The Pacific Northwest is a book lover’s dream. I was lucky enough to live in the region for three years, and my book-buying receipts from that era are proof!
While it’s not an officially delineated region, most sources define the Pacific Northwest as the states of Washington and Oregon, along with parts of Idaho and British Columbia, Canada.
From Portland’s Powell’s City of Books (the world’s largest independent bookstore) to the atmospheric setting behind hits like the Twilight series (based in the real-life town of Forks, Washington), this region of North America has a lot of literary cred. It’s home to many well-known authors (like Ken Kesey, Ijeoma Oluo, Chuck Palahniuk, and Maria Semple); fantastic independent bookstores (a few personal favorites besides Powell’s: Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Eagle Harbor Book Co on Bainbridge Island, and Imprint Bookstore in Port Townsend), writing workshops (some day I’d love to attend one of these, or this one), and of course, novels and nonfiction galore.
I’ll never forget the evocative feeling of reading Twilight in 2006, weeks after our first road trip through the moody Olympic peninsula, and agreeing with Stephenie Meyer about at least one thing. Vampires would live there.
I don’t have any vampire books to recommend today, but I do have fantastic fiction and nonfiction to transport you to this corner of North America. Narrowing down this list was tough, and I’m sure there are many more incredible books to share. Would you leave a comment with your suggestions for readers interested in a vicarious trip to the Pacific Northwest?
Literary Tourism: Pacific Northwest
Some links (including all Amazon links) are affiliate links. More details here.
Red Paint: the Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk
Written in the Stars
Heart Berries
Marrow Island
Glaciers
West of Here
The Ice Sings Back
Hollow Kingdom
Monkey Beach
Death on Tap (Sloan Krause Mystery #1)
Snow Falling on Cedars
A Long Trek Home: 4,000 Miles by Boot, Raft and Ski
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America
The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands
The Lathe of Heaven
What are your favorite books set in the Pacific Northwest? Please share in the comments.
P.S. 12 recommended reads for those traveling to Maine (or who want to) and more literary tourism.
About the author
Holly Wielkoszewski is our What Should I Read Next Media Production Specialist. Her go-to genres are Fantasy and Sci-Fi. You can find Holly on Instagram @hollyfromthebigsky.
90 comments
This post wins the prize for having the MOST books I’ve never heard of (a good thing!). Thank you, Holly!
Happy to help, Susan! 😀
Definitely check out the Betty MacDonald memoirs, including “Onions in the Stew” – her books make me want to live on Vashon!
I rode the ferry via Vashon for three years but spent very little time on the actual island. I’ll have to check out these books!
Yes, to Betty MacDonald. Her book, “The Egg and I”, introduced America to Ma and Pa Kettle.
Also, if you actually visit Seattle, our art museum is currently running a retrospective of the work of Jaune Quick-to-see Smith, a native American artist.
Love Onions in the Stew! I think it’s time for a reread soon!
I just started reading Eruption by Steve Olson about the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980, and so far so good!
Agreed! I thought I knew about the eruption of Mount St. Helens as a Seattle native, but this book was a revelation in many ways.
Oh, this sounds fascinating. Fun fact: I remember that the first report I ever wrote on a computer (not a typewriter) was in 3rd grade, about Mount St. Helens.
Anyone have any books to suggest for our upcoming trip to Banff, Jasper, and Glacier Parks? Not quite the Pacicfic NW, but close! Thanks in advance!
Monica, check out Christine Carbo – her mystery series is set in Glacier National Park!
Thanks Holly!
Icefields by Thomas Wharton deals with the Columbia Icefields which are accessible from the Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper. It’s beautifully written. Also, Ridgerunner by Gil Adamson is set in the general area of Banff and Lake Louise. Suzanne North also wrote three mysteries set in the foothills area between Calgary and Banff. And if you want an Indigenous perspective of the Alberta foothills area Green Grass, Running Water and Medicine River by Thomas King are excellent.
Thanks for sharing these recommendations, Wendy – adding them all to my list!
Wow, Wendy! What a great bunch of suggestions! I can’t wait to read them before, during and after our trip!
I love these suggestions! If you like Monkey Beach, I highly recommend Eden Robinson’s Son of a Trickster trilogy.
If you want to feel like you are living in the rainforest on the far west coast, try Jennifer Manuel’s The Morning Bell Brings the Broken Hearted.
I also loved Greenwood by Michael Christie which is set on an exclusive island off the coast of BC.
Oh, excellent. These are all new to me and look fantastic!
I kept hoping to see my favorite book of 2023 on this list. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt is set in a fictional small town on the coast just north of Seattle.
