I love how a book can transport you, and sometimes, that place is closer than you think! Indiana has inspired some fantastic stories, spanning different times and genres.
From historical epics to contemporary tales, here are some novels where the Hoosier State isn’t just a backdrop, but almost a character itself.
This book is a huge, sprawling story centered on one day in 1892, but it flashes back through the life of John Wickliff Shawnessy in fictional Raintree County. You follow him from his Indiana boyhood through the Civil War and beyond.
It weaves his personal hopes, loves, and disappointments with the big moments in American history. It’s a deep dive into one man’s life and his search for the mythical raintree.
Booth Tarkington really captures a specific moment in time here, as the age of the automobile begins to change everything in a Midwestern city based on Indianapolis. The story follows the wealthy Amberson family, particularly the arrogant young George Minafer.
He cannot accept the changes around him or the new sort of men who represent progress, which leads to the family’s decline. You watch their fortune and influence fade as the smoky, noisy industrial era arrives.
This collection of connected stories feels magical. It’s set in a small Indiana town that was the real-life winter quarters for the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. You get these glimpses into the lives of circus performers and townspeople across different generations.
There’s an elephant trainer haunted by a tragedy, families with hidden circus connections, and the lingering presence of the big top long after the circus leaves town.
Imagine arriving as a new teacher in a rough-and-tumble 19th-century Indiana community where you are definitely the outsider. That’s what Ralph Hartsook faces. He has to deal with unruly students, suspicious townspeople, and even gets tangled up in accusations of theft.
There’s also a sweet romance that develops with Hannah, a local young woman who helps him navigate the local ways. It gives you a real sense of frontier Indiana life.
This one hits you right in the heart. Hazel and Gus meet at a cancer support group in Indianapolis. Hazel is sharp and realistic about her illness, while Gus is full of grand gestures and charm.
They form this incredible bond over a book Hazel loves and even travel to Amsterdam to meet the reclusive author. It’s about young love and living life fully, even when you know time is short. Their dialogue is unforgettable.
Finch and Violet meet in an unlikely place – the ledge of their school’s bell tower. Both carry their own heavy burdens. They connect over a school project that sends them exploring the quirky, wonderful, sometimes overlooked sights of Indiana.
As they travel, they find comfort and understanding in each other. It handles tough subjects about mental health and loss with sensitivity, all centered around their shared Indiana journey.
This book offers a warm look at a Quaker family, the Birdwells, who live in southern Indiana during the mid-1800s. It’s told through connected stories that show their daily lives, their faith, and their humor.
You see farmer Jess Birdwell, his spirited wife Eliza, and their children grapple with their pacifist beliefs, especially when the Civil War looms. There’s a wonderful episode about Jess’s love for horse racing that conflicts with his Quaker ways.
Aza Holmes lives in Indianapolis and struggles daily with intense, spiraling thoughts she can’t control. When a local billionaire disappears, Aza and her best friend Daisy decide to investigate, partly for the reward money.
This pulls Aza into the world of the billionaire’s son, Davis. The story combines this mystery plot with a very honest portrayal of Aza’s anxiety and how it impacts her friendships and her ability to connect with others.
Gene Stratton-Porter loved the Limberlost swamp in Indiana, and it shows in this book. Freckles is a young man, an orphan missing a hand, who gets a job guarding precious timber in the Limberlost.
He faces danger from timber thieves but also discovers the incredible nature of the swamp and finds friendship, maybe even love, with a girl known as the Swamp Angel. His deep connection to the natural world is central to the story.
Liz Lighty has big dreams of leaving her small, prom-obsessed Indiana town for college, but she needs scholarship money. Her only chance is to run for prom queen, which goes against everything she usually stands for. Liz is Black, queer, and feels like an outsider.
Navigating the intense competition, she unexpectedly finds friendship and romance. It’s a fun, hopeful story about finding your place and your voice.
Set during the Great Depression, this story follows twelve-year-old Deza Malone from Gary, Indiana. She’s smart and loves her family fiercely. When her father leaves town to find work and disappears, Deza, her mother, and brother set out on a difficult journey to find him.
You see the era’s hardships, including poverty and prejudice, through Deza’s determined eyes. Her spirit really shines through.
Jenny Greenley is the girl everyone tells their secrets to at her Indiana high school. She even secretly writes the school paper’s advice column.
Her fairly normal life gets complicated when a famous teen movie star enrolls undercover to research a role, and Jenny is assigned to help him fit in without blowing his cover. It’s a fun look at high school dynamics, secrets, and figuring out who you are.
This novel revisits two college friends, Matt and Chloe, years after graduation. They meet again in the Indiana city of Terre Haute, a place that holds memories and maybe some unresolved issues from their past.
Their reunion stirs up old feelings and forces them to confront the directions their lives have taken and the secrets they might have kept from each other.
This recent novel takes place in the fictional rust-belt city of Vacca Vale, Indiana, mostly within a rundown apartment building called the Rabbit Hutch.
It follows several residents, but the heart of the story is Blandine, a brilliant young woman just out of the foster care system, fascinated by mystics and searching for a way out. Their lives intersect in surprising and sometimes intense ways over one hot summer week.
Jessie lives in Clifton, Indiana, a village seemingly stuck in the 1840s. She thinks it’s normal until children start getting sick, and her mother reveals a shocking secret: the year is actually 1996, and their village is a historical tourist attraction.
Jessie must escape the village boundaries, brave the modern world she knows nothing about, and find medicine. It’s a thrilling race against time with a really clever premise.