Rhode Island might be small, but it packs a punch as a setting for some really memorable stories. From the old streets of Providence to the coastal towns and the halls of Brown University, writers have found plenty of inspiration here.
If you love getting lost in a book that takes place somewhere specific, here are fifteen novels that bring the Ocean State to life. You’ll find mysteries, history, magic, and stories about everyday people finding their way.
Tim Dunphy is a blue-collar kid from Pawtucket who gets into a bit of trouble with his car and a police cruiser. His dad decides the solution is to ship him off to a fancy prep school. Suddenly, Tim is surrounded by privilege he’s never known.
The story shows his awkward attempts to fit in while he still deals with his chaotic family life back home. It’s a funny and sometimes rough look at class differences and figuring things out during those teenage years.
This story unfolds right in Providence. A young man, Charles Ward, gets completely absorbed in the history of one of his ancestors, a man named Joseph Curwen who had a very dark reputation.
Charles digs into old documents and discovers Curwen was involved in necromancy and other occult practices. His obsession pulls him deeper into dangerous territory, and you start to wonder just what exactly he has unearthed from the past.
Lovecraft makes Providence feel ancient and full of secrets.
Agatha is one of four nuns whose quiet convent life gets turned upside down. They are sent to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, to run a halfway house called Little Neon. Agatha has to learn how to care for the residents, who have their own complicated lives.
At the same time, she starts to question her own faith and what she really wants. It’s a thoughtful story about finding purpose and connection in unexpected places.
This book jumps between two stories. One takes place at a cursed girls’ school, Brookhants, in Rhode Island around 1902, where students were obsessed with a scandalous memoir and met strange ends.
The other follows a modern-day film crew making a movie about the Brookhants legend. Strange things start happening on set that echo the past. There are mysterious deaths, hidden relationships, and a very spooky atmosphere that connects the two timelines.
Imagine a convention of horror writers gathering in Providence – a fitting place! That’s the setup for this mystery. Professor Warren, who has a knack for solving unusual cases, is there when a man disappears under very strange circumstances.
Warren’s investigation leads him through Providence, and he uncovers some eerie connections between the disappearance and the city’s own shadowed history.
Kenny moves into an old house in Providence and soon discovers it’s not empty. He finds the ghost of Caleb, a slave boy who died in the house back in the 1800s. Caleb insists he was murdered and asks Kenny for help. Kenny gets pulled back in time to the era of the slave trade.
He has to navigate the dangers of the past to uncover the truth about Caleb’s death and the house’s dark history.
The story is set in a small Rhode Island town during World War II. Robert and his cousin Elliot are trying to make sense of the world while the war rages overseas.
The town feels tense, and everyone seems affected by fear and suspicion, especially towards a German artist who lives nearby. Robert and Elliot stumble upon some family secrets tied to the war. The book really captures the atmosphere of the home front.
James is a young man who decides to leave college. He heads to a Rhode Island fishing town to work on a scallop boat. Life at sea is incredibly tough and dangerous, maybe even more than he expected. Paul Watkins vividly describes the fishermen’s work and the power of the ocean.
James also has to deal with complicated relationships within his own family back on shore. The sea reflects his internal struggles.
Fourteen-year-old Jake Cole lives in Warren, Rhode Island. His fisherman father has disappeared at sea, and now Jake needs to work hard to save the family diner. He takes on the difficult job of quahogging, digging for clams in the bay.
It’s demanding work, and he has to deal with some tough local characters. You get a real feel for the coastal community and the challenges of making a living from the sea.
In the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick, three bored women—Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie—discover they possess witch-like powers. Their lives get shaken up when a strange, charismatic man, Daryl Van Horne, moves to town.
He encourages their abilities, and things get wild, scandalous, and eventually dark. The story looks at their friendship, their desires, and the consequences when hidden power comes out to play.
It’s the 1920s, and Theophilus North arrives in the wealthy enclave of Newport, Rhode Island. He’s a man of many talents and decides to make a living by taking on various jobs for the town’s rich residents – reading aloud, tutoring, even playing tennis.
He becomes a sort of confidant and problem-solver. He gets drawn into the personal lives and secrets hidden behind the grand mansions. Wilder gives us a wonderful look at this unique community.
Years after their adventures in The Witches of Eastwick, Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie return to the town that holds so many memories. They are older now, widowed, and perhaps less mischievous.
Their return stirs up the past, both for them and for the townspeople who remember their antics. The three women have to confront their history, their feelings of guilt, and how their lives have changed over time.
This novel feels like piecing together a puzzle. India Morgan Phelps, or Imp, lives in Rhode Island and struggles with her mental health.
She writes what she calls a memoir, trying to make sense of her encounters with two mysterious women, one possibly a ghost or a mermaid, named Eva Canning and Abalyn. The narrative mixes her reality, her fragmented memories, folklore, and maybe delusions.
It’s unsettling and pulls you into Imp’s unique perspective.
Set largely around Brown University in the early 1980s, this novel follows three recent graduates. Madeleine Hanna loves nineteenth-century novels and is caught between two men.
There’s Leonard Bankhead, a brilliant but troubled biology student, and Mitchell Grammaticus, her old friend who is on a spiritual quest. The story follows their messy lives after college as they figure out love, work, and what they believe in.
Eugenides captures that uncertain post-graduation feeling.
Carter Quinn, a college professor needing a change of pace after a personal loss, finds himself in Rhode Island. He stays with the family of a former student in Federal Hill, Providence’s Italian neighborhood.
He ends up giving English lessons to Matteo, an older Italian immigrant who works in a local bakery. An unlikely friendship forms. Through helping Matteo chase a second chance, Carter starts to see new possibilities for his own life.
It’s a warm story about connection and rediscovery.