There are two types of people who come from small towns: those who can’t wait to settle where they grew up and those who can’t wait to go as far as possible. Coming from a small town in Massachusetts, I fell into the latter group, I had been counting down the moments until my escape since the first day of high school. I couldn’t wait to leave the place where my parents grew up, a place where everyone knew your name and no one knew how to stay out of your business. My favorite cure for when I feel like going out? well, books that transported me to another place, of course.
When I felt trapped within the confines of my own city, I would open one book and escape to another. Sure, I loved reading about faraway adventures, bright lights, and big cities, but sometimes just walking the streets of someone else’s quaint town was all I needed. Besides, not everything in small-town life was bad, so the details became funny stories: neighbors yelling at each other over white picket fences, kids riding bikes down Main Street, coffee shops and sandwich counters. they have their “usual” memorized. — what more could you ask for in a place to call home?
You are reading: Books about small towns
If you love living in a small town, but need a break, here are 9 books to help you escape to another place:
olive kitteridge by elizabeth strout
There is as much heartbreak as there is happiness in the small town of Crosby, Maine, home to Olive Kitteridge and the other charming and genuine denizens of Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel told in stories. The interwoven lives of Olive and her neighbors brilliantly illustrate, in poignant and understated prose, the desires, disappointments, and ultimately the beauty of everyday life in America’s simplest settings.
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the occasional vacancy by j. k. paddle
Nothing seems quite right for the residents of the small English town of Pagford after the death of one of its residents, Barry Fairbrother. A town that on the surface seems idyllic is actually on the verge of falling apart thanks to the deep divide between rich and poor residents, and the election to Fairbrother’s recently vacant seat on the parish council could send it over the edge. While not full of magic and butterbeer like, say, Hogsmead, Pagford exposes the truth of petty politics and the ongoing battle between good and evil, good and evil.
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ana of the green tiles from l. meter. mongomery
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avonlea may be old-fashioned, but what small town isn’t? Even though Anne was sent there by mistake, it becomes clear that she and the small Canadian farming town were meant to be. beautiful and serene, avonlea and the loving and picturesque community of it exist in a state of nostalgia that you wish you could call your own.
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standing on the rainbow by fannie flagg
Spanning decades, this feel-good novel is as much about the Smith family as it is about the town they live in. Elmwood Springs, Missouri is the kind of place where families love each other, neighbors stick together, and everyone has a happy ending. a truly enjoyable novel, Standing on the Rainbow might make you rethink small-town life.
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winesburg, ohio by sherwood anderson
another novel told through interconnected stories, winesburg, ohio exposes the shortcomings of small-town life. The lives of the townspeople of Winesburg are told through the eyes of a young aspiring reporter, George Willard, who grew up in Winesburg but ultimately leaves his hometown for something greater. because in a place like winesburg, not even the town doctor is satisfied.
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where is the heart of billie letts
Small towns get a bad rap for turning away outsiders, but sequoyah, oklahoma proves otherwise. When 17-year-old Novalee finds herself pregnant, alone, broke and stranded in the parking lot of the city’s Wal-Mart, she thinks her life is over. Instead, however, Novalee is surprised to discover the love, support, and opportunity for a fresh start among the eccentric but genuine members of the Southwest City community, all of whom obviously love Wal-Mart.
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gilead by marilynne robinson
Nobody captures the haunted nature of small towns like Marilynne Robinson. A novel written in the form of a letter from an ailing father to his young son, Gilead is not just an account of Reverend John Ames’ 77 years on earth, most of them spent in the small town in iowa, but it’s a collection of stories that illuminate the entire history of the midwestern town and the lives it shaped. spiritual and moving, gilead is a window into the wonder and tragedy of life in small-town America.
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under the dome of stephen king
despite its peaceful appearance, chester mill had a long list of problems long before the mysterious invisible force field separated the small maine town from the rest of the world. An unlikely group of misfit citizens – a war veteran, a newspaper reporter, a hospital employee, a select woman, and of course some teenagers – come together to save the isolated town from the dark forces that have always had it. control over the town. An exciting battle of good versus evil, Under the Dome will bring back all those forgotten feelings of local pride, and maybe a touch of small-town paranoia too.
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our people: a play in three acts by thorton wilder
glover’s corners, new hampshire, is a quiet, down-to-earth town, the kind of place where you end up marrying your childhood sweetheart and raising kids of your own on the same street you both grew up on. a play within a play, thornton wilder’s our town in an authentic portrayal of everyday life, from cradle to grave, in small town america in the early 20th century .
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images: warner bros. television
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