Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This week we are talking about books set during other times. Here is my list of...
Top Ten Books Set in Another Time
The Counterfeit Wife by Mally Becker is set in June 1780, with two main characters tracking down traitors flooding the city with counterfeit money. The years of the American Revolution are my third favorite time period for story settings. The blend of history and mystery here works nicely.
The Day of Calamity by H. B. Berlow is set in the years following World War II, which is a period when much of the world is rebuilding emotionally and/or physically. The streets here are both exciting and dangerous. This is a historical mystery with fascinating characters, and the setting is perfect for it.
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling has one of the most fun settings for a book. I'll admit I have wanted to visit Hogwarts more than once. A boarding school is fun enough, but putting it in a magical world in a castle that you have to get to by a train ride you access from an invisible platform makes it even better.
The Competition, which is the second book in the Da Vinci's Disciples series by Donna Russo Morin, is set in Italy in the years that Leonard Da Vinci was painting. I rarely step outside of America with my reading, which is truly a shame. I used to read books set in other areas of the world more often, and I really need to get back to it. This time frame and setting was beautifully depicted.
In 1868, the Ingalls family left the Big Woods of Wisconsin with their daughters and traveled to the Kansas prairie. Caroline: Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller recounts this time from Caroline's point of view. Miller's descriptions make this an amazing story, and this timeframe is my second favorite for story settings.
The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse began The Daughters of the Mayflower series. It opens in 1620, and is set partially on a ship and partially in the New World. This is such a exciting, yet scary, time in history. 
Shades of Gray by Jessica James is set during my favorite time period: the American Civil War. This is a book that made me cry, which gets easier as I age, but back when I read this, I can't say it happened often. The level of research that James must have put into this book to bring these characters' stories to life amidst the conflict is evident. Virginia is a beautiful part of the country and, during the war, it was a central battleground. It made a perfect setting for a story.
The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson by Jerome Charyn is his, I believe, first novel about the famous and mysterious poet from Amherst, Massachusetts. The book opens in 1848, with Dickinson a seminarian at Mount Holyoke College. Living a little over thirty minutes from Mount Holyoke, I'm very familiar with the area. This is part of its allure for me. Learning more about what our area of the world looked like way before my family and me were ