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Michigan Books: Novels Set in the Great Lakes State
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 Michigan, we’ve curated a diverse list of highly-rated titles about the Great Lakes State! If you’re looking for another state, check our comprehensive list of books set in every state.
A Few Things Michigan is Known For…
Long before the arrival of European settlers, Michigan was inhabited by Native American tribes, including the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi. The settlement of the Toledo War, a boundary dispute with Ohio in 1836, paved the way for Michigan to become the 26th state in 1837.
Michigan is the only state bordered by four of the Great Lakes and has the longest freshwater coastline in the US. The state is split into the upper and lower peninsulas. The Upper Peninsula (U.P.) is known for its rugged natural beauty and long, cold winters with substantial lake-effect snowfall. The Lower Peninsula is easily identified by its distinct mitten shape. The region around Traverse City is famous for its cherry orchards and is often called the “Cherry Capital of the World.”
Michigan’s two peninsulas are connected by one of the longest suspension bridges in the world, the Mackinac Bridge, which crosses the waterway between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Located in Lake Huron, car-free Mackinac Island is a popular tourist destination known for its preserved 19th-century character, fudge, and the historic Grand Hotel.
Michigan became a hub for the automotive industry due to Henry Ford’s introduction of assembly line production methods in 1913. The Detroit area is even known as “Motor City” due to the presence of the “Big Three” automakers – General Motors (GM), Ford, and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler).
As the auto industry faced challenges, Detroit’s economy was devastated. Decades of decline led to municipal bankruptcy in 2013. However, over the last decade, Detroit has been experiencing an impressive recovery, thanks in part to public-private partnerships. The city boasts a world-class art museum, offers incredible food, and has significantly reduced crime rates.
Books Set in Michigan
The Firekeeper’s Daughter
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This YA thriller, written by a Native American author, is about a biracial teen who is an unenrolled member of the Ojibwe tribe. Daunis has never quite fit in at home or on the reservation. She dreams of heading to college, but after a tragedy, she must remain home to care for her mom.
Life takes another big turn when she witnesses a murder and then reluctantly goes undercover in the criminal investigation to infiltrate a drug ring in her community.
Why This Book Made the List
Although some feel that this book starts slowly, it made the list of our readers’ favorite books of 2021! They mentioned that it’s especially good as an audiobook because you’ll hear the beautiful native language woven into the book. This is a great pick to learn more about the Ojibwe tribe that has inhabited Michigan long before statehood.
Heads Up: The book contains a sexual assault.
Funny Story
Book Summary
After Daphne makes a big move to her fiancé Peter’s lakeside hometown, he turns her future upside down by discovering he’s actually in love with Petra, his childhood best friend. Now, Daphne is stuck in a new town with no friends. She at least has her dream job as a children’s librarian (which barely covers her bills).
When Daphne needs a roommate, she comes up with Miles, the only other person who can understand her recent heartbreak. Miles was engaged to Petra before Peter moved back to town.
Daphne and Miles mostly avoid each other until they decide to team up and begin posting misleading photos of their summer adventures together. As they partake in fake adventures, surely Daphne won’t fall for her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex, right?
Another Great Option By This Author
We selected Funny Story as our Emily Henry pick because the characters explore different activities in Michigan together. However, if you’ve already read this novel or are specifically looking for a lakeside setting, we also recommend Beach Read. While the title conquers the ocean, the book takes place in a fictional lakefront town that is a blend of real western Michigan beach towns like Holland, Saugatuck, and Grand Haven.
The Women of Copper Country
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Twenty-five-year-old Annie Clements has spent her whole life in the copper-mining town of Calumet, Michigan. The men risk their lives deep underground, and the women labor in elite households to help make enough money to put food on the table.
When Annie decides to stand up for herself and the workers in her town, she faces opposition from all sides. Her husband resents her growing independence, the violent political landscape endangers her, and she risks the threat of prison. Ultimately, she has to decide how much of herself she’s willing to sacrifice for the families in her town.
This historical fiction novel is a portrait of the early 20th-century labor movement.
