Maine's literary landscape is as rugged and beautiful as its rocky coastline. It is a state of quiet, resilient towns, deep, dark woods, and a powerful, ever-present sea. For generations, writers have been drawn to its shores, using its unique atmosphere to tell stories of profound human connection, simmering small-town tensions, and supernatural horror. In Maine's fiction, the landscape is never just a backdrop; it is a character that shapes, challenges, and haunts the lives of its inhabitants. This list is your guide to exploring the many literary worlds of the Pine Tree State.
These novels are masterful portraits of life in Maine's small towns, where community is everything and secrets are hard to keep. They are stories that explore the intricate web of relationships, the quiet dramas of everyday life, and the profound truths that can be found in the most ordinary of places.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel-in-stories centers on Olive Kitteridge, a formidable, prickly, and deeply compassionate retired schoolteacher in the small coastal town of Crosby. Through thirteen interconnected tales, Strout paints a stunning, multifaceted portrait of a woman and the community she both despises and fiercely loves.
Another Pulitzer Prize winner, this novel is set in a declining mill town in central Maine. It follows Miles Roby, the manager of the Empire Grill, who feels trapped by his past, his family, and the powerful Whiting family that has controlled the town for generations. It is a warm, witty, and deeply humane story about the bonds of community in a place left behind.
A masterpiece of American literary regionalism. A writer spends a summer in the small, isolated fishing village of Dunnet Landing. Through a series of beautifully rendered sketches, she comes to know the town's inhabitants, particularly the herbalist Almira Todd. It's a gentle, profound, and timeless portrait of a community shaped by the sea.
This beloved children's classic tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall, an imaginative and high-spirited girl who is sent from her family's farm to live with her two stern, unmarried aunts in a southern Maine village. Rebecca's irrepressible personality slowly thaws the hearts of her rigid guardians and brings life to the quiet town.
These novels are rooted in Maine's past, telling stories of pioneers, outcasts, and communities grappling with the harsh realities of the land and the often brutal march of history. They are tales of survival, injustice, and the enduring human spirit in the face of profound adversity.
This sprawling epic centers on Homer Wells, an orphan who grows up at the St. Cloud's orphanage in rural Maine under the tutelage of the ether-addicted Dr. Larch, who delivers babies and performs illegal abortions. Homer's journey takes him to a coastal apple orchard, where he confronts complex questions of morality, choice, and the rules we live by.
Inspired by the true, tragic history of Malaga Island, this novel depicts a small, mixed-race community living in isolation off the coast of Maine. In the early 20th century, their unique world is threatened by state authorities and the forces of eugenics, leading to the community's destruction in this powerful, lyrical, and heartbreaking story.
In the 18th century, thirteen-year-old Matt is left alone to guard his family's new cabin in the Maine wilderness. After a disastrous encounter with a bear, he is helped by a local Penobscot chief and his grandson, Attean. The story is a powerful exploration of survival and the slow-building friendship between two boys from different cultures.
Based on the same historical events as *This Other Eden*, this young adult novel follows Turner Buckminster, a minister's son who is new to a small coastal town. He feels like an outsider until he befriends Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from the nearby community on Malaga Island. Their friendship puts him at odds with the town's racist leaders, who are determined to remove the islanders.
Maine's idyllic towns and remote landscapes provide the perfect setting for Stephen King and other masters of suspense and horror. These novels peel back the charming facade of small-town life to reveal a world of ancient evils, hidden secrets, and terrifying darkness.
A writer returns to his small hometown of Jerusalem's Lot to confront a childhood trauma, only to discover the town is being insidiously taken over by a master vampire. It is a terrifying, classic horror novel that masterfully depicts the slow, chilling death of an entire community, one drained victim at a time.
After awakening from a five-year coma, a small-town Maine schoolteacher discovers he has the psychic ability to see people's secrets and futures with a single touch. This "gift" becomes a terrible burden when he shakes the hand of a ruthless, rising politician and foresees a horrifying, apocalyptic future that only he can prevent.
A magazine photographer travels to the desolate Isles of Shoals to research a sensational 19th-century axe murder. As she delves into the historical crime, the claustrophobic atmosphere of the remote islands begins to mirror the rising tensions in her own life, blurring the lines between past and present passions in this gripping psychological thriller.
A bestselling novelist, paralyzed by grief and writer's block after the sudden death of his wife, retreats to their summer home on Dark Score Lake. He soon finds the house is haunted and that the local town is under the grip of a wealthy, malevolent old man, a curse with roots in a long-buried racial crime.
This collection of novels explores the diverse ways in which Maine serves as a place of refuge, discovery, and transformation. From a peddler's journey through the woods to a woman finding her voice on a remote island, these are stories about the deep connections between people, memory, and the Maine landscape.
As an elderly clock repairman lies dying, his mind drifts through his own memories and those of his father, an epileptic who worked as a peddler, traveling through the rural Maine countryside with his mule-drawn cart. This Pulitzer Prize winner is a stunning, lyrical meditation on time, memory, nature, and the fragile, beautiful connections between generations.
A young woman arrives on a remote, fictional fishing island to be the new schoolteacher. She must navigate the customs and suspicions of the tight-knit community, finding her place and falling in love with a local lobsterman. It is a classic story of an outsider finding a home against the beautiful but demanding backdrop of the Maine coast.
A young woman who grew up in isolation on a remote Maine island with her scholar father moves to New York City for college. Her journey into the wider world becomes a quest to uncover the secrets of her family's past and the mother she never knew. The novel beautifully contrasts the solitude of the island with the energy of the city.
This Newbery Medal winner is the fictional autobiography of a small wooden doll carved from mountain ash. Her life begins in pre-Civil War Maine, and from there her adventures take her around the world, from being shipwrecked on a tropical island to living in India. It's a charming and unique journey through a century of history.
From the poignant human dramas in its small towns to the chilling horrors lurking in its deep woods, the literary landscape of Maine is rich with unforgettable stories. These novels, each in its own way, tap into the state's unique spirit—its resilience, its beauty, and its ever-present past. Whether you are drawn to a historical classic, a gripping thriller, or a profound story of family, we hope this list helps you enjoy your literary journey through the Pine Tree State.