible and leaves town with Will and Trusty. Armed with just a road atlas, the trio sets off for the Alaska Territory.

Book Summary

This book alternates between the narrations of four teenagers in 1970s Alaska. The author manages to develop each of the characters in a deep way, while keeping the overall book on the shorter side.

From abusive families to teen pregnancy, Ruth, Dora, Alyce, and Hank have individual choices to make as they learn that sometimes family isn’t what you are born into, but what you choose.

Book Summary

Margot is a romance author who doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Her disbelief isn’t even limited to real life; she secretly writes alternate endings for her characters in a “Happily Never After” document. When her computer is hacked, and her true feelings are revealed, she’s canceled by both her readers and her publisher.

Margot’s sister, Savannah, has a chronic illness and depends on Margot financially, so she needs to pivot quickly. Maybe she can trade writing meet-cutes for writing about murder? She heads to a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first mystery novel, but things go much differently than she expects.

It feels like she has landed directly in a romance novel instead of in rugged Alaska, as she finds herself in one romance trope after another.

Book Summary

When 26-year-old city girl Calla learns that her estranged father is dying, she heads back to the remote frontier town her mother left behind when Calla was only two. Despite her father’s clear faults, she cares for him enough to endure the wildlife, odd daylight hours, and even the outhouse.

Adjusting to life in the small village is a struggle, but the worst part might be Jonah, the brooding pilot keeping her father’s charter company going. He’s convinced that pampered Calla will never make it in Alaska and is ready to fly her right back to Toronto. While Jonah could be right, Calla is still ready to prove him wrong.

Book Summary

Nate Burke needs a change after watching his partner die on duty as a Baltimore police officer. When the remote town of Lunacy, Alaska, needs a police chief, Nate packs up his life and heads to the tiny frontier town.

While he was looking for an escape to a low-crime area, his detective skills are soon needed. The body of someone missing for 15 years is found, and it’s clear he has been murdered. Soon, there is another town death, which appears to be a suicide and confession, but Nate isn’t buying it.

Along the way, Nate develops a complicated relationship with Meg, the daughter of the murder victim. You’ll be drawn into this town’s characters, the beautiful scenery, romance, and of course, the mystery!

Book Summary

Part romance, part wilderness adventure, The Name Curse takes us on a Denali hike. Bernie has been in a rut since her father’s death. While she’s never been adventurous, her concerned friends decide she needs to shake things up and book her a mountain hiking adventure in Alaska.

Matthew is a struggling screenwriter who uses annual trips to the wilderness to reset and recharge. He’s less than thrilled when he’s paired to bunk with Bernie because the hike organizers don’t realize Bernie is short for Bernice. He’s a hardcore camper and experienced hiker, while she’d rather not “rough it.” Can they see through their differences to find common ground?

Book Summary

The author graduated from medical school amid the Vietnam War, but on the eve of being drafted into the Army to serve as a M.A.S.H. surgeon in Vietnam, he was offered a commission in the U.S. Public Health for assignment in Anchorage, Alaska. Once he arrived in Anchorage, he discovered he was being transferred to a remote outpost over 500 miles northwest in Nome.

In addition to covering the frontier town alone, he was responsible for the care of 13 Eskimo villages in the Norton Sound area. Equipment and supplies were scarce, unlike the state-of-the-art equipment he had used during his time learning in school. Additionally, he was seen as an outsider and not trusted by those he served. This memoir recounts his experiences serving patients on the icy shores of the Bering Sea.

Book Summary

This is the true story of Anne Hobbs, who arrived in harsh and beautiful Alaska in 1927, at the young age of nineteen. She quickly discovered that running a ramshackle schoolhouse would expose her to more than just the elements.

After she allowed Native American children into her class and fell in love with a half-Inuit man, she learned the meanings of prejudice, perseverance, irrational hatred, and unconditional love.

“People get as mean as the weather,” she discovered, but they were also capable of great good.

Book Summary

In 1899, railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman organized an epic trip. He converted a steamship into a luxury “floating university” and invited some of the brightest scientists and writers to join him on a journey through Alaska’s beauty.