A Wish for Winter
Book Summary
Susan runs a successful bookstore in a small Michigan lakeside community. Her teen years were rough as she lost both parents just before her fourteenth birthday. However, her loving grandparents and quirky, devoted friends have been a caring help along the way.
But now, she’s on the verge of a crisis as she approaches her 40th birthday. Her mom was 40 when the accident occurred, and Susan is stuck in a comparison trap. She can’t stop thinking of all her mom had achieved by that age. Adding to the pressure is the town’s belief that Suan is destined to meet a man dressed as Santa to be her husband, just like her mother and grandmother did.
When she has a surprising connection with a man at the town’s annual Santa Run, she can’t believe he gets lost in the crowd before she can even get his name. Over the next year, Susan and her friends are determined to track him down, leading to a hilarious and heartwarming search.
Why This Book Made the List
Michigan resident and author Wade Rouse uses his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, to write beautiful, heartfelt novels that celebrate both the people and scenery of Michigan.
After reading A Wish for Winter, Melissa instantly added Petoskey, a real town she had never heard of, to her “want to visit” list. From learning about Petoskey stones to the unique ice formations that form in Lake Michigan, she was captivated by the descriptions of this small town.
More Michigan Books By Viola Shipman
If you’re not in the season or mood for a book that incorporates Santa, there are plenty of other Viola Shipman Michigan books to choose from instead.
The Charm Bracelet – Scoops, Michigan (Fictional lakeside town)
The Hope Chest – Saugatuck/Douglas, Michigan
The Recipe Box – Suttons Bay, Michigan
The Summer Cottage – Saugatuck/Douglas, Michigan
The Heirloom Garden – Grand Haven, Michigan
The Clover Girls – Glen Arbor, Michigan
The Secret of Snow – Traverse City, Michigan
The Edge of Summer – Saugatuck/Douglas, Michigan
Famous in a Small Town – Good Hart, Michigan
The Wishing Bridge – Frankenmuth, Michigan
The Page Turner – South Haven, Michigan
The Sleuth Sisters
Book Summary
In this cozy mystery series, retired sisters Barb and Faye decide to form a detective agency in their small town of Allport, Michigan. Their first case is a race against the clock when a woman facing a serious medical issue asks them to find her brother, who disappeared after the murder of his wife and brother-in-law.
As they work through witnesses, Barb, who spends her nights fixing grammatically incorrect signs, finds herself attracted to the town’s new police chief. Both the case and Barb’s crush get tricky when Barb and Faye’s younger sister, Retta, returns to town. Retta is determined to prove that she can be an asset to the detective agency.
Why This Book Made the List
While some small-town cozy mysteries feel like they could be set in any state, the Sleuth Sisters travel to multiple Michigan locations to interview witnesses, making this a great pick as a state read.
While the mystery has many twists and turns, along with humor, the mystery is a slow build, so don’t pick it up expecting a fast pace from page one.
The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season
Book Summary
Cherries are a big business in Michigan, and Peg has lived in the Orchard House her whole life. It’s her family’s northern Michigan estate, but at this point, it’s seen better days. When Peg’s niece, Hope, and Hope’s ten-year-old daughter arrive unexpectedly, she tells Hope she can stay if she will help with the cherry harvest.
As they harvest alongside a kind man Hope finds increasingly difficult to ignore, she starts to see a new life for herself at the Orchard House. However, mistakes from the past can be hard to escape. The family’s story is told from three perspectives – Peg, Hope, and Hope’s pre-teen daughter, Tink, who arrives at the farm angry and non-verbal.
Reader Thoughts on This Book
This contemporary fiction novel includes both family drama and romance, though readers find the family relationships stronger than the romance.
A Matter of Happiness
Book Summary
This dual-timeline historical fiction novel is set in both 1921 Detroit and 2018 Louisville, Kentucky. As a child, Melanie spent a week every summer with her great-aunt, Violet. Years later, Violet left her car to Melanie in her will. In it, Melanie discovers her aunt’s journal filled with secrets from the past.