That’s my favorite, also!
I also came to the comment section to recommend “Remarkably Bright Creatures.” I love that book! I attended the University of Puget Sound and loved how that book reminded me of that special setting.
I have not read this one yet but it’s on my radar (and higher up now that I’ve seen so many comments here in favor!)
I recently read Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon. A really fun ode to Seattle told via a romance between 2 seniors in high school. Closed door, EXTREMELY well written YA.
Sarah Jio’s books are nearly all PNw based – Morning Glory is set on a house bot in Seattle!
Also, The hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet by Jamie Ford, which is a moving portrayal of the Japanese internment in WWII.
Of course more recent – Remarkably Bright Creatires- set in a fictional Washington town.
A house boat book – fantastic!
What is the location of the first picture? Beautiful!
Diablo Lake in the North Cascades. It is even better in person!
Correct, Jacqui! It’s Diablo Lake 🙂
It looks like Ross Lake (I used to live in the PNW – this lake was on the 4 hour drive between my parents home and my home).
I have the pleasure to call the PNW home. Here are some of my favorites:
Stubborn Twig, by Lauren Kessler about a Japanese family’s life immigrating to Hood River, Oregon (NF). A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, the narrator lives on Cortez Island (B
C.)(F). The Living by Anne Dillard (F). Inside by Susan Marie Conrad. First female solo trip of the Inside Passage (NF). Salmon, Cedar, Rock and Rain by Tim McNulty about the Olympic Peninsual(NF). Mountaineer Books, Seattle, has fantastic nature and wilderness books as well as trail guides about the PNW.
I love Mountaineer Books! Thanks for sharing Salmon, Cedar, Rock and Rain – I haven’t heard of it but it sounds entirely up my alley.
What a great list! I’ve noted down a number of these titles! I grew up in British Columbia but now live in Ontario, so reading about the Pacific Northwest always makes me feel like I’m going home. Here are a bunch of non-fiction suggestions:
-Betty MacDonald’s humorous memoirs – “The Egg and I”, “The Plague and I”, “Anybody Can Do Anything”, and “Onions in the Stew”. They are all set in Seattle and on the Olympic Peninsula in the 1920s-1930s. “The Plague and I” is about her hospitalization in a tuberculosis sanitorium, where she is friends with Kimi, a Japanese American. Kimi is based on Monica Sone, who wrote the memoir “Nisei Daughter” about being a Japanese American during WWII and the Japanese Interment camps (which Betty MacDonald helped get published). I thoroughly enjoyed all these books. Betty MacDonald’s memoirs are a bit fictionalized, so if you want the real story, I enjoyed “Looking for Betty MacDonald” by Paula Becker.
-“Passage to Juneau” by Jonathan Raban, a memoir of the author sailing from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska. The first half of this book was a five star read, but I didn’t enjoy the second half nearly as much.
-“The Curve of Time” by Capi Blanchet about sailing the Inside Passage in British Columbia with her children during the summers in the 1920s and 1930s.
The first book that comes to mind is I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven. It’s old, but still available. I first read it over 50 years ago and still grabs my heart with each reread. Another author not mentioned in the blog post is Wayson Choy, who writes about Vancouver. I particularly enjoyed All That Matters.
I Heard the Owl Call My Name is a favourite of mine too!
I remember reading “I Heard the Owl Call My Name” in school — yes, probably about 50 years ago…! I thought of that one too!
Another beautiful book set in the Pacific Northwest is Unfurled by Michelle Bailat-Jones. A must-read on Kindle, audiobook or paperback.
Of course The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (I know you have recommended her books before). Very atmospheric, it’s set on Vancouver Island and revolves around the collapse of an international Ponzi scheme.
I came on here to mention “The Glass Hotel” by Emily St. John Mandel too! The multi-award-winning “Five Little Indians” by Michelle Good is also set in BC, mostly Vancouver.
Five Little Indians is a must read
Cormorant Lake by Faith Merino!
I was disappointed to not see any representation of Eastern Washington, Oregon, or North Idaho. The coast seems to get all the attention even though there are plenty of authors, topics, and books set on the other side of the mountains…
Same!
Hearts Full of Horses! Molly Glass is great and she really captures that dry east of the cascades vibe.
I liked Jump Off Creek by Glass and Craig Lesley’s books, although it’s been years since I read them so I can’t guarantee the hold up. Also Chris Crutcher’s excellent YA is set in eastern WA and Idaho.
Thanks for this suggestion, Christie!