Author Mark Adams retraced this journey more than 100 years later. He traveled three thousand miles, following the itinerary north through Wrangell, Juneau, and Glacier Bay, then continuing west into the colder and stranger regions of the Aleutians and the Arctic Circle.

Along the way, several unusual characters are encountered, and Adams examines how lessons learned in 1899 could apply today. While this non-fiction travelogue is often humorous, it’s also a realistic look at how Alaska’s resources are being depleted and endangered.

Book Summary

Christopher Johnson McCandless grew up in a wealthy suburb of Washington, DC, and attended Emory University. Seeking to follow in the footsteps of his heroes, such as Jack London and John Muir, Christopher began roaming the West and the Southwest, leading an increasingly nomadic life.

In April 1992, he donated his savings to charity, abandoned his car and possessions, and set about inventing a new identity for himself. He gave himself a new name (Alexander Supertramp) and hitchhiked to Alaska. He then walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Despite the efforts of his desperate parents and sisters, he vanished into the wild.

Four months later, a party of moose hunters found his decomposed body. In this book, author Jon Krakauer searches for answers about how he came to die.

Book Summary

Katherine Keith spent her entire life searching for a remote and wild place where her soul would find peace. After traveling all around the US, she finally found that place in Alaska. She and her husband built a log cabin miles from the nearest road, creating the life she’d always dreamed of. But after experiencing a tragic loss, she and her infant daughter are left to brave the Alaskan backcountry alone.

That’s when she discovered long-distance dog sledding, which, for her, is the perfect combination of wilderness solitude and athleticism. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, known as the “Last Great Race on Earth,” is a true test of character that offers Katherine the opportunity to explore the frontier she has come to love intimately.

Book Summary

Only a small number of people call Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge home. When James Campbell’s cousin, Heimo Korth, asked him to spend a summer building a cabin in this harsh and lonely place, Campbell hesitated about inviting his fifteen-year-old daughter, Aidan, to join him. He wasn’t sure she’d be able to withstand the grueling labor, the threat of grizzlies, and bathing in the ice-cold river. But to his surprise, Aiden embraced the wild.

A few months later, Aiden returned to Alaska, amid a -50 degree wind chill, to help the Kroths set traps and hunt for caribou.

Heimo’s wife told James about a tradition in Eskimo culture in which some daughters can earn a rite of passage usually reserved for young men. With this in mind, Campbell returned to Alaska with his daughter one final time for an ambitious backpacking trek over Alaska’s Brooks Range, where they assembled a folding canoe and paddled the Hlahula River to the Arctic Ocean. The journey tested not only their individual endurance but also their relationship.

Book Summary

Carrie is a society-page journalist, but wants to be writing more serious news articles. She’s thrilled when her editor promises she can cover anything she wants with one condition. First, she must score an interview with reclusive author Finn Dalton.

Finn lives in the remote Alaskan wilderness, and despite his bestselling memoir about surviving in the wild, no one is quite sure where he resides. Complicating matters even more, he’s notorious for refusing to speak with any press. Using her best investigative skills, Carrie puts together a theory about how to find Finn, and when she’s right, she discovers he is more charismatic and more stubborn than she expected.

Book Summary

Lana’s wealthy family is heavily invested in Moose Springs, Alaska, but to everyone in town she is, and always will be, an outsider. An unwelcome one at that, because she has visions for changing things in the town (for the better, in her opinion). But change is the last thing the people of Moose Springs want.

The one person in town who is happy to see Lana is Rick Harding. The last few years have been hard for him, but with Lana back in town, he’s determined to finally catch her eye.

Things get complicated when a mischievous moose – dubbed Santa Moose by the locals – begins destroying Christmas decorations all over town. Hoping to win some brownie points with the locals, Lana is determined to be the one to track the moose and stop his hijinks. When she accidentally tranquilizes Rick instead of Santa Moose, it might just be the opportunity Rick’s been waiting for.

Book Summary

Zoey is a charter pilot who inherits a struggling reindeer farm and three dozen unruly reindeer. The farm also includes Alec, the resident ranch hand with a troubled past. In order to succeed, she’ll have to trust him with the farm, and maybe even with her heart.