These 10 must-read books set in Indiana feature Hoosier lit at its finest. Get to know the Hoosier State with these books that take place in Indiana.

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

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“Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.”

2. Last Words by Michael Koryta

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“Markus Novak just wants to come home. An investigator for a Florida-based Death Row defense firm, Novak’s life derailed when his wife, Lauren, was killed in the midst of a case the two were working together. Two years later, her murderer is still at large, and Novak’s attempts to learn the truth about her death through less-than-legal means and jailhouse bargaining have put his job on the line. Now he’s been all but banished, sent to Garrison, Indiana to assess a cold case that he’s certain his boss has no intention of taking.”

3. A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel

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“When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed “Zippy” for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period–people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.”

4. Come and Get Me by August Norman

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“At Indiana University, someone’s been studying the female student body: their dating customs, nocturnal activities—and how long they can survive in captivity.”

5. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut

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“Eliot Rosewater—drunk, volunteer fireman, and President of the fabulously rich Rosewater Foundation—is about to attempt a noble experiment with human nature . . . with a little help from writer Kilgore Trout. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is Kurt Vonnegut’s funniest satire, an etched-in-acid portrayal of the greed, hypocrisy, and follies of the flesh we are all heir to.”

6. The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

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“The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington, the second in his Growth trilogy which includes The Turmoil and The Midlander. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was adapted into the 1925 silent film Pampered Youth. The novel and trilogy trace the growth of the United States through the declining fortunes of three generations of the aristocratic Amberson family in an upper-scale Indianapolis neighborhood, between the end of the Civil War and the early part of the 20th century, a period of rapid industrialization and socio-economic change in America.”

7. Indiana: An Interpretation by John Bartlow Martin

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“Beginning with the State Fair as a window on Indiana as a whole, Martin interprets the Hoosier state and its history, from the Civil War and its impact on the state to the period during and just after World War II. As he says, ‘It is a conception of Indiana as a pleasant, rather rural place inhabited by people who are confident, prosperous, neighborly, easygoing, tolerant, shrewd.'”

8. A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter

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“Written for children and adults alike, A Girl of the Limberlost is a classic tale of struggle and survival set in one of Indiana’s iconic wilderness regions.”

9. Fort Wayne is Seventh on Hitler’s List by Michael Martone

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“Michael Martone writes with deep affection for the ordinary. In his hands, the quotidian dreams of the American heartland are transformed . . . ” ―Louise Erdrich

10. Teen Idol by Meg Cabot

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“High school junior Jenny Greenley is so good at keeping secrets that she’s the school newspaper’s anonymous advice columnist. She’s so good at it that, when hotter-than-hot Hollywood star Luke Striker comes to her small town to research a role, Jenny is the one in charge of keeping his identity under wraps. But Luke doesn’t make it easy, and soon everyone — the town, the paparazzi, and the tabloids alike — know his secret … and Jenny is caught right in the middle of all the chaos.”

Related: Best Books Set In Every State In America

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