Books Set in North America

Book Summary

This is the latest in the popular Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series of crime mysteries set in Quebec. Each book in this series takes place in the fictional village of Three Pines, where the Chief Inspector investigates murders and digs up long-buried secrets that lay below the seemingly idyllic surface of the town.

The first book in this character-driven mystery series, Still Life, was published in 2006, and many of the subsequent novels have topped the New York Times Best-Seller list and have won major crime-writing awards in three countries.

This most recent title begins with a missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note reading “this might interest you,” a mysterious list, and then a murder. But Gamache and his team quickly see that something much more sinister than just one murder is quickly approaching.

Book Summary

Eliot hasn’t seen her family in three years, but that’s about to change now that her big brother is getting married. The whole big, wacky, dysfunctional group will be gathering in Canada – including all of her siblings and in-laws. But Eliot isn’t yet ready to tell them all why she ran off to Manhattan a few years ago without looking back. No good could come from it – and it might just send her back into the never-ending cycle of obsessive-compulsive disorder that used to consume her.

But Eliot is in a good place now and she feels prepared to survive the wedding extravaganza – all four days of it. That is, until she sees her best friend, Manuel, waiting for her at the marina looking so handsome. From the time they were children, she felt that he was her soulmate, and yet she tried so hard not to fall in love with him. Seeing him again threatens to bring down the walls she’s built around herself, but without those walls, she fears everything will come crashing down.

Book Summary

This Canadian novel opens in 1950s Quebec, where tensions run high between the French and English. When 15-year-old Maggie’s parents find out that she’s pregnant and the father is a poor French boy, they force her to give her baby girl, Elodie, up for adoption.

As the years go by, we follow the lives of both the mother and daughter. Elodie is a bright and determined young girl growing up in Quebec’s impoverished orphanage system. But when a law is enacted that provides more funding to psychiatric hospitals than to orphanages, Elodie and thousands of other orphans are declared mentally ill. Elodie withstands terrible treatment until she is finally able to gain her freedom at age seventeen.

Maggie marries and is eager to start a family, but she never forgets the daughter that she was forced to give up. Through the years, the lives of the mother and daughter continue to circle around one another, never quite intersecting. Until finally, Maggie decides to go in search of her long-lost daughter.

Book Summary

While this book takes place on September 11, 2001 and the following days, it’s not the constantly devastating story you would expect. Instead, this heartwarming book recounts the experiences of countless passengers from some of the 38 planes that were unexpectedly diverted to Newfoundland – an island in Canada’s easternmost province – when US airspace was closed on 9/11. On that day, the small town of Gander, with a population of just 10,000, received more than 6,600 passengers from 92 countries. Ganderites, along with residents of the surrounding towns, opened the doors to the local churches, schools, and even their own homes.

Throughout this book, you’ll not only learn the personal stories of the passengers, but you’ll also learn a lot about life on this tiny, remote island and about the unexpected hosts who welcomed strangers from around the world with open arms and generous hearts.

Book Summary

Greenwood is a multi-generational saga following one family from 1934-2038. However, the book works backward, first introducing you to Jake, an eco-tour guide in one of the world’s last remaining forests in 2038.

Then you’ll meet Liam, a carpenter in 2008, followed by Willow in 1974 as she attempts to make up for the sins of her father and his timber empire. Finally, you’ll be all the way back to 1934, when Everett Greenwood spent his days alone with the trees and their maple syrup. One day, he hears the cries of an abandoned baby in the forest. His life and the life of the following generations are forever changed.

Timber and the environment tie the family together through changing generations.

Book Summary

Written in 1908, Anne of Green Gables has been a charming classic for over a century. The book starts a series of 8 novels, following Anne from childhood to having her own children. In the first book, you’ll meet Anne as an 11-year old orphan being adopted by the Cuthberts – an older man and his stern sister who live on a farm on Prince Edward Island called Green Gables.

The only problem is that the Cuthberts intended to adopt a boy to help run the farm, not a feisty red-headed girl. However, her wild imagination and beautiful yet precocious spirit quickly win them over.

Book Summary

Spanning from 1933 to 1939, and from the streets of Toronto to the shores of Hong Kong, this Canadian historical fiction novel tells the story of a little-known chapter of WWII history.

With the Depression crippling Toronto, 18-year-old Molly puts aside her journalism dreams to work any job she can to help her family get by. But, as the summer of 1933 stretches on, the terrible wave of hate and anti-Semitism sweeping the globe reaches Toronto in the form of “Swastika Clubs” and “No Jews Allowed” signs. On a fateful night in August, tensions reached a boiling point between the local Irish and Jewish communities. The resulting riot has devastating consequences for Molly’s family and that of her best friend, Hannah.

Six years later, Molly is now working as a reporter for the local paper. With the war on the horizon and many people she loves in danger, Molly is forced to confront what happened on that terrible night back in 1933.

