Best Books Set in New Hampshire

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

New Hampshire, a U.S. state in New England, is defined by its quaint towns and large expanses of wilderness. In the north, White Mountain National Forest is known for winter sports areas and Mt. Washington, the region’s highest peak, with a cog railway to its summit. Also in the White Mountains are moose, black bears and part of the Appalachian Trail.

In this post:

The Hotel New Hampshire

Amazon Kindle Edition
Irving, John (Author)

The Hotel New Hampshire

Author: John Irving

“The first of my father’s illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.”

So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry.

RELATED: Best Books Set in Alaska

Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they “dream on” in a funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel by the remarkable author of A Prayer for Owen Meany and Last Night in Twisted River.

Our Town

Wilder, Thornton (Author)
English (Publication Language)

Our Town

Author: Thornton Wilder

In an important publishing event, Samuel French, in cooperation with the Thornton Wilder estate is pleased to release the playwright's definitive version of Our Town.

This edition of the play differs only slightly from previous acting editions, yet it presents Our Town as Thornton Wilder wished it to be performed. Described by Edward Albee as “…the greatest American play ever written,” the story follows the small town

Sale

Labor Day: A Novel (P.S.)

Maynard, Joyce (Author)
English (Publication Language)

Labor Day

Author: Joyce Maynard

Joyce Maynard, the acclaimed author of At Home in the World, is back with Labor Day. The unforgettable story of a mother and son forever changed during a long summer weekend when a mysterious man comes into their lives.

Labor Day is “a sexy, page-turning, poignant story” (Jane Hamilton, author of A Map of the World) that “affirms Maynard’s reputation as a master storyteller and shows her to be a passionate humanist with a gifted ear and heart”.

RELATED: Best Books Set in New Mexico

Sale

A Separate Peace

John Knowles (Author)
English (Publication Language)

A Separate Peace

Author: John Knowles

Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete.

What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world.

Peyton Place

Amazon Kindle Edition
Metalious Grace (Author)

Peyton Place

Author: Grace Metalious

Three women are forced to come to terms with their identity, both as women and as sexual beings, in a small, conservative, gossipy New England town, with recurring themes of hypocrisy, social inequities, and class privilege in a tale that includes incest, abortion, adultery, lust, and murder.