North Dakota Books: The Best Books Set in the Peace Garden State

Book Summary

Violet Mathers is a young woman who was abandoned by her mother, mistreated by her father, and teased by her classmates. After a rough childhood and a string of disappointments, she decides she’s had enough and heads west to end things for good. But fate, and a broken-down bus, land her in a tiny North Dakota town during the Great Depression.

There, she crosses paths with a ragtag band of musicians, and something unexpected happens: Violet finds her voice, both literally and figuratively. As she joins their traveling band, her world begins to open up in ways she never imagined.

North Dakota’s stark, open landscape becomes the backdrop for a story about second chances, unexpected friendships, and the healing power of music. This bittersweet novel will make you laugh, cry, and root for a girl who thought she’d lost it all, but ends up finding more than she ever dreamed.

Book Summary

A car crash on an icy road in rural Hagen, North Dakota, leaves Lily Baker with no memory of who she is or why she’s there. Her mind is filled with haunting visions of scattered Bible verses and a man lying in a pool of blood, but she doesn’t know what the images mean.

On the same night as the accident, a young woman is murdered and disposed of in a dumpster. Hagen has only one detective, Kylie Milliard, and she doesn’t immediately recognize the woman who has been killed. But soon Kylie discovers that the dead woman shares a dark past with Lily… except Lily can’t remember anything about that past.

Both Lily and Kylie are desperate for answers, but the more Lily learns about her past, the more she fears for her future.

Book Summary

Lindsay Snyder is ready for a fresh start. Burned out and heartbroken, she leaves her hectic life behind and heads to Buffalo Valley, a quiet North Dakota town where she spent her childhood vacations. The town has a whole lot of heart, but not many people are left fighting for its survival. Stores that are boarded up, cracked sidewalks, and houses falling into disrepair.

She plans to take over as the local schoolteacher and figure out her next steps. What she doesn’t expect is to fall for both the town and one very stubborn, charming local named Gage Sinclair. He’s rough around the edges and set in his ways, but Lindsay sees something more.

As she settles into the community, she finds herself drawn into the lives of its residents, each with their own struggles and stories.

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.

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

Book Summary

When Thea Olson took a volunteer position at her local library in North Dakota, she expected to be shelving books, not discovering a dead body.

Her brother is the acting police chief in the small town, but Thea is determined to figure out whodunit. She enlists the help of her grandmother and the handsome director of the library.

The trio of amateur sleuths hits a dead-end in the investigation, but then help arrives in the most unexpected form. A snarky chameleon (yes, a reptile) appears in the library with cryptic clues for Thea. At first, Thea thinks she’s hallucinating, but accepting help from the chameleon might just be the final piece to solving the puzzle.

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 in 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

In the Badlands, the town of Grimstad, North Dakota, has struck oil. Unfortunately, crime has come to town along with the money. Twelve-year-old Kyle dreams of getting himself and his alcoholic mother out of town, but his job as a paperboy keeps putting him in the wrong place at the wrong time. Detective Cassie has her hands full, but Kyle might be the key she needs to solve her latest case.

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.

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 came 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 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.