Book Summary

Catalina “Cat” Capuleta is an ambitious singer living in San Antonio. When she is given the opportunity to join superstar heartthrob Patricio Galán on his seven-week Mariachi concert tour, she knows it’s the chance of a lifetime. Patricio might be a superstar heartthrob, but he also turns out to be demanding and arrogant. He challenges Cat at every turn, but she’s determined to make him feel he’s met his match.

Cat is also determined not to fall for him because her one and only goal is her own success so she can make her family proud. But when the duo hit the road, the chemistry is undeniable – even the audiences can feel it.

Book Summary

In the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, women are often on their own as the men leave looking for other work. However, the setting is also surrounded by the drug war, which is even more dangerous than the terrain and abundant poisonous creatures. As a result, resourceful mothers learn to hide the beauty of their daughters as a form of protection – disguising them as boys or making them unattractive in other ways. 

Ladydi is one of these daughters, and you’ll quickly fall in love with her fierce intelligence and willingness to make the best of the circumstances in which she was born. When she’s offered a chance to leave Guerrero to become a nanny for a wealthy American family in Acapulco, she jumps at the opportunity to make a better and safer life for herself. However, the cartel still looms and impacts her life in unexpected ways. 

Book Summary

This modern classic crosses genres from historical fiction and romance to magical realism. Set in 1910-1917 Mexico, Like Water for Chocolate is the story of the all-female De La Garza family. The youngest daughter, Tita, is expected to follow the Mexican tradition of caring for her mother instead of having her own husband and family.

However, she’s fallen in love with Pedro, who has been seduced by Tita’s magical food. So, knowing the tradition, Pedro takes the extreme action of marrying Tita’s sister Rosaura so he can stay close to Tita. And that is just the beginning of Tita’s problems, which include everything from a kidnapped sister to war.

The story is told in monthly installments, with recipes and home remedies mixed into the romance.

Book Summary

Clara is a modern teenager growing up in Baltimore. She has never met her father’s parents and doesn’t know much about his past other than the fact that he snuck over the US border as a teenager. One day, she receives a letter from her grandparents inviting her to spend the summer with them in their small village of Yucuyoo in southern Mexico.

After her initial culture shock, Clara begins to see the beauty in a simpler life, and as she learns about her father’s past, she also embarks on her own journey of self-discovery.

Book Summary

Inspired by several notebooks discovered at Frida Kahlo’s Mexico City home, this novel provides a fictional account of the famous artist’s life. The author begins with the premise that, after Frida nearly died in a streetcar accident, she received a notebook as a gift from her lover, Tina Modotti, and used the notebook to collect memories, ideas, and recipes.

This reimagined tale of Kahlo’s passionate life and the development of her art also details her relationships with many famous characters, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Nelson Rockefeller, Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller, Salvador Dali, and more.

Book Summary

They called Gabi the tree girl because she was always climbing trees in the Guatemalan forest to watch the eagles and the sunrise. One day, while high in the safety of her trees, she witnesses the sights and sounds of a terrible massacre – part of the ongoing Maya genocide. Also known as the Silent Holocaust, the Guatemalan military government carried out more than 600 massacres, killing tens of thousands of Maya citizens and destroying more than 400 Mayan villages between 1981 and 1983.

Having lost not only her whole family, but her entire village, Gabi joins the masses of refugees struggling to reach the Mexican border. Throughout the long journey, Gabi continues to hold out hope that she might be reunited with her younger sister.

Book Summary

Tara is a surgeon for a London hospital who travels with her cardiologist boyfriend to the southeast Costa Rican village of Puerto Viejo for a family celebration. In recent years, she has strived to escape the grasp of her controlling, affluent family but agrees to attend an unmissable party in the jungle. However, instead of enjoying a carefree vacation, she encounters a desperately ill local boy.

The boy’s mother is having him treated by the shaman and rejects Tara’s Western medicine approach. However, she is compelled to help however she can and agrees to trek deep into the jungle for days in order to gather the plant that may save his life.

Book Summary

Maya is seventeen and has a talent for making clothes out of unusual objects. Her fashion design skills have earned her a scholarship to Guatemala City’s most prestigious design school and a finalist spot in the school’s fashion show. Mamá believes in Maya’s talent and even takes on an extra job to make sure Maya has everything she needs at the school.

So when Mamá doesn’t show up at the fashion show, Maya knows something is wrong. The local gangs that terrorize Guatemala City are now too close to home, and Maya and Mamá must flee. Their only hope is to travel through Mexico and to the US. But can they reach the border and asylum?

Book Summary

What began as a terrible vacation for Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Diana Marcum turned into a quest to learn more. When Diana inadvertently came upon a wildlife sanctuary supported by an international live butterfly trade, she was eager to learn more about this first-of-its-kind farm.

