Best Books with Rural Settings

Looking for a book straight out of the wild? Vote for your favorite works with rural settings here.

To get you started, trek into the wilderness with these five recs from Charles Frazier, the Appalachian native behind Nightwoods, a novel set at an abandoned mountain lodge. See his picks here!
1

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,087,656 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.17 avg rating — 1,271,102 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,274,894 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,973,835 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.21 avg rating — 2,006,161 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.17 avg rating — 2,408,589 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.36 avg rating — 156,569 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,323,472 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.89 avg rating — 2,770,711 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.40 avg rating — 3,073,948 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.02 avg rating — 976,908 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,247,819 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,372,110 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.04 avg rating — 209,442 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.01 avg rating — 4,402,509 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.84 avg rating — 145,525 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
3.84 avg rating — 299,008 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,273,817 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,002,286 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,669,219 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.28 avg rating — 697,435 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.22 avg rating — 256,047 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.23 avg rating — 220,538 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.02 avg rating — 236,566 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.09 avg rating — 500,814 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.21 avg rating — 282,852 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.43 avg rating — 611,008 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.35 avg rating — 156,080 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.11 avg rating — 783,534 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
3.91 avg rating — 463,697 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.94 avg rating — 570,614 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.78 avg rating — 201,761 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.97 avg rating — 163,762 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.02 avg rating — 1,426,569 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.44 avg rating — 905,148 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.21 avg rating — 299,917 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.28 avg rating — 322,830 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 501,769 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.38 avg rating — 390,801 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.91 avg rating — 291,012 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
4.01 avg rating — 258,556 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.14 avg rating — 379,096 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.07 avg rating — 438,530 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.25 avg rating — 704,167 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.06 avg rating — 600,608 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.29 avg rating — 4,674,557 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.88 avg rating — 346,822 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.89 avg rating — 248,603 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.03 avg rating — 158,471 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.25 avg rating — 362,075 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.77 avg rating — 100,884 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.99 avg rating — 113,696 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.88 avg rating — 54,129 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.25 avg rating — 56,611 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.12 avg rating — 435,011 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.05 avg rating — 124,971 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.12 avg rating — 1,078,997 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.23 avg rating — 822,562 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.31 avg rating — 53,445 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.03 avg rating — 53,609 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
4.22 avg rating — 73,847 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.45 avg rating — 135,579 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.12 avg rating — 53,691 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.02 avg rating — 105,038 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.13 avg rating — 211,664 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.03 avg rating — 127,419 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.90 avg rating — 57,606 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.79 avg rating — 442,030 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.18 avg rating — 81,816 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,009,875 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.09 avg rating — 714,796 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.88 avg rating — 7,642 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.45 avg rating — 1,696,007 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.35 avg rating — 3,424,186 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.95 avg rating — 555,125 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.13 avg rating — 50,287 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
3.84 avg rating — 89,707 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.02 avg rating — 50,514 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.88 avg rating — 151,270 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.78 avg rating — 223,523 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.69 avg rating — 92,380 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.10 avg rating — 71,848 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
4.24 avg rating — 55,516 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.74 avg rating — 405,311 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.05 avg rating — 281,728 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
3.86 avg rating — 38,313 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
4.23 avg rating — 106,118 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.05 avg rating — 82,476 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.18 avg rating — 25,482 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.11 avg rating — 4,412 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
3.72 avg rating — 183,629 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
4.10 avg rating — 73,367 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
3.88 avg rating — 40,034 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.30 avg rating — 56 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.83 avg rating — 3,989 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
4.45 avg rating — 55 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.86 avg rating — 60,953 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 124,471 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
4.03 avg rating — 176,073 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.83 avg rating — 58,329 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
1,136 books · 1,014 voters · list created October 5th, 2011 by Jessica (votes) .
126 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Jessica 1358 books
352 friends
Carla 12758 books
976 friends
Patti 529 books
140 friends
Michaela 892 books
16 friends
Mona 2488 books
59 friends
Katie 1431 books
839 friends
Ginny 35 books
4 friends
Rachel 1645 books
145 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl To Kill a Mockingbird doesn't have a rural setting. It takes place in a small town.


message 2: by Jan C (new)

Jan C I think that is true with a lot of these. Certainly The Adventures of Tom Sawyer also takes place in a small town.


message 3: by Ian (new)

Ian To kill a mockingbird is in a town, but it has sort of a rural setting around it.


message 4: by Molly (new)

Molly Lovelady Alice in wonderland isn't a rural setting...

Also Into the Wild would be a good add :)


message 5: by Laurel (new)

Laurel Wicke Gone with the Wind? Atlanta? C'mon...


message 6: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl A lot of Gone with the Wind takes place at Tara, though.


message 7: by Laurel (new)

Laurel Wicke Yeah, I'll give you that, but I still don't think of it as a rural kind of book.


message 8: by Chaminda (new)

Chaminda dff


message 9: by Judy (new)

Judy Some of these are definitely not my idea of rural. For those of you looking for a great book, I think "Ordinary Wolves" is a much under-acknowledged book. I found it fascinating, takes place in a remote part of Alaska.


message 10: by Rebekah (new)

Rebekah What about The Help? I don't think the citizens of Mississippi would consider their capitol city "a rural setting"!


message 11: by Melanie (new)

Melanie David Copperfield? Rural setting? Not quite.


message 12: by Bettie (new)

Bettie There is a discrepancy in the list description which throws voters off. Rural denotes farmed or grazed land i.e. tamed by man in some way. Wild is the opposite. *shrugs*


message 13: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl ☯Bettie☯ wrote: "There is a discrepancy in the list description which throws voters off. Rural denotes farmed or grazed land i.e. tamed by man in some way. Wild is the opposite. *shrugs*"

Agreed, that has bugged me for donkey's years.


message 14: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Rebekah wrote: "What about The Help? I don't think the citizens of Mississippi would consider their capitol city "a rural setting"!"

Deleted.


message 15: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Jessica, since you started the list, do you want books that have rural settings (e.g. pastures, meadows, farms, grassy fields surrounded by mountains, etc.) or truly wild - wilderness, jungle, savannah, tundra, taiga, boreal forest?

I've been voting as if you meant "rural."

Which I do not consider small town, by the way. Small towns are not the same as rural.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Debra
It is a sorry state when you are forced to promote your own book this way, at least three times....


back to top



Related News

Freedom looks a lot like slavery to Coleman and his sister, June.   Though the Civil War has ended, the brother and sister are still living...

Anyone can add books to this list.