In the early 1920s, Violet moved to Detroit, seeking a life of adventure at the heart of the motorcar boom. But in an era of speakeasies, financial windfalls, and unexpected romance, it didn’t take long before things spun out of control.
Why This Book Made the List
While this book does not take place exclusively in Michigan, half of the story unfolds during one of the most defining periods in Detroit’s history as it became the Motor City and wealth exploded in the region.
The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy
Book Summary
When we think about impactful events in Michigan history, the Flint Water Crisis quickly comes to mind. This highly rated non-fiction read explores both the governmental failure that led to the crisis and compounded the damage, while also introducing us to some of the incredible community members who refused to give up on their city.
Why You Should Read This Book
While this book is only 215 pages long, you’ll walk away feeling educated. The author provides full context to the tragedy, including how previously high-income cities like Flint were negatively transformed by the loss of factory jobs, as well as the history and impact of lead in America.
Book Summary
Prince is a wise seventeen-year-old with his own segment on Detroit’s popular hip-hop show, Love Radio, where he dishes out advice. While he’s always dreamed of both being a DJ and falling in love, his life is complicated. He’s the primary caretaker for his mom, who has MS, which also means he has to watch out for his little brother.
Dani is focused on her future and plans to ace her senior year before moving to New York City on the way to becoming a famous author. But she has a mental block on her college essay, and she knows it has to do with something that happened at a party months earlier.
When Prince and Dani cross paths, he’s immediately smitten, but Dani believes her education and future are more important than a teen relationship. However, she agrees to give Prince three dates to convince her that he’ll be a valuable addition to her life and not just a distraction.
Awards & Accolades for Love Radio
This YA novel has won multiple awards, including being Apple Books’ best book of 2022 and People magazine’s best book of the summer. It was also an Audie award finalist, so it should be excellent in audiobook format.
Detroit Hustle: A Memoir of Love, Life & Home
Book Summary
After being priced out of their Brooklyn neighborhood, journalist Amy Haimerl and her husband decide to start over in a new city. They moved to Detroit and invested their savings to purchase an abandoned house.
The 1914 Georgian Revival was a once stately home, but by the time the Haimerls bought it, it had no plumbing, heat, or electricity. Fortunately, Amy finds a community of others in the city who, like her, aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.
Throughout this memoir, Amy recounts the ups and downs of building a life and rebuilding a home in a city with an uncertain future. From real-estate market scams and C.S. Lewis-loving contractors to neighbors who warn them to get out while they can, Amy talks about both the charms and challenges of turning a house into a home.
Additional Context About This Book
This memoir was published in 2015, in the very early years of Detroit’s resurgence. Keep in mind that in the years after this memoir, the city has begun to thrive again. It would be interesting to read or listen to this 2024 NPR interview about Detroit’s resurgence after reading to get a more up-to-date viewpoint.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Set in the marshlands of Upper Michigan, The Marsh King’s Daughter is a thriller about Helena Pelletier, who was raised as a survivalist by her criminal father.
Helena’s mother was kidnapped as a teen and hidden away in a cabin deep in the marsh. Two years later, Helena was born. She loved her home and even her father until his brutality reached new heights one day.
Twenty years later, her father escaped prison and disappeared into the marsh. Helena is the only person with a chance to find him.
The Last Bathing Beauty
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Betty Stern turned 18 in 1951 and was looking forward to her last summer at her grandparents’ Jewish summer resort before heading off to college. She had big dreams of becoming a fashion editor in NYC.
During that life-changing summer, Betty collapses at the end of the beauty pageant, which ends up being the last time the pageant is held. In 2020, a financially-struggling manicurist decides to bring it back. By this time, Betty is in her late 80s, and no one knows she was the last winner or why the pageant ended.
The book alternates between Betty’s life that summer and a present-day gathering of her best friends from that summer.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Melissa enjoyed how the author highlighted the changing societal expectations between the 1950s & 2020s. While this is an easier read, it will still give you plenty to think about.
Boys Come First
Book Summary
Advertising copywriter Dominick just lost his job and broke up with his cheating ex, so it seems like the perfect time to return to his hometown of Detroit after building a career in NYC. He’s determined to be married by the time he is 35, and that birthday seems to be coming fast.
