My newsletter subscribers are getting the first look at my next cover today. Yay! I’m so excited and it’s so pretty, and eerie. It perfectly represents the scene in the book when everything changes for the heroine. My new cover has me thinking about different settings I read about and how the details surrounding place bring great fiction to life.
Whether it’s Kristin Hannah‘s 80s Alaska, Sarah MacLean‘s historical London, or Lucy Maud Montgomery‘s Green Gables, the setting of each has a deep impact on the characters. You are there with them, in a place you might never have visited, but you are experiencing the setting through the character’s eyes. While reading All The Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood, I felt like I was there, in that dirty, revolting place in which the main character was forced to grow up in. Gosh, that sounds horrible, but it’s one of my favourite book club reads because it was all so real to me. Every little setting detail put me right there with the characters.
Now, as I start a new project, I’m busy learning about the setting of this new story. Another small fictional town set in southwestern Saskatchewan, based in the area known as the Cypress Hills. GONE (release date coming soon) takes place in my fictional town of Aspen Lake, which is a resort town in southeastern Saskatchewan, and is the third and final book in my Aspen Lake series. My heroine, Grace Bighill, serves drinks at The Back Forty, which is a term homesteaders used to refer to the back section of land on a farm. Constable Mike Davenport is a RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) officer with career ambitions that reach far beyond the prairies.
Until then…
Enter to win a $25 Amazon or Kobo gift card by telling me a favourite book setting in the comments!
I like more paranormal Earth Setting.. so that’s why my favourite book is “Lake Silence by Anne Bishop”.
Hi Brandy, Lake Silence sounds intriguing!
i like historical Magic Setting in england & my favourite book is My Plain Jane.
Hi Susan, always interested in hearing in Jane Eyre retellings!
Oh choosing one favorite setting is definitely challenging and it also really depends on how the author brings a setting to life, but I do agree that a great setting can really add to a book. Great post and it was fun to read you picks. From the book that I read this year I would love to visit the fictional town of Kotoyeesinah in Carol Van Natta’s ice age shifters series.
Hi Christine, another author I haven’t heard of! Also, ice age shifters sound terrifying! But intriguing!
I’m not from the south but I love reading southern fiction. The Outlander books are one of my favorite series to read, I want to visit Scotland so much just from reading these books!
Hi Angela, Yes, to Jamie and Claire. And Scotland, of course! The author did a great job of putting you right in the middle of the setting and left you feeling like you were right there.
I do like books set in rural France a lot more now after having spent some time there & for me The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is one of my best novels.
Hi Amy, lucky you for spending time in France! The Nightingale is one of my favourite books too. Although I just finished The Great Alone by KH (it was SO good!) and I now want to go to Alaska.
I’m a home-body, so I love anything set in the good old USA, especially New England or the Carolinas (since I’ve lived in both). I also enjoy stories set in space – but not ones in alternate worlds. On the other hand, I’m just now discovering alternative history, and loving it, especially when it takes place in North America or Western Europe. I don’t really care for books that take place on farms (stereotypical Amish novels), but I do enjoy stories about women who happen to be farmers/ranchers. I’m sure there’s other preferences I have (I don’t mind jungle settings) but I’ve never thought much about it. Interesting to consider…
Hi Trisha, I love stories set in my region too. I have an alternate history story in mind. Quite fascinating to consider the possibilities a story like that might take and what the changes would be to the affected setting. And hopefully we see more stories about female ranchers and farmers! I like those too!
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