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Best Books Set in Minnesota

Every state is known for something. As you work your way through the list, don't miss the best books set in Minnesota.

Minnesota is a midwestern U.S. state bordering Canada and Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes. The state contains more than 10,000 other lakes, including Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River’s primary source.

The “Twin Cities” of Minneapolis and the state capital Saint Paul are dense with cultural landmarks like the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Walker Art Center, a modern art museum.

Best Books Set in Minnesota

Freedom: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
  • Amazon Kindle Edition
  • Franzen, Jonathan (Author)

Freedom

Author: Jonathan Franzen

Patty and Walter Berglund were the new pioneers of old St. Paul—the gentrifiers, the hands-on parents, the avant-garde of the Whole Foods generation. Patty was the ideal sort of neighbor, who could tell you where to recycle your batteries and how to get the local cops to actually do their job.

She was an enviably perfect mother and the wife of Walter's dreams. Together with Walter—environmental lawyer, commuter cyclist, and total family man—she was doing her small part to build a better world.

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In the Lake of the Woods
  • O'Brien, Tim (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)

In the Lake of the Woods

Author: Tim O’Brien

This riveting novel of love and mystery from the author of The Things They Carried examines the lasting impact of the twentieth century’s legacy of violence and warfare, both at home and abroad.

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When long-hidden secrets about the atrocities he committed in Vietnam come to light, a candidate for the U.S. Senate retreats with his wife to a lakeside cabin in northern Minnesota. Within days of their arrival, his wife mysteriously vanishes into the watery wilderness.

Main Street
  • Lewis, Sinclair (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)

Main Street

Author: Sinclair Lewis

First published in 1920, “Main Street” is a biting and satirical look at small-town America. Set in the 1910s it follows the struggles of its heroine, Carol Milford, to adapt to small-town life. Carol, a young and progressive librarian living in St Paul, Minnesota, falls in love with and marries Will Kennicott, a doctor who dreams of returning to the small town of his childhood.

Carol agrees and they move to Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, a town modeled on Sinclair’s own hometown of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Carol is disappointed by the town’s drab appearance and its provincial, small-minded inhabitants. Brimming with optimism and tenacity, she sets out to convince the town to modernize and embrace her progressive values.

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Future Home of the Living God: A Novel
  • Erdrich, Louise (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)

Future Home of the Living God

Author: Louise Erdrich

The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backward, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans.

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Twenty-six-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, the adopted daughter of a pair of big-hearted, open-minded Minneapolis liberals, is as disturbed and uncertain as the rest of America around her. But for Cedar, this change is profound and deeply personal. She is four months pregnant.

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History of Wolves: A Novel
  • Fridlund, Emily (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)

History of Wolves

Author: Emily Fridlund

Teenage Linda lives with her parents in the austere woods of northern Minnesota, where their nearly abandoned commune stands as a last vestige of a lost counter-culture world. Isolated at home and an outsider at school, Linda is drawn to the enigmatic Lily and new history teacher Mr. Grierson.

When Mr. Grierson is faced with child pornography charges, his arrest deeply affects Linda as she wrestles with her own fledgling desires and craving to belong.

Now that you've completed the list of best books set in this state, why not check out some others? Here are the Best Books Set in All 50 States.

DOWNLOAD AND PRINT BOOKS SET IN ALL 50 STATES

Click here to download the printable. It has a list of books in all 50 states including the Best Books Set in Minnesota.

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