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Ohio Books: Novels Set in the Buckeye 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 Ohio, we’ve curated a diverse list of highly-rated titles about the Buckeye State! If you’re looking for another state, check our comprehensive list of books set in every state.
A Few Things Ohio is Known For…
After the American Revolution, waves of pioneers sought new opportunities in the Northwest Territory, which includes present-day Ohio. In 1803, Ohio became the 17th state to join the Union. Half a century later, it became a crucial battleground state during the Civil War, contributing thousands of soldiers to the Union Army. Notable figures like Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman hailed from Ohio and played pivotal roles in the Union’s victory.
Following the Civil War, cities like Cleveland and Cincinnati experienced rapid industrial growth. Cleveland thrived on steel and oil refining, while Cincinnati excelled in meatpacking and machine tools. The development of the railroad and the Great Lakes made Ohio a transportation hub. By the early 20th century, the state became a leader in the automotive industry, with cities like Akron known for rubber production and Toledo for glass manufacturing.
Columbus, Ohio’s capital, has grown rapidly to become the state’s largest city. Yet Cleveland and Cincinnati continue to be popular with tourists. Cleveland draws visitors with its Lake Erie views and vibrant music scene, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, while Cincinnati showcases German heritage through its architecture and food culture.
Lake Erie, along Ohio’s northern border, is a popular destination for anglers and offers relaxing getaways on islands like Put-in-Bay and Kelleys Island, known for water activities and charming communities. In the southeastern part of the state, Ohio’s Appalachian region is known for its rolling hills and forests. Historically reliant on coal mining and agriculture, the area faces ongoing economic challenges but retains a deep-rooted sense of cultural heritage.
The Best Novels Set in Ohio
Little Fires Everywhere
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
92% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In the Shaker Heights suburb of Ohio, the life of the picture-perfect Richardson family becomes intertwined with the lives of Mia and her daughter Pearl, who rent a house from the Richardsons when they arrive in town.
All four of the Richardson children befriend Pearl and are drawn in by artist Mia. As their relationships become more intertwined, the bonds that tie them will ultimately unravel both families.
This story is about complex family dynamics, small-town politics, and white privilege. When a local family decides to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle divides the town, with Mrs. Richardson and Mia on opposite sides. Mrs. Richardson becomes suspicious of Mia’s motives and digs into her past. The secrets she uncovers will change everything.
The Book Girls Say…
Celeste Ng grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. In addition to setting Little Fires Everywhere in Shaker Heights, she also set her first novel, Everything I Never Told You, in a small town in Ohio.
This book has also now been turned into a Hulu mini-series by Reese Witherspoon.
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Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
After escaping an abusive relationship with nothing other than her two-month-old baby and the van she grew up in, Vega needs a place to disappear. Her mother had spoken of a small Ohio town where she once lived, so Vega decides it might be the ideal place to lie low. She might even learn more about her mother’s past while she’s there.
When she arrives in Crystal, Ohio, she quickly befriends several locals. Heff is a young deputy who enjoys his yard art more than policing. And Eve is a farmer who had an unusual near-death experience. But as welcome as they make Vega feel, she still senses something unsettling. There’s talk of a tragedy in the woods years ago, and Vega soon discovers that she’s connected to the mystery.
The Book Girls Say…
As this dual-timeline story unfolds, each chapter is told from a different point of view.
Katharine, the Wright Sister
Book Summary
We all know the names Wilbur and Orville Wright, but what about Katharine? She may just be one of the most important and overlooked women in history, and this historical fiction novel finally gives voice to her story.
Before becoming obsessed with flying, the Wright brothers jumped on the popular new fad of bicycle riding, opening a bike shop in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio. Repairing bikes led to tinkering and building, and eventually a new dream took shape. But their younger sister knew they couldn’t do it without her.
As the brothers began obsessing over blueprints and testing models on the beaches of North Carolina, Katharine became the mastermind behind the scenes. She sourced materials, managed communications, and kept the brothers focused on their goal even when it seemed that hope was lost.
When they finally achieved the first controlled, sustained flight, it resulted in both fame and fortune. The siblings traveled the world demonstrating their invention, training pilots, and building new models that could fly higher and further. But then, a tragedy tore the family apart and forced Katharine to make an impossible choice that would haunt her for the rest of her days.