Dom’s best friend, Troy, is a teacher and is currently struggling with all the men in his life. He’s barely holding onto his boyfriend, his father never seems happy with him, and there are problems with his other friend, Remy, a Detroit real estate agent. Dom, Troy, and Remy are working through how to navigate friendship in your 30s, especially when your town seems to be changing around you overnight.
About the Author & Book
Like his characters, author Aaron Foley is a gay, black, 30-something from Detroit. In 2017, he wrote The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook, a collection of essays and poems about the various neighborhoods in the city. As you would guess, Boys Come First richly and accurately describes the city from the POV of a local.
While the core story revolves around friendships and romance, the novel also addresses important topics, including gentrification, racism, and homophobia.
Tom Lake
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
88% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Set during the summer of 2020, Lara’s three adult daughters have returned home to quarantine at the family’s northern Michigan cherry orchard. As they pick cherries and go about running the family business in isolation, the sisters beg their mother to tell them the story of her long-ago romance with celebrity Peter Duke. When Lara was in her early 20s, she and Peter shared the stage during a Michigan summer stock theater run of the play Our Town.
Lara begins the story with her very first experience on stage in high school and works her way forward through her brief but eventful theater career. As the girls learn more about their mother’s life, they are forced to reconsider everything they thought they knew about her and their father.
Thoughts About Tom Lake
We have both read and highly rated Tom Lake ourselves, and our readers rate it numerically high on average. However, we find that those who dislike slower, character-driven reads do not enjoy the book as much as we did.
Ann Patchett has had some amazing narrators for her audiobooks over the years (Tom Hanks reading The Dutch House, for example), and this book is no exception. Meryl Streep’s narration is phenomenal and adds to the experience of reading the book.
All Fudged Up
Book Summary
Tourism is big business on idyllic Mackinac Island, a real, yet magical-feeling place filled with Victorian-style buildings and a ban on motorized vehicles. Allie McMurphy spent her summers on Mackinac helping her grandparents run their hotel and fudge shop. Now, she has inherited the historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop, but the building needs extensive renovations.
As Allie is cleaning out closets, she finds the body of her grandfather’s rival. The police immediately treat her as a suspect, and news travels fast on a close-knit island. The next day, the locals are wearing ribbons to indicate their belief in her innocence or guilt. All Allie wants is to reopen the family businesses and run them successfully, but the murderer keeps getting in the way.
Why We Picked This Book
Melissa has wanted to travel to Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Island since seeing it highlighted on an online gardening tour. Without cars on the island, many of the elaborate historic homes have stables for horses instead of traditional garages.
There are fudge recipes included within this book, so you should pick up some ingredients because you might get quite a craving while reading!
What the Fireflies Knew
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Kenyatta Bernice (KB) is almost 11 when her life is turned upside down. First, her father died of an overdose. Then, the debts caused by his addiction led to the loss of the family home. KB’s overwhelmed mother decides to send KB and her teen sister, Nina, to live with their estranged (and grumpy) grandfather in Lansing.
The book follows KB over that summer as she comes of age in a neighborhood that isn’t hers. In addition to typical adolescent experiences, she’s dealing with resentment, abandonment, and loneliness. However, she finds herself escaping to the outdoors and into her favorite book, Anne of Green Gables, to help her figure out how to put the pieces of life back together into a better version of herself.
Reader Thoughts on This Book
While this is adult fiction, some say it reads more like a YA novel. Others say it’s perfect for fans of Jesmyn Ward.
Good for You
Book Summary
Aly is six months into her dream job as the editor-in-chief of All Good magazine when she overhears her coworkers belittling her. This leads to a very embarrassing and very public meltdown. She agrees to take a month of unpaid leave to save her job. Unsure where to go or what to do with herself, she retreats to the Lake Michigan beach house she inherited from her brother, Luke. But when she arrives, she discovers that her brother’s best friend, Wyatt, also inherited a stake in the house.
