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Books Set in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.Whether you’re participating in our Read Around the USA Challenge or simply found your way to our website researching books set in Alaska, the Northern Plains, or the Northern Rockies, you’ve come to the right place!
Below, you’ll find a list of highly-rated books featuring the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Our curated recommendations strike a good balance between historical fiction, contemporary novels, and non-fiction books about the northern states.
Check our comprehensive index of books set in every state for books covering the other Rocky Mountain and Northern Plains states.
Books Set in Alaska
In addition to the Alaska books below, we now have a full list of Books Set in Alaska.
Jimmy Bluefeather
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
This adventure tale transports you to Southeast Alaska and into the life of Keb Wisting. He’s part Norwegian, part Tlingit native, and the last living canoe carver in his village. Grandson James is close to a career in the NBA when a logging accident ruins his prospects as a basketball player. So instead, a depressed James helps his grandpa finish his last canoe.
With the canoe finished, Keb, James, a few friends, and a crazy dog named Steve set off on the canoe journey of a lifetime. Paddling deep into wild Alaska, their story blends adventure, love, and reconciliation. You’ll also enjoy meeting the endearing small-town characters they encounter along the way.
The Book Girls Say…
Jimmy Bluefeather won the National Outdoor Book Award for Outdoor Literature in 2015.
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The Unsinkable Greta James
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Book Summary
Greta James had musical talent from childhood, but her parents had different visions of where that talent would lead. While her mother was her biggest fan, her dad could only see the likely pitfalls of a music career.
She has spent years trying to prove him wrong and reached the point of appearing on magazine covers and playing sold-out shows. However, with the pressure of a sophomore album and the shock of her mother’s recent death, Greta has an on-stage meltdown that goes viral.
She very reluctantly agrees to join her dad on an Alaskan cruise because she hopes it will give her an escape from media coverage and the pressure of her struggling career. Their relationship is as icy as the Alaskan waters. But together aboard the ship, they will finally come to terms with the baggage of their past so that they can face the future.
The Book Girls Say…
This book had much more depth and emotion than we expected going in. While there is an element of romance in the book, this is really the story of a father and daughter dealing with grief and being forced to confront the challenges that drove them apart.
We assume that when we get a chance to visit Alaska, it will be via a cruise much like the characters in this book. While we always love learning about life from the point of view of locals, in this case, we thought it would be an interesting option to learn about the way so many visitors experience Alaska each year.
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The Smell of Other People’s Houses
Book Summary
This book alternates narration between four teens 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.
The Book Girls Say…
We received an email from a reader endorsing this book that said, “Just finished what I consider to be one of the best books I have ever read. It’s a MUST for the [Alaska] list! It’s a quick read. You won’t be sorry. It’s an absolutely beautiful story with rich language and vivid imagery!”
The Simple Wild
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.
The Book Girls Say…
This highly-rated book is the first in the Simple Wild series and was a Goodreads Nominee for Best Romance in 2018. The plot of the third book in the series, Running Wild, includes the Iditarod Sled Dog Race for even more Alaska vibes.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
When Ernt returns home from Vietnam after being held as a POW, he is not the same person he was before he left. When he impulsively decides to move his family to Alaska to live off the grid, his wife and 13-year-old daughter Leni are hopeful that it will be the fresh start the family needs for a better future.
But when the harsh reality of an Alaskan winter without proper preparation begins to set in, Leni and her mother realize there is no one to save them but themselves.
The Book Girls Say…
We both loved this book despite it being a bit of a tear-jerker. It’s devasting to read one account of how a soldier’s return from Vietnam affected those around him. We know this fiction is very much based on reality for too many families. In addition to the interpersonal dynamics within the family, the book provides a great look into the physical and mental toughness required to survive in rural Alaska.
Heads Up: This book includes descriptions of domestic abuse.
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Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
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 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?
The Book Girls Say…
Melissa thought the fairytale-like qualities of this book were phenomenal in both the writing and the storytelling. The book also fully transports you to the isolation of an Alaskan homestead, making the harshness of the environment and the preparation required to survive very clear.