The Book Girls Say…
Angela has been intrigued by learning more about the Wright family ever since visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Museum. That’s where she first heard mention of the important role Katharine played in her brothers’ success, and she can’t wait to learn more.
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The Prettiest Star
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Like so many other young gay men, eighteen-year-old Brian arrived in New York City with a bright future ahead of him. But within the first six years of the 1980s, as the AIDS epidemic took hold, Brian lost his partner, his friends, and his future.
Rock Hudson’s death in 1986 shifted the conversation on AIDS and finally brought news of the epidemic into every American living room. It’s also the year that Brian returns home to small-town Appalachia to die.
The Book Girls Say…
Melissa read this moving literary fiction and appreciated that it zoomed in on one Ohio family’s experience during the 1980s AIDS crisis. The characters are three-dimensional and realistic for the time and setting, which means that you may not always find them likable. However, you will feel the emotional push and pull of what it’s like when your children’s lives are not a mirror of your own.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
The Suite Spot
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
When Rachel is fired from her management job at a luxury hotel in Miami – for something she didn’t even do – the single mom needs to find a new job as soon as possible. She hears about a position at a brewery hotel on Kelleys Island. The man who offered her the job over the phone sounded incredibly grumpy, but she’s desperate, so she packs up and makes the move.
When she arrives, she finds that the owner, Mason, knows a lot about brewing beer, but almost nothing about running a hotel. If you can even call it a hotel – it’s barely more than a foundation and studs. She considers leaving, but she desperately needs a chance to rebuild a life for herself and her daughter, Maisie. When Mason offers her full control of the design of the cabins/hotel, in addition to her management role, she decides to stay.
The Book Girls Say…
In addition to being a fun, light read, this novel is very descriptive of Kelleys Island and the nearby small towns. Although it is the largest of Ohio’s Lake Erie islands, the year-round resident population of Kelleys Island is only about 300 people. Kelleys Island is a popular vacation destination that is only accessible by boat or plane, making it a quiet getaway with a laid-back lifestyle.
Rachel from The Suite Spot is the fictional sister of Anna from Trish Doller’s Float Plan, but both books read as stand-alones.
Another of our favorite rom-coms, Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation, is set partially in Ohio. While the two main characters call Ohio home, we didn’t put this book on the list because so much of their time is spent traveling elsewhere. But you could certainly count PWMOV as your Ohio read if it’s already on your want-to-read list.
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Betty
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Betty is the 6th of 8 siblings, born in a bathtub to a Cherokee father and white mother in 1954. The abundant nature in the Appalachian foothills provides comfort as she struggles with poverty and violence both inside and outside her home.
As she grows up, Betty has a continued curiosity about the natural world and a fierce love for her sisters. To cope with all she has witnessed, she discovers the power of writing down her family’s past and present. This lyrical coming-of-age story is told in first person by Betty as she refuses to give up on the beauty in life, no matter what she endures.
The Book Girls Say…
While the cover doesn’t imply this, the book contains some very heavy, dark, gut-wrenching scenes.
Author Tiffany McDaniel is from Ohio and based the fictional town of Breathed on an area outside Minford in Scioto County. She based this book on her mother’s life. Her 2023 novel, On the Savage Side, is also set in Ohio.
Book Summary
Best friends Lark and Mikki work the night shift together at a highway travel stop in Ohio. Nearing their 30th birthdays, they both feel stuck in life and live by just two rules – say “yes” and keep your eyes open for a ride out of town. One night, a stranger stops on his way to a wedding in Florida, and Mikki impulsively says yes when he invites her to tag along. She hops in his car and is never heard from again.
Eight years later, people have almost stopped blaming Lark for Mikki’s disappearance. Lark has gotten her life back on track for the sake of her young daughter. She’s engaged to the nicest guy on the highway patrol, and she’s also caring for Mikki’s aging and ornery grandma.
But her world is upended again when the same stranger who drove away with Mikki reappears looking for her. Nobody knows who or what to believe.
Is Mikki really missing, or does she just not want to be found?
The Book Girls Say…
While we typically don’t include two books by the same author on our book lists, you’ll note that there are two Jessica Strawser titles on this Ohio list. Since one is a suspense and the other a contemporary romance, we decided to include both for readers who prefer one genre or the other.
Strawser grew up in Pittsburgh, and then attended Ohio University and launched her journalism career in Cincinnati before later transitioning to writing fiction.