Hi AA! While the list does feature many books set in Washington, there are several that speak to Oregon (Glaciers, The Ice Sings Back) and Eastern Washington/North Idaho (The Big Burn). Our book lists are not meant to be exhaustive, they are a starting point. I’ve been eager to see the additional suggestions from our readers to expand all of our PNW reading lists.
Boys in the Boat!!
Stronghold: One Man’s Quest to Save the World’s Wild Salmon by Tucker Malarkey is excellent. Much of it takes place in the PNW, but parts also take place in Russia and Alaska. Highly recommend.
The book That One Time in Oregon is a fun lighthearted kissing only romance that takes a road trip down the Oregon coast.
“House Lessons: Renovating a Life” by Erica Bauermeister. I read this shortly after moving to Seattle and loved it. I haven’t enjoyed her other books as much because they are mostly short story collections, but this non-fiction pick made me fall in love with the author and feel connected to her as a person.
I picked up “Death on Tap” from the local bookshop while visiting Leavenworth and look forward to reading it!
Oh, House Lessons has been on my list for awhile now – so glad to hear you loved it, I’ll see if I can bump it up my library list!
Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest. Mystery set in Seattle. A travel agent with some psychic abilities changes a client’s reservation. The flight he was originally booked on blows up on the runway. He is a police detective and enlists her help with a cold case.
Recipe for a Charmed Life by Rachel Linden. Female chef needing a change reunites with her mother. She finds new purpose and new career plan. Romance too. Heartwarming, uplifting, some magical realism.
Eastern Washington and north Idaho are PNW, too!
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter, which tells the story of the roots of the labor movement in Spokane at the turn of the 20th century through the story of two brothers. Lots of actual historic figures make an appearance as well.
Also, the oft-recommended Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson takes place in a fictional north Idaho town that is uncannily reminiscent of the real-life Sandpoint, Idaho.
I haven’t heard of almost any of these, but I LOVE atmospheric novels and I live in the PNW (Washington and now BC) so yes, pls!
Also, that Red Paint one?! IMMEDIATELY on my library holds. 🙂
I’m lucky to call the PNW home for the past 20 years! I’ve added several recommended books to my TBR. I really enjoyed Robert Dugoni’s Tracy Crosswhite series, set in Seattle and the surrounding area. Book 1 is My Sister’s Grave.
Because I live in the PNW (which includes all of Idaho imo) and travel among all parts of the 3 states regularly, this is a fascinating read to me: Oregon Geographic Names by Lewis McArthur. It has been revised and updated a few times, but any edition works.
I also took note that The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah opened on the Oregon Coast and mentioned Bend in passing. Its always fun to have a bit of home in a good book.
I love Oregon Geographic Names! My sisters are in it (look for Teardrop Pool), and I did part of an 8th grade report (back when they were handwritten) about unusual place names I pulled from it.
Kenneth Oppel’s YA Bloom Trilogy: Bloom, Hatch and Thrive. Fun, thrilling and great for tweens,teens and adults. His Silverwing Trilogy is a huge hit with kids as well.
From Goodreads: A Sudden Light is a rich, atmospheric work that is at once a multigenerational family saga, a historical novel, a ghost story, and the story of a contemporary family’s struggle to connect with each other. A tribute to the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, it reflects Garth Stein’s outsized capacity for empathy and keen understanding of human motivation, and his rare ability to see the unseen: the universal threads that connect us all
I love this article and all the comments. I’m bookmarking the page so that I can come back to it. So many books I’ve never heard of! I was able to quickly grab Marrow Island and Monkey Beach—I’m veering off my planned reading to read them next…exciting!
I’m so glad you mentioned The Lathe of Heaven—it was the first Ursula LeGuin I read in 1977 (!), I recently reread it. The story is still amazing, but I’d forgotten how beautifully written it is. It’s one of my favorite books.
I love Sylvia Beach Hotel! The “Jane Austin” room is my favorite. The “no technology” hotel. I love it most during the winter storm season. Newport, OR
And I can’t believe I forgot Sherman Alexi. I’ve read all his works.Thanks for that add.
And one more: Starvation Heights,by Gregg Olsen. True story about people duped into staying at a “healing facilty” in Olalla, WA to take the “fasting cure” and are ultimately robbed of their wealth and many die of starvation. Well written, but a very sad story.
I’ve read a lot of natural history, geology, etc. about Eastern WA/OR and ID, but I’ll make an effort to explore more fiction now. Good point to those who brought that up.
Great list! Many I haven’t heard of so I’m excited to jump in!