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The Lonely Hearts Book Club
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
Sloane is a small-town librarian in Idaho who enjoys her daily visits from the town curmudgeon, Arthur. She loves verbal sparing with him so much that she instantly notices when he doesn’t show up one morning. When another day passes without a visit, her worry intensifies.
When Sloane tracks Arthur down at home and finds him almost bedridden, she needs a way to cheer him up. An impromptu book club with other lonely library patrons soon begins and unlikely friendships form through their shared love of books.
Book Summary
In this memoir, Tara Westover shares the story of her upbringing in rural Idaho. Born to survivalist parents, she grew up stewing herbs for her midwife healer mother and worked in her father’s junkyard. Her father forbade doctors and hospitals, even when she and her brothers suffered serious injuries.
She was also kept from any formal education. Although she didn’t step foot in a classroom for the first time until the age of 17, Tara worked hard to educate herself in mathematics and grammar. She was ultimately able to gain admission to BYU, where she studied history and learned about major world events, like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement, for the first time. From there, she went on to opportunities at Harvard and Cambridge.
This coming-of-age memoir details how she struggled to lift herself up and dealt with the struggle between family loyalty and the grief that comes with severing those ties in search of something more.
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No Hiding in Boise
Book Summary
This contemporary drama is blended with a mystery as we experience a mass shooting narrated by those impacted in different ways.
Tessa, the 23-year-old bartender who hid in a storage closet doesn’t understand why she survived when others did not. Angie is awakened by a call that her husband is critically injured, but she’s confused as she thought he was sleeping next to her. Joyce gets a knock at the door that her son is dead after a bar shooting, except he wasn’t a victim in the same way she expected. He was the shooter.
These three women are now tied together in an unexpected way as they are thrust into a new reality. This powerful book is a hard read, but doesn’t focus on the shooting itself. Instead, it delves into the aftermath.
The Book Girls Say…
Readers say that the audiobook narration of this title is excellent and using at least eleven narrators.
The Rise of Light
Book Summary
Gad channels the disappointment of his personal failures into his extreme control of others, especially his children. Aspiring artist Aran and sister Tasmin have united and are ready to challenge their father to improve their own future and for the sake of their two younger brothers.
Linda is a newcomer to Rexburg from Seattle, and hopes to heal from her own hard childhood. When she falls for Aran, she learns that his family is even more toxic than her own. Linda’s introduction to the family upsets the precarious balance that existed and triggers new upheaval. Can they all break free from the past and find a way forward?
Book Summary
Opposites attract in this fun Idaho renovation romance! Maggie is a house flipper and YouTube star who needs to restore a crumbling Victorian mansion in four months or less. She arrives in the small town of Kinship, Idaho, with her to-do lists, her blueprints, and her team.
Her local landscaper, Silas, is laid back but also an outrageously sexy flirt. While she doesn’t have time in her busy production schedule for a long-term romance, she could handle a short-term fling. However, steamy nights with Silas begin to break down her long-standing emotional walls. When the end of her renovation looms, she has some big decisions to make.
The Book Girls Say…
Lucy Score is known for steamy romances, so skip this one if you prefer fade-to-black/closed-door love scenes.
What Beauty There Is
Book Summary
Jack’s father went to prison, and his younger brother, Matty, is headed to foster care unless Jack can come up with the money needed to save him. And the only way he can do that quickly is by finding the drug money that sent his father to prison.
Ava has lived in isolation and under her father’s directive to trust no one her entire life. Now, he is chasing the same money as Jack. When he discovers that Jack is also hunting for the cash, will Ava remain silently loyal to her dad or help the brothers survive?
Books Set in Montana
The Bartender’s Tale
Book Summary
Tom and his 12-year-old son Rusty are a bit of an odd-couple family. Tom owns The Medicine Lodge, an isolated Northern Montana bar. Rusty wasn’t a planned child, and then his mother deserted them both. In 1960, Proxy, a dancer from Tom’s past, and Proxy’s daughter, Francine arrive in town. Proxy claims that Francine is also Tom’s child.