Ready Player One
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
This story follows Wade Watts, a young gamer who becomes caught up in a high-stakes treasure hunt.
The OASIS, a virtual universe, serves as the arena for intense, fast-paced competition against rival gamers and the corporation vying for control over the OASIS. All along the way, the story features 1980s nostalgia.
The Book Girls Say…
Although it is set in the future, this sci-fi / dystopian book is heavy on 1980s pop culture and video game nostalgia.
If you enjoy audiobooks, we enjoy listening to this one. It’s narrated by Wil Wheaton, who is famous for the 1980s classic movie Stand By Me and a role on Star Trek: The Next Generation. You’ll also recognize his voice from his work in The Big Bang Theory, Teen Titans Go!, and a variety of video game character voices.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series
Book Summary
Bailey was living the sweet life of an assistant chocolatier at a famous shop in NYC until her grandmother called with news that her grandfather’s heart condition had worsened. She rushes home to Ohio, where her grandparents run an Amish candy shop.
In book 1, she’s happy to see that her grandfather is doing better than she expected, but the same can’t be said for the man she finds dead in the candy shop’s kitchen. Her grandfather is the prime suspect, and Bailey will have to catch the killer if she wants to clear his name.
The Book Girls Say…
There are currently nine books in the Amish Candy Shop Mystery series, with the tenth book due out in March of 2026.
We found more cozy mysteries set in Ohio than we had room for on this list, but we also recommend that you check out the Cheese Shop Mysteries by Avery Aames (starting with The Long Quiche Goodbye) the Ministry is Murder series by Emilie Richards (starting with Blessed is the Busy Body), and the Bookstore Cafe Mysteries by Alex Erickson (starting with Death by Coffee).
Book Summary
Teddy feels stuck. She’s still recovering from her overbearing ex-boyfriend and has no idea what she actually wants from life. But things start to shift when she begins emailing Everett St. James, the charming host of a local children’s show. He’s sweet, thoughtful, and just awkward enough to be endearing—and the more they write, the more Teddy starts to feel like maybe she can figure out what she wants.
Everett, on the other hand, is a man of routine and caution, but Teddy’s bold honesty and quirky charm throw him off in the best way. As their messages become more personal, so does the possibility of something real.
The Book Girls Say…
Author Kerry Winfrey, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, is also the author of Waiting for Tom Hanks and its sequel, Not Like the Movies. As huge fans of the 90s era, Nora Ephron-style rom coms, especially those starring Tom Hanks, we always love a You’ve Got Mail-inspired rom com. And with Teddy working in a vintage toy store, it’s hard not to also feel a little Toy Story influence in the air.
The Last Place You Look
Book Summary
Private investigator Roxane Weary, recovering from her father’s death and her self-sabotaging tendencies, is hired to tackle a mysterious cold case in Columbus, Ohio. Fifteen years ago, beautiful teenager Sarah Cook vanished the same night her parents were found brutally murdered. The crime left her boyfriend, Brad, imprisoned despite his continual insistence of his innocence, and Sarah’s disappearance remains unsolved.
With Brad’s execution date now just weeks away, his sister is determined to save his life. She believes she’s spotted Sarah at a local gas station and asks Roxane to look into the case. Along the way, Roxane suspects that Sarah’s disappearance might be linked to one of her father’s unsolved murder cases involving another teenage girl.
The Book Girls Say…
This is the first of four books in the Roxanne Weary series, all of which are set in Ohio. The author lives in Columbus with her partner, Joanna.
The Daughters of Erietown
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
91% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In the 1950s, Ellie and Brick were Ohio teenagers in love with their whole futures ahead of them. As a high school basketball star, Brick had the chance to be the first in his family to attend college, which would also allow him to escape his abusive father. And Ellie had dreams of attending nursing school.
When they learn that Ellie is pregnant, they instead get married, and Brick gets a union card. This novel tells the story of Brick, Ellie, and their daughter Samantha while shining a light on the issues facing working-class families and their communities.
The Book Girls Say…
This book is simply written and follows a smoothly paced, linear timeline, which many reviewers found refreshing.
The Next Thing You Know
Book Summary
Thirty-three-year-old Nova is an end-of-life doula whose job is to help terminally ill patients make peace with their impending death. Unlike her business partner, Nova doesn’t shy away from difficult cases – including those with challenging personalities or those who are heartbreakingly young.
Mason is heartbreakingly young. He’s a 36-year-old indie-favorite singer-songwriter who recently vanished from the public eye. He tells Nova that his condition is getting worse, and with limited use of his hands and arms, it’s becoming impossible for him to do the thing he loves most. Life as he knows it is over, but he doesn’t know how to say goodbye.
Nova knows that helping Mason will be her biggest challenge yet, especially because she’s finding it hard to maintain a professional distance. Before long, Mason’s mom comes knocking at Nova’s door… and reporters are not far behind.
The Book Girls Say…
This new novel has been described as A Star is Born meets Me Before You, and the musical component is said to really help to tie the whole story together.
Strawser grew up in Pittsburgh, and then attended Ohio University and launched her journalism career in Cincinnati before later transitioning to writing fiction. Readers say they particularly enjoy all of the Cincinnati-specific references in this novel.
A number of states have passed Death with Dignity Laws in recent years that do allow “medical aid in dying” under very specific guidelines. End-of-life doulas, on the other hand, can’t provide medical intervention or assist in the death process. Their role is to care for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of a terminally ill patient. End-of-life doulas can also help with planning for things like hospice and funerals. While this is a fairly new concept in the United States, in many cultures, this type of support has always been an integral part of the dying process.
The Last Runaway
Book Summary
This novel follows a Quaker named Honor who moves from England to Ohio in 1850, only to find herself sick and alone in the unfamiliar landscape. She arrives in the United States at a particularly precarious moment in history when the young country is struggling with the injustice of slavery. Honor discovers that even within her religious community, which she believed was committed to human equality, not everyone is willing to take a stand.
Honor finds herself drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom. She believes strongly in her work, but she’ll have to decide if she’s willing to continue, regardless of the personal costs.
The Book Girls Say…
The author attended college at Oberlin College in Ohio and then moved to London. While the setting of this novel is the fictional town of Faithwell, Ohio, there are references throughout to real places, like Wellington, Ohio.
Book Summary
Thirty-something Rea Langdon helps her father tend their family farm (which has seen better days) while struggling to work through her grief. She unexpectedly ends up giving shelter to a teenage boy named Quinn, who sometimes trespasses on her land, but who she learns is dealing with loss of his own.
Misunderstood by his parents, who have thrown him out, Rea provides Qinn a temporary home. She discovers that she, Quinn, and her father are all able to understand one another’s pain. But there are secrets that have not yet come to light.
Quinn’s parents have other plans in mind for their son, and Rae will have to confront them in order to fight for Quinn.
The Book Girls Say…
Readers describe this as a slow-moving, but beautifully written, book that is filled with emotions. While this story is set in the present day, the author says that the storm in her book was influenced by a real catastrophic blizzard – known as the White Hurricane – that occurred in the same region of Ohio in 1978.
True Biz
Book Summary
Set at the River Valley School for the Deaf, this novel transports you into the Deaf community. It gives insight into a culture that hearing families rarely get a chance to understand, with compelling characters along the way.
New student Charlie is stuck between the worlds of hearing and the Deaf. She’s never been around other deaf people before and is trying to figure out what choices are right and wrong for her.
Meanwhile, the school’s headmistress is a CODA (child of a deaf adult) who has her own problems, including a mother with dementia and an unhappy wife.
The Book Girls Say…
After reading this book, we also recommend watching the movie CODA. You’ll see similar struggles as a character struggles to find her place between the hearing world and her Deaf family. It would be a great discussion to compare the character choices and feelings between the book and the movie.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Death By Dumpling / Noodle Shop Mystery
Book Summary
Lana Lee needs a fresh start after a rough break-up and dramatic exit from her job, so she returns to her family’s restaurant in Cleveland to regroup. But her plan for a little break from stress goes awry when Mr. Feng, the property manager for the Ho-Lee Noodle house, dies. Lana delivered him shrimp dumplings from the restaurant, but everyone knew about his deadly shellfish allergy.
Lana must figure out what happened before the restaurant’s reputation is forever ruined.
The Book Girls Say…
This is the first of 10 books in the Noodle Shop Mystery Series set in a Cleveland noodle house where the Chinese food is to die for.
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Next-Door Nemesis
Book Summary
The suburbs get sexy in this war between neighbors. Collins just moved back to her parents’ home and didn’t expect to be spending her days tending to the compost pile with her dad and fighting with an old nemesis.