She sees Wyatt as nothing more than an unkempt and unmotivated slacker standing in the way of her selling the beach house. But like her, he’s still processing his grief from losing Luke. As they spend more time under the same roof, they may discover that’s not the only thing they have in common.
Our Thoughts About This Book
If you need a quick read, this might be the perfect book. At just over 250 pages, it’s fun and fast, with a good balance of emotion and depth. Like most of Pagan’s books, this one combines women’s fiction and romance. Melissa rated it four stars.
The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
92% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Although this book is classified as historical fiction, it’s based on a larger-than-life real woman with an equally large heart. In her childhood, Marjorie helped her father, the creator of Grape-Nuts, by gluing cereal boxes together, a task that would later lead to the successful Post cereal empire. His company led the family to extreme wealth, but Marjorie wasn’t content to sit at home as American royalty.
While entertaining the rich and famous was part of her life, she also wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. Her extraordinary life included everything from outrunning Nazis to serving the homeless during the Great Depression. She was also married four times and built impressive real estate along the way, including now-infamous Mar-a-Lago.
Why We Picked This Book
While this novel isn’t exclusively set in Michigan, Marjorie’s childhood was set in Michigan as her father moved the family so he could be treated at Kellogg’s Sanitarium in Battle Creek. This was an important part of their family’s story, as well as a big part of Michigan history.
Since she was born in 1887 and lived through 1973, this book includes highlights of world history throughout that formative era. You’ll also undoubtedly recognize the many ways in which her life has touched your own through Post & General Foods.
Everything is told chronologically from a first-person perspective, so you’ll quickly feel a part of Marjorie’s life. As with most people, her life did include relationships, and you’ll see her four marriages as well.
Some readers are turned off by the wealth her family acquired, and others by the inclusion of her relationships in the plot, but we believe both are important and historically accurate parts of her life story.
The House of Long Shadows
Book Summary
This novel follows an internet-famous handyman aiming to renovate a derelict house within thirty days to impress network TV producers and boost his online presence.
He purchases a property that’s been empty for almost 30 years and begins to document the renovation process for his subscribers. But as he delves deeper into the reno, he encounters unsettling phenomena, including distorted shadows, enigmatic trespassers appearing in his footage, and eerie voices emanating from empty rooms.
As his work in the house begins to feel more dangerous, he feels compelled to confront the house’s past head-on. Using the clues he’s uncovered in the house, combined with hearsay from locals, he tried to piece together the story of why the house was abandoned while juggling the ongoing renovation.
Mrs. Everything
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
87% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Growing up in a picture-perfect house in Detroit in the 1950s, Jo and Bethie are Jewish sisters who each have a clearly defined role in their family.
Jo is the bookish tomboy with a strong sense of fairness, and Bethie is the good girl who enjoys the power that comes from her beauty. The sisters come of age in the 1960s against the backdrop of free love, Vietnam, Woodstock, and feminism.
Good-girl Bethie becomes a wild child who is drawn to all things counterculture. On the other hand, Jo follows the expected path and becomes a young wife living in Connecticut, none of which is true to herself. Through the decades, neither woman has been leading the life she really wants. Jo sees the world changing, but she’s a witness rather than a participant. Bethie endures many traumas and struggles with how the world sees her versus how she sees herself.
It will take many more years for both sisters to become their true selves and even longer for them to find their way back to one another.
Additional Context for This Book
Jo and Bethie are the author’s take on Little Women’s sisters, Jo and Beth, and the character of Jo is also based loosely on the author’s mother.
As the title implies, this book encompasses a wide range of topics, from the fashion and design trends of the era to the most significant issues in American society, including race, religion, politics, and more.
This novel also examines many more personal issues like the loss of a parent, sexual orientation, and body image. Because it covers so much ground, some readers will love joining Jo and Bethie’s world, while others may feel like the 460-page book gets too detailed and goes on a bit too long in parts.
Heads Up: This book includes some scenes of molestation and consensual sex.
Read Around the USA – Books Set in Other States
We hope you enjoyed this list of books about Michigan and found some great titles to add to your TBR. If you’re participating in our Read Around the USA Challenge, be sure to check out our alphabetical index of books set in each state.
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