The arrival of these unexpected guests upends everything Rusty thought he knew about his life. This novel is told through Rusty’s perspective using Doig’s skills in storytelling, humor, and character development.
The Book Girls Say…
While this is listed as part of the Two Medicine County series, you won’t be lost if you read only The Bartender’s Tale.
A River Runs Through It
Book Summary
Author Norman Maclean was an English professor who began writing fiction at age 70. His novella, A River Runs Through It was first published in 1976. It is now considered a 20th-century classic about life, told through fly-fishing and vivid descriptions of the scenic Montana landscape.
The Book Girls Say…
Robert Redford adapted A River Runs Through It into a beautiful movie starring young Brad Pitt, so this would be a fun pick to read + watch.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Book Summary
When Cameron Post suddenly loses her parents to a tragic car accident, alongside her shock and grief, she also feels a sense of relief that they’ll never know she had – just hours before – been kissing a girl.
Orphaned, Cameron is forced to move in with her conservative aunt and old-fashioned grandma in rural Montana. Then, Cameron meets Coley Taylor – a beautiful cowgirl with a perfect boyfriend. The girls form a close friendship that seems to leave the door open for something more to develop in their relationship.
When Cameron’s ultra-religious Aunt Ruth tries to “fix” her niece through conversion therapy, Cameron must come to terms with her true self.
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Lone Women
Book Summary
This horror novel uses aspects of historical fiction, fantasy, mystery, and adventure to create a unique tale set in 1915 Montana.
Adelaide has come to Montana as one of the “lone women” to take advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame it. She carries an enormous steamer trunk with her, but it’s not her essential belongings as you would expect. The trunk remains locked all the time because whenever it is opened, people begin to disappear.
Hattie Big Sky
Book Summary
In this 2007 Newbery Medal Nominee, a 16-year-old orphan named Hattie has received the surprising news that she has inherited her uncle’s homesteading claim in Montana. She bravely travels from Iowa in 1917 to start a new life for herself on his land.
World War I is raging in Europe, and anti-German sentiment has reached Montana, creating complications for Hattie’s friend, Perilee Mueller. On top of the war, Hattie faces bug-infested summers and bitter winters, but her will to thrive finds a way to endure each challenge that comes her way.
The Book Girls Say…
The book is based on Kirby Larson’s great-grandmother, who received a homestead from her uncle in his will. There is a follow-up book about Hattie called Hattie Ever After, which continues Hattie’s story as she idolizes Nelly Bly and works to become a female reporter.
Book Summary
Bodine is the manager of her family’s Montana ranch resort. She’s way too busy for love, even when her childhood crush, Callen, returns to work at the ranch. However, when a young woman’s body is discovered on their land, the deputy sheriff is fueled by an old grudge and treats Callen as a suspect.
Twenty-five years ago, Bodine’s Aunt Alice disappeared, so the murder of this young woman hits close to home for the Longbow family. Bodine and Callen must work together to discover the truth of the current murder and maybe they can learn more about Alice along the way.
The Book Girls Say…
This story alternates between the present day, with Bodine and Callen, and Alice’s story from twenty-five years earlier, until the events collide.
For additional romance picks set in Montana, consider Montana Sky by Nora Roberts, Montana by Debbie Macomber, and Montana Actually by Fiona Lowe.
Book Set in the Dakota Territory
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
Based on an actual event and oral history from the survivors, The Children’s Blizzard takes us to the 1888 Great Plains. Just before school was let out for the day, an unexpected and extreme blizzard overtook the Dakota Territory. That morning, it had been warm enough that most went to school without their coats.
Schoolteachers, often as young as 16, had the children’s lives in their hands and were forced to make life-altering decisions. Two of the teachers, sisters Raina and Gerda, came out of the storm with very different outcomes. One was a hero, and one was ostracized. The book tells their stories, along with the story of a young servant girl and her miraculous survival.