Nathaniel is living his dream of a quiet suburban life in his hometown. However, things became nightmare-ish when former classmate Collins moved back home. They started as childhood friends, but high school pulled them apart and turned them into enemies. Now, their battle continues as Collins challenges Nathaniel’s bid for the HOA presidency. However, the more their rivalry intensifies, the more they seem to be drawn together.
The Book Girls Say…
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Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride & Prejudice
Book Summary
Liz Bennet, a magazine writer, and her older sister, Jane, both live in NYC, but return home to Cincinnati, Ohio, when their father has a health scare. They are distraught to discover that their sprawling family home is crumbling.
Their younger sisters are too busy with their CrossFit workouts to get jobs, while their middle sister, Mary, is working on her third online master’s degree from the safety of her room. Mary rarely leaves the house other than for mysterious Tuesday-night outings that she won’t discuss.
And then there is Mrs. Bennet, who seems to have a one-track mind. Her only concern is marrying off her daughters, especially with Jane’s 40th birthday just around the corner. Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-to-town doctor fresh off a TV reality dating show. At a 4th of July barbecue, he takes an interest in Jane, but his friend and fellow doctor, Fitzwilliam Darcy, makes a poor first impression on Liz.
The Book Girls Say…
This novel is sometimes listed as Book #4 in the Austen Project, a series of modern retellings of Jane Austen novels by different contemporary authors. However, it is not a series in the sense of a continuous narrative. This novel reads as a standalone.
Ohio
Book Summary
On a sweltering night in 2013, four former high school classmates return independently to their (fictional) northeastern Ohio hometown. Told through separate narratives that eventually wind together, these four embark on a series of reunions that reveal decades of trauma.
Bill Ashcraft, a hard‑drinking activist, careens home with a mysterious package affixed to his truck. Stacey Moore, now a PhD candidate, confronts the mother of her old friend and first love. Dan Eaton, a shy, three‑tour Iraq veteran, hopes to reconnect with a high school sweetheart. And Tina Ross, fragile and driven, seeks vengeance on a football star who ruined her life.
As the night unfolds in alternating perspectives, alliances fracture, secrets surface, and a shocking violence climaxes the evening. Part murder mystery and part social critique on the collapse of rural America, this is described as an intense and emotional novel.
The Book Girls Say…
Author Stephen Markley was born and raised in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and he drew upon his experiences there (including the social, economic, and emotional landscapes) when creating his fictionalized town of New Cannan. Having previously written a memoir and a travelogue, as well as shorter works for a wide range of magazines and newspapers, Ohio was Markey’s debut novel.
Beloved
Book Summary
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later, she is still not free. She has too many memories of the Sweet Home plantation in Kentucky. And her new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless. The baby whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Throughout the novel, the ghost of Beloved embodies the collective memories of enslaved people, allowing them to tell their stories.
The Book Girls Say…
The primary setting of this novel is a house just outside Cincinnati, Ohio, in the years following the Civil War.
In the 2013 publication, Conversations with Toni Morrison, Morrison is quoted as saying, “I want my work to capture the vast imagination of [B]lack people. That is, I want my books to reflect the imaginative combination of the real world, the very practical, shrewd, day-to-day functioning that [B]lack people do, while at the same time, they encompass some great supernatural element.”
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Book Summary
After graduating from law school, Cass Walker was in a car accident that left her in a week-long coma. When she finally wakes up, she looks around, expecting to see Devin among the smiling faces in her hospital room. The only problem is that, according to her friends and family, Devin doesn’t exist, and her doctors and nurses confirm that no one by that name has visited.
Cass can describe every detail about Devin, down to the exact shade of his coffee-brown eyes and the slightly crooked angle of his pinkie finger. Nonetheless, everyone is convinced that Devin is nothing more than a figment of her coma-addled imagination.
Then a year later, Cass bumps into Devin – exactly as she remembers him – at a Cleveland flower shop. Did she manage to dream her perfect man into existence? Perhaps most surprising of all is that Devin doesn’t think she’s crazy, and, despite the warnings from his protective younger brother, they soon embark on a real-life romance.
It would seem that fate already intervened once, but what if fate still has other plans?
The Book Girls Say…
This book is rated just over 3.5 on Goodreads, which is lower than we typically recommend, but Book Girl Angela enjoyed Hockman’s first novel, Shipped, and decided to give this one a go. While it won’t make her list of all-time favorite rom coms, Angela enjoyed Dream On and recommends it as a fun, light read set in Cleveland, Ohio.