Soon, her vacation turned into an extended stay as she and her new partner, Jack, moved into a long-empty jungle house in Belize. Diana becomes acquainted with Clive, a whimsical British millionaire who created an industry of his childhood passion, and Sebastian, the Maya farm manager.

While Diana was chasing blue butterflies, Mayan secrets, and happily ever after in Belize, she couldn’t have expected that she’d also face a hurricane and global pandemic.

Book Summary

Sharon Matola was beloved as “the Zoo Lady” in her adopted land of Belize. This biography chronicles how Matola became one of Central America’s greatest wildlife defenders. The book details her crusade to stop a multinational corporation that sought to build a dam that would have flooded the nesting ground of the last scarlet macaws in Belize.

Book Summary

This novel weaves together the stories of three generations of Nicaraguan women. When Maria, a New York City artist, returns home to Nicaragua to attend her beloved grandfather’s funeral, she steps back into the tensions that have always existed in the relationship with her mother, Ninexin, and grandmother, Isabela.

Maria was largely raised by her doting grandmother because her mother spent Maria’s formative years as a famous revolutionary. Ninexin was instrumental in the fight to create the new Nicaragua and has since become a tireless government employee.

When Maria returns home for the funeral, she brings with her a mysterious package from her grandmother’s past – one that brings back Isabala’s memories of attending boarding school in New Orleans during the 1950s.

Each chapter is told in the first person from the alternating point of view of each woman. This beautifully written novel also provides vivid descriptions of the landscape and history of Nicaragua.

Book Summary

Margot and Anthony were leading lives filled with stresses that would sound familiar to many parents – long hours at work, carpooling, overscheduled kids, and concerns about money. One day, Margot impulsively suggested the family move to Costa Rica, and a short seven weeks later, they were jobless on top of a remote mountain.

In this witty memoir, Margot provides insight into her family’s struggle to get back on track in a new life. She shares insights on parenting and privilege, loneliness, and connection. Along the way, she discovers that even when everything changes, some things still remain the same.

Book Summary

After retiring as a social worker, 60-year-old Ellen Lippman Finn took a two-week trip to Honduras to learn Spanish by immersing herself in a new culture. That single decision radically changed her life and turned into a 7-year stay in Copan Ruinas.

Her work there started with small acts, like asking friends and family back home in the US to send materials for rural schools. As she received more contributions, she expanded into opening new schools, medical clinics, and more. This memoir recaps her journey and focuses on Honduras’s culture and how important it was for her to understand and appreciate the local customs.

Book Summary

Deborah was born to Puritan parents in Plympton, Massachusetts, in 1760. However, her father then abandoned the family. When Deborah’s mother is no longer able to support them, Deborah becomes an indentured servant at age 10. She constantly yearns for a life of freedom and adventure.

When the fight for independence from England begins, Deborah is impassioned by the cause. She wants to be part of the action, so she disguises herself as a boy and joins the Continental Army using the name Robert.

Book Summary

PEN Award–winning Native American author Mona Susan Power tells the story of three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women in this highly-rated 2023 release.

Born in 1961 Chicago, Sissy has a volatile relationship with her mother. However, there is also beauty in her life, including her new doll, Ethel, who whispers kindness into Sissy’s ear and even protects her.

Lillian, born in 1925, and her sister Blanche are forced to attend an “Indian School” away from their family. Lillian’s doll, Mae, finds a way to defend the girls after a tragedy.

Cora was born in 1888 in the legacy of the “Indian Wars.” White men move her across the country so she can be civilized, but they are brutal and burn her beloved buckskin and beaded doll, Winona. However, the spirit of Winona may not have perished in the fire.

Book Summary

This historical fiction novel tells the story of the friendship between two powerful and influential women in American history.

Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of formerly enslaved parents, was one of the first black female activists. Through her work as both an activist and an educator, she helped lay a foundation for the civil rights movement. Eleanor Roosevelt shared Mary’s passion for education and women’s rights, and was eager to make her acquaintance. The two became fast friends and confidantes.

After Eleanor’s husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was elected president in 1932, the two women began to collaborate even more closely. She became quite a controversial First Lady for pursuing her own agenda, separate from FDR, and particularly for her outspoken stance on civil rights.

When Elanor begins to receive threats as a result of her close relationship with Mary, both women use it as motivation to fight even harder for equality.

Book Summary

Part travelogue and part history of America’s public lands, you’ll armchair travel across the country to some of America’s most beautiful locations as you read That Wild Country.

The public land trust owned by the citizens of the US is the largest in the world, and the lands serve as havens for wildlife and recreation zones for visitors. However, since the inception of the public land system, there has been controversy. Some want conservation, while others want the vast resources utilized. This book is the perfect primer on the topic.