The Book Girls Say…
We had nearly 100 of our readers select this book for our Decades Reading Challenge earlier this year. Common themes among the reviews were how well-researched and descriptive this novel is and that it is heartbreaking yet hopeful.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Books Set in North Dakota
O Beautiful
Book Summary
Elinor Hanson grew up in North Dakota as the daughter of an overbearing father and a distant Korean mother. She left decades ago to pursue a modeling career and has hardly looked back since. Now in her 40s, Elinor is trying to reinvent herself as a freelance writer. Her grad school mentor offers her a chance to write a piece for a prestigious magazine about North Dakota’s Bakken oil boom. Because she was raised on the nearby Air Force base, it’s assumed that she’ll be treated as an insider and will be able to leverage her connections to get a better story.
Instead, Elinor returns home to find a place she barely recognizes. The area has seen an influx of tens of thousands of roughnecks seeking to cash in on the oil boom. Not surprisingly, the locals are concerned about the changes to their once-small community.
As Elinor pursues the writing assignment, the story begins to intertwine with her own. She struggles to feel at home in the place where her family fell apart and where so many people still treat her like a foreigner based on her Korean heritage.
The Book Girls Say…
Author Jung Yun was born in South Korea and raised in North Dakota. This provides her with a unique perspective from which to write a novel that not only addresses the competing interests related to the oil boom but also the ways in which racism divides the population.
The Round House
Book Summary
The Round House is the story of Joe, a 13-year-old boy on the cusp of manhood, who seeks justice for his mother after she is beaten and raped. The question is, who did it and why?
Set on the Ojibwe Reservation in North Dakota, this novel includes Native lore and legends. It also illustrates the ways in which tribal law sometimes clashes with state and federal jurisdictions.
The Book Girls Say…
The Round House is just one of several novels that author Louise Erdrich has set in North Dakota and the surrounding states. Erdrich was born in Minnesota to a German-American father and a mother who is half Ojibwe. She is an enrolled member of the Anishinaabe Nation and is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential modern Native American writers. Reviewers say that The Round House is her most accessible novel to date.
Peace Like a River
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Book Summary
The narrator of this novel is 11-year-old Reuben Land. His older brother, Davy, is accused of murdering two people who had been terrorizing the family. Suspecting that justice will not weigh in his favor, Davy flees. But Reuben, together with his father and his little sister, chases Davy across the North Dakota Badlands, determined to catch up with him. Meanwhile, a federal agent is tailing the Land’s Airstream trailer
The Book Girls Say…
This novel, which is widely considered a modern classic, is heavy on religious themes with nods to various biblical stories. One particular emphasis is their father’s faith and the miracles that they witness along the way as they search for Davy. While the writing is said to be outstanding, the story can also feel bleak at times.
The New Wild West
Book Summary
For generations, Williston, North Dakota, was a sleepy farm town. However, all that changed when oil companies arrived, sparking a boom unlike anything since the Gold Rush. Workers arrived from all over the country, drawn by the promise of high-paying jobs that required no prior experience.
In some ways, it was the definition of the American dream, but the population influx also had a darker side. Reports of violence and sexual assault skyrocketed, and schools became overcrowded. Real estate prices soared to such heights that many workers were forced to live in tent cities or in their cars.
Through this book, we see the big picture challenges as well as portraits of the real people affected on all sides, from the farmers who have worked the land for generations to those who arrived in search of work.
The Book Girls Say…
Author Blaire Briody is a freelance journalist who has written for The New York Times, Popular Science, and Glamour, among others. The style of this nonfiction is described as similar to that of Jon Krakauer, with a mix of first-person adventure and cultural analysis.
Let Him Go
Book Summary
Years ago, George and Margaret Blackledge lost their son James when he was thrown from a horse. Now it’s September 1951, and James’s widow, Lorna, has remarried. Margaret doesn’t trust the new husband, Donnie Weboy, and is concerned for the safety of their grandson, Jimmy.
Jimmy is their last remaining connection to James, but George, a retired sheriff, doesn’t want to stir up trouble with Donnie. Unable to allay Lorna’s fears, George gives in, and the two take to the road in pursuit of Jimmy. They travel through the North Dakota badlands and on to Bentrock, Montana.