Out of My Mind
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Melody, a nearly 11-year-old girl, is different from other 5th graders. She has a photographic memory, so she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She also has cerebral palsy, which has caused her to be unable to speak, move, or communicate with anyone, and she is constantly frustrated with trying to tell people what she wants.
Despite being smarter than her classmates (and the adults trying to diagnose her), they treat her as mentally challenged. Still, Melody refuses to be defined by CP, and she’s determined to make sure everyone knows it.
The Book Girls Say…
The book was made into a 2024 Disney movie of the same name.
Author Sharon Draper also published a 2018 middle-grade novel set in Ohio, titled Blended.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Non-Fiction Books About Ohio
Appalachian Fall: Dispatches from Coal Country on What’s Ailing America
Book Summary
Set deep in the heart of coal country, including Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia, this non-fiction collection features stories from local journalists chronicling the collapse of the coal industry, rising unemployment, environmental issues, and their impact on the towns and families throughout the region. The book spotlights the resilience of the region while also delving into challenges such as the opioid crisis.
Ultimately, the book argues that the challenges facing Appalachia reflect broader questions about what America owes to its hidden working-class communities.
The Book Girls Say…
While there are many books you could read about the Ohio Appalachian region, including memoirs, we opted to put this one on the list because it represents the collected work of many journalists. These local reporters, known as the Ohio Valley ReSource, share stories from many different individuals – including miners, farmers, mothers, and activists, to name just a few – in order to paint a more complete picture of the region.
The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America
Book Summary
George Remus was a lawyer before prohibition, but quit law to begin trafficking whiskey. In two short years, he not only became a millionaire but also owned 35% of all liquor in the United States. The press called him “King of the Bootleggers,” and routinely wrote about the lavish parties at his mansion.
Prosecutor Mabel Walker Willebrandt makes it her mission to bring him down. Her bosses have a cozy relationship with Remus and assume that the female new grad, Mabel, wouldn’t pose a threat to Remus. But they were wrong.
Things get even more complicated when her investigator, Franklin Dodge, begins an affair with Imogen, Remus’s wife.
The Book Girls Say…
This award-winning non-fiction saga has some insane twists and turns along the way. Readers say it feels more like a literary, legal thriller than a work of non-fiction.
A Guide to Midwestern Conversation
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
This short, illustrated guide will make you laugh out loud as you learn about the colloquialisms and sentiments of the Heartland. For example, if a Midwesterner says, “I didn’t really care for it,” that actually means they hated it beyond belief.
The author was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, right in the heart of the Midwest, giving an authentic feel to this non-fiction guide that strikes the humorous balance of being both heartwarming and self-deprecating.
The Book Girls Say…
This book covers a total of 12 midwestern states with a chapter for each of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Taylor Kay Phillips is a writer, actor, and comedian who worked for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. To quote John Oliver: “Taylor is as funny as she is Midwestern. And she is thundrously midwestern. You will enjoy this book!”
Christmas Books Set in Ohio
The Christmas Club
Book Summary
It’s 1952, and Verna is ready for a great Christmas season. But as she’s leaving the bank, a strong wind blows her Christmas Club money out of her hands and through the streets of busy downtown Cleveland. Strangers come to her aid and set in motion an unexpected turn of events.
The Book Girls Say…
There’s a Hallmark movie adaptation by the same name. Check local listings to see if it’s airing this holiday season, or click here to rent via Prime Video.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Faking Christmas
Book Summary
Laurel handles the social media for her twin sister’s farm on top of her job as the social media manager for the Buckeye State of Mind tourism magazine and website. A little misunderstanding led her boss, Gilbert, to believe it was Laurel’s farm instead of Holly’s.
When Gilbert gets dumped right before the holidays, he invites himself over to the farm’s big holiday dinner. Laurel and Holly devise a plan – all Laurel has to do is pretend to own the farm for one dinner. Another guest, Max Beckett, who has been Laurel’s nemesis since Holly’s wedding, will pose as Laurel’s perfect husband for the evening.
But then the single night turns into a long weekend when everyone is snowed in at the farm.
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Read Around the USA – Books Set in Other States
We hope you enjoyed this list of books about Ohio 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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Printable Version of This Book List
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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 both our Inner Circle and our BFF Level BMAC members.
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