Iowa—it might bring cornfields or the State Fair to mind, but it’s also the backdrop for some truly memorable stories. If you love books that transport you to a specific place, exploring stories set in Iowa can be really rewarding.
From small-town dramas and family sagas to history and even a bit of the supernatural, here are eighteen books rooted in the Hawkeye State.
In this story, Francesca is an Italian-American farm wife in 1960s Iowa, feeling a bit adrift. Her world shifts when Robert Kincaid, a photographer for National Geographic, arrives to photograph the county’s unique covered bridges.
They connect deeply over just a few days, and Francesca faces difficult questions about love, duty, and the path her life has taken. Their intense, brief relationship unfolds against the quiet, rural landscape.
Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead brings us into the mind of John Ames, an elderly preacher in a small Iowa town.
He’s writing a long letter to his very young son, a letter filled with reflections on his life, his faith, and the history of his family, including his preacher grandfather.
The story unfolds gently, and it examines family connections, the hard path to forgiveness, and what it means to belong to a place in the rural Midwest.
We return to the town of Gilead, Iowa, in Home. This story centers on Glory Boughton. She has come back to her childhood home to care for her aging father, Reverend Boughton. Soon after, her brother Jack also returns.
Jack is the prodigal son of the family, carrying years of trouble and absence. The novel carefully explores their attempts to reconnect, the heavy burden of past mistakes, and the tangled web of family love in the slow rhythm of small-town life.
Ever heard a voice whisper “If you build it, he will come”? That’s what happens to Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella in W.P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe.
He plows under his corn to build a baseball field, and sure enough, ghosts of baseball legends, like Shoeless Joe Jackson himself, appear to play. It’s a fantastic story that mixes family, hope, and pure baseball magic with a wonderfully ordinary Iowa setting.
Jane Smiley sets this powerful story on a large Iowa farm owned by the Cook family. Larry Cook, the patriarch, decides suddenly to turn the farm over to his three daughters.
Ginny, the eldest daughter and narrator, reveals deep family secrets and simmering resentments as the decision tears the family apart. The novel, which echoes Shakespeare’s King Lear, digs into family power, hidden truths, and the weight of land and legacy in rural America.
Welcome to Moo University, a fictional Iowa agricultural college! Jane Smiley gives us a funny and sharp look at academic life.
We meet a wide cast of characters—students, professors, administrators—all caught up in campus politics, personal dramas, and even a secret project involving a very large pig named Earl Butz.
The story bounces between storylines and reveals the absurdities and ambitions within this university community.
This one has a real sense of unease. John Darnielle’s Universal Harvester is set in a small Iowa town in the late 1990s. Jeremy works at the local Video Hut. Customers start bringing back VHS tapes that contain disturbing, brief snippets of footage spliced into the movies.
Jeremy’s search for the source of these creepy recordings leads him down a rabbit hole of local history and hidden sorrows. The atmosphere of the quiet, isolated landscape is palpable.
Brandon Taylor’s novel follows a group of young people connected to the University of Iowa in Iowa City. We see dancers, poets, artists, and others navigate their complex relationships, creative ambitions, and personal identities.
The story moves between characters, and it captures their anxieties, desires, and conflicts within the specific setting of a Midwestern college town.
This historical novel takes you back to Iowa in the 1850s, during the frontier days. MacKinlay Kantor focuses on the events surrounding the Spirit Lake Massacre. The book follows the experiences of settlers who face violence, hardship, and the sheer difficulty of survival.
Through different characters, the story depicts the intense conflicts between settlers and Native Americans and shows the human drama of a changing landscape.
Phil Stong captures the excitement of the Iowa State Fair through the eyes of the Frake family. For a few days, parents Abel and Melissa, daughter Margy, and son Wayne chase their separate dreams.
Abel wants his prize boar Blue Boy to win the top ribbon, Melissa aims for pickle-making glory, while Margy and Wayne find romance and adventure amidst the bustle. It’s a charming slice of Americana full of local color and summer dreams.
Richard Pike Bissell, who also co-wrote the musical The Pajama Game based on this book, takes us inside the Sleep Tite pajama factory in Junction City, Iowa. The story revolves around the factory workers’ push for a seven-and-a-half-cent hourly raise.
We meet Sid Sorokin, the new superintendent, and Babe Williams, head of the union grievance committee. Their interactions, along with those of the other workers, provide a funny and realistic look at labor relations and daily life in a Midwestern factory town.
Hold on tight for this one! Andrew A. Smith’s Grasshopper Jungle is set in the fictional town of Ealing, Iowa. Teenager Austin narrates this wild story. He and his best friend Robby accidentally unleash an army of giant, hungry praying mantises upon the world.
While dealing with the apocalypse, Austin is also trying to understand his own history and his confusing feelings for both Robby and his girlfriend. It’s a unique mix of sci-fi B-movie chaos, teenage angst, and dark humor.
This sequel to The Able McLaughlins continues the story of the McLaughlin family homesteading in Iowa. They navigate community conflicts and the challenges of pioneer life. The family operates under their own strong sense of justice and tradition.
These values often conflict with the formal laws developing on the frontier. The book explores themes of family bonds, personal integrity, and the tensions that arise when old ways meet new structures.
Nick Burd’s novel follows Dade Hamilton during his last summer before college in suburban Iowa. He feels trapped and lonely. His parents’ marriage is falling apart, and he’s secretly involved with a boy he barely knows. Then he meets the mysterious Alex.
Their connection offers a possibility of escape and first love. The story captures the bittersweet feeling of wanting to leave home while figuring out who you are.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this novel introduces a Scottish immigrant family carving out a life on the Iowa prairie in the 1860s. Wully McLaughlin returns home from the Civil War eager to marry his sweetheart, Christie.
However, he discovers she has suffered a terrible trauma in his absence. The story powerfully portrays the harsh realities of pioneer life, the importance of community reputation, and the deep loyalties within the McLaughlin clan.
Bill Bryson takes readers back to his childhood in 1950s Des Moines, Iowa, in this hilarious memoir.
He writes with warmth and humor about his younger self (who believed he had superpowers), his family, the quirks of Midwestern life, and the wonders of the era—from comics and early television to the novelty of new household gadgets.
It’s a nostalgic and funny look at growing up in the heartland.
Set again in Iowa, this novel by the author of The Bridges of Madison County features Michael Tillman, an economics professor at a university in Cedar Bend. He finds himself drawn to Jellie Braden, the unconventional wife of a colleague.
Michael’s reserved life is shaken by his feelings for Jellie. When she abruptly leaves for India, he follows her, uncovering secrets about her hidden past. The story contrasts the quiet academic life in Iowa with a journey into the unknown.
This complex and intense novel follows Dawes Williams as he grows up in Iowa during the mid-20th century. The Stones of Summer explores his experiences with family, school, love, and the often difficult transition into adulthood. The writing is dense and detailed.
It paints a sometimes beautiful, sometimes harsh picture of Midwestern life and the inner world of its protagonist. The book itself has a fascinating history; it gained a cult following after its initial publication.