When Margaret tries to convince Lorna to return to North Dakota with Jimmy, she and George find themselves entangled with the fearsome Weboy clan, who aren’t going to give Jimmy up without a fight.
The Book Girls Say…
Author Larry Watson was born and raised in North Dakota. He writes modern Westerns with simple prose and limited punctuation, similar to the style of Kent Haruf (author of Plainsong).
This novel was adapted into a film of the same name starring Kevin Costner.
Books Set in South Dakota
The Work of Wolves
Book Summary
Carson bought his first horse from Magnus Yarborough, the town’s wealthy landowner, when he was only 14. Years later, Carson is now a respected horse trainer. He reluctantly agrees to train Magnus’ horses and to teach his wife to ride. However, his irritation at power-hungry Magnus increases alongside an increasing attraction to Magnus’ wife.
This attraction sets off an unsettling chain of events that also impacts Earl Walks Alone, an Indian trying to study his way out of the reservation and into college, and Willi, a German exchange student confronting his family’s troubled history.
The Book Girls Say…
Reviewers say the border town in Western South Dakota feels like a character itself in this Western about men from different backgrounds becoming unlikely friends as they unite to fight a wealthy landowner.
Never Give Up: A Prairie Family’s Story
Book Summary
Journalist Tom Brokaw’s father, Red, left school after only the 2nd grade to work at the family hotel, the Brokaw House, which was established in 1883. As he grew older, Red developed a talent for working with machinery. He met Tom’s mother, Jean, after she was the lead in a high school play.
Jean’s father was a man who lost everything during the Great Depression, and Red and Jean also faced financial struggles as they raised their three young sons. However, Red’s mantra was “Never Give Up’ and his good attitude was soon rewarded with a job for the Army Corps of Engineers building great dams across the Missouri River.
Late in life, Red recorded his memories of his early life, and those reflections helped inspire Tom to write this book
The Book Girls Say…
While this non-fiction focuses on the Brokaw family’s history, you can also pick up A Long Way from Home, which is Brokaw’s memoir of growing up in Pickstown, SD.
Hour Glass
Book Summary
Calamity Jane was one of the most infamous American frontierswomen. In this historical fiction, we see her story through the eyes of 12-year-old Jimmy Glass. When Jimmy’s Pa becomes ill with smallpox, Jimmy and his sister, Hour, must travel into lawless Deadwood to get help.
A surprising group of Deadwood inhabitants, including Calamity Jane, surrounds Jimmy & Hour. The kids find a new “family” that protects them from the uncertainty and chaos that define the region.
A Quiet Retreat
Book Summary
Five mystery authors have been invited to a writing retreat at the isolated Black Hills Manor. While they’re promised a relaxing visit filled with amazing scenery, free food, drinks, and like-minded company, everything takes a turn shortly after their arrival.
Soon, each writer suspects the others as odd occurrences, from strange noises to missing items, begin happening. As tensions rise, the authors find themselves in a reality that is more mysterious than the plots of their novels.
The Book Girls Say…
This twisty, fast-paced thriller features two timelines from different perspectives and is a good choice if you’re looking for a quick read.
We hope you enjoyed this book list and found several books to add to your TBR (to be read list). If you’re choosing a book for our reading challenge, you are also welcome to read any other book that meets the challenge prompt.
If you have a suggestion for a book that you think would be a great addition to this list, please fill out this form.
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Readers who support The Book Girls’ Guide through our Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC) membership site can access printable versions of the reading challenge book lists. As we create stand-alone book lists for the Read Around the USA Challenge throughout the year, each individual state book list will be available in a single-page printable format for our BMAC members.
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Book Recommendations for Other Regions of the USA
If you’re participating in our 2025 Read Around the USA Challenge and reading one book per region, you can find links to every region here. If you’re doing the 50 States Challenge and reading books from every state and territory, you can get an alphabetical index here. Throughout 2025, we’ll be expanding the regional book lists into standalone book lists for all 50 states.