This isn’t about a book, but I want to give a shout-out to the wonderful Sylvia Beach Hotel on the coast in Newport Oregon. It’s a book-themed hotel, with each room dedicated to a particular author. My husband and I have stayed there twice — in the “Amy Tan” and “Colette” rooms. There’s also a library / reading room with a view of the ocean, and a restaurant called the “Tables of Content”.
The book that is in my lifetime favorite 10 (and I am 77) is The Plover by Brian Doyle-
a bit of magic realism; one thinks several times- oh no, violence, but no, love and beauty and friendship always win
Brian Doyle is my favorite ❤️
There’s more to WA than west of the Cascades! Here are a couple eastern WA books:
-The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
-The Orchardist by Amanda Chopin
Thanks for adding these to the list, Stephanie!
So glad someone mentioned The Orchardist. It’s beautiful. Amanda Chopin grew up in/near Wenatchee and writes lyrically of that area. It’s absolutely a story imbued with place- you get to know the orchard, woods and small towns intimately. At the same time, it is a tender story of people shaped by place, time and circumstance. A bachelor farmer (orchardist) who becomes accidental guardian to mistreated girls on the run from a hideous situation- both the great love and the unhealable trauma that unfolds. I plan to reread it soon.
One of my very favorite authors set his books in the Pacific Northwest—Brian Doyle. Try The Plover, Martin Marten, or Mink River. All wonderful!
For middle grade I can Make This Promise by Christine Day is set in the PNW is an ownvoices book steeped in Indigenous history and experiences. Day has several other middle grade books centered on Indigenous characters.
Another vote for both Boys in the Boat and Annie Dillard’s The Living. One book I remember vividly is White Cascade by Gary Krist about a tragic train crash in an avalanche in the Cascades in 1910.
Also, Ramona Quimby lived in Portland on Klickatat Street!
White Cascade is excellent. Stevens Pass/Eastern WA. If you are a hiker, you can hike that section of the Great Northern Railroad where the avalanche occurred. It’s called Iron Goat Trail. Go to http://www.wta.org for trail maps. You hike through the location of Wellington. A very well marked trail with remnants of the railroad including tracks, tunnels (closed for passage), historical signs and the amazing avalanche walls. The 1st section is a stroll and ADA accesible. The 2nd section is more a hike and some steep terrain. Leavenworth, WA would be closet place for a hotel. Lake Wenatchee State Park for camping.
I’ve lived my whole life in Oregon and Washington and look forward to reading some of these suggestions. Also, recommendations by other readers are great. Two in particular are The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. And of course anything by Beverly Cleary. Her books took place close to where I grew up!
As an Oregonian, I often seek out books set in the PNW. Brian Doyle is a fantastic Oregon author, and many of his books really reflect the location.
The Ancient One by T.A. Barron is a middle grade eco-fantasy set in Oregon. Good for kids and adults.
Greenwood by Michael Christie! A family saga that originates with a wealthy timber businessman in the Vancouver/ Vancouver Island area and follows his descendants who live in the shadow of his legacy. The feeling of the rainy, forested PNW carries over into all of the storylines.
I amazed that I don’t recognize more books on this list too! I live in Seattle, but to get beyond western Washington I would second True Diary of a Part Time Indian and the Orchardist. A book with an Oregon setting that I LOVED was ‘Mink River’ by Brian Doyle. Poetic (in a good way!!), sweet and characters you will not forget. It will make you love your local civil servant, those people keeping small towns going. And animals are characters (very northwesty). I feel like I’m not doing this book justice but check it out.
For those who love realistic fiction and nonfiction – here’s a list of my favorites that I believe show the world who we really are!
Martin Marten set on Mount Hood in Oregon and Mink River set on Oregon Coast, both by the late Brian Doyle – realistic but quirky slice of life fiction, with a sentient animal or two thrown in (for fans of the dog in Lessons in Chemistry).
Earth’s Wild Music: Celebrating and Defending the Songs of the Natural World by Kathleen Dean Moore – for fans of Katherine May, Margaret Renkl and Annie Dillard
The Next Great Tsunami: Living on a Restless Coast by Bonnie Henderson – narrative nonfiction about the lives of scientists who gathered information about plate tectonics in the 1990s, which also validated the “big water” stories of the Indigenous peoples of Southern Oregon – those weren’t myths invented to prevent their toddlers from drowning!
Loaners: Making of a Street Library by Laura Maulton – nonfiction about a woman hauling a library via bicycle to people living on the streets.
The Wild Trees; a Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston- expands beyond PNW – but illustrates our love for our Old Growth Forests in the stories of people who climb them!
Burying My Dead by Bettie Lennett Denny – post Civil War historical fiction using Portland’s historic Lone Fir Cemetery as a backdrop – out of print but can purchase Kindle book for only $2.99 or try local library or used bookstores.
My Abandonment by Peter Rock – novel inspired by true story of father and daughter found living off the grid in Portland’s Washington Park.
The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch – a stunning coming-of-age novel about one boy’s mystical bond to the sea, set on Puget Sound in WA, beautiful, lyrical, slow moving.
Nonfiction memoirs by Heather Lende about community life in Haines, Alaska, located along the Inside Passage. Taking the liberty of expanding the PNW boundary!
Kate, I love all of these recommendations, and I absolutely adore Lende’s memoirs (which proudly sit on my Alaska shelf..) I’m excited to explore these titles!
Having grown up in the PNW I love coming of age set in this area, and Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah painted a beautiful picture of the area (though never watched the Netflix show!). Also, Five Little Indians by Michele Good was an important eye opener.
Monkey Beach is excellent, and is on some required reading lists in high schools in Ontario. If you’re looking for a Canadian book with themes similar to Snow Falling on Cedars, Obasan by Joy Kowaga tells the story of a Japanese community devastated by the systemic racism that led to Japanese Internment camps in the 1940s in Canada. It’s short and powerful – particularly the ending.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki is set, in part, on an island on the coast of British Columbia. A writer living on this island, finds a diary written by a young Japanese girl. They diary washes up on the island after the 2011 tsunami in Japan.
One of my favorite books!
A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest by Charlie J. Stephens is set in central Oregon with nature as a focal element. It is a very new release (April 2) by a small publishing imprint that is a nonprofit book publisher focusing on conservation through literature in the West. This book absolutely deserves some attention. Intensely emotional literary fiction – I will be thinking about this book for a very long time.
Brian Doyle! He’s my favorite for evocative PNW writing. Also Erica Bauermeister’s novels (and her memoir), and Renee Watson’s new middle-grade series about Ryan Hart.
skin & bones, by Renee Watson, novel set in Portland, Oregon where main character works for public library as Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Librarian: “A beautifully poetic meditation on race, history, and parenthood. Renee Watson is brilliantly unafraid, and the reward of that fearlessness is on these pages. —JACQUELINE WOODSON, National Book Award winner” (comes out in May -received ARC)
American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny
One of WWII’s most uniquely hidden figures, Hazel Ying Lee was born and grew up in Portland, Oregon, the first Asian American woman to earn a pilot’s license, join the WASPs, and fly for the United States military amid widespread anti-Asian sentiment and policies. (Nonfiction/biography, expected out 4/23/2024 – received ARC)
Cold Millions (Jess Walter) Spokane during the IWW days
East of the Mountains (David Guterson)
Deep River (Karl Marlantes)
Jane Kirkpatrick has written many books about Oregon. The first I read was A Sweetness to the Soul published in 1995. She is a wonderful writer and keenly develops a sense of place…the beautiful Pacific Northwest!
The mention of living on a houseboat reminded me of author Cathy Lamb. Her books are family sagas, set in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. I loved “The Language of Sisters” (the houseboat one), and “Henry’s Sisters”. I have others of hers on my very long to-read list.
I also really enjoyed “Eliza Waite” by Ashley E. Sweeney, set in the San Juan Islands in northern Washington, and then in Skagway, Alaska, during the late 1800s. It portrays a strong woman who makes it on her own during the gold rush years, and beyond.
I loved Death on Tap!
I’d also recommend Phillip Margolin’s mysteries set in Oregon, and A Wild and Heavenly Place by Robin Oliveira which is set in early Seattle.
One more that may be a bit of a stretch but is a fascinating story: The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey. It’s about an army captain assigned to explore Alaska, but part of the book is set in the PNW where his wife is forced to stay when she can’t accompany him.
I adored Ken Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion. Also, Before the Wind by Jim Lynch.
A couple others have mentioned The Boys in the Boat, which is my current read. I had the privilege of spending a week in coastal Oregon at the beginning of this year. We visited Powell’s and I had to restrain myself from buying too much, as I had limited luggage space. I limited myself to only books about the region, and two that came home with me were Astoria by Peter Stark, about the European quest to settle the Pacific Northwest, and The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck, who traveled the trail in the modern era by covered wagon, as early European settlers did. I haven’t read them yet, but they look interesting.
A beautiful book that takes place in the Pacific Northeast is
Brian Doyle The Plover.
Please, do not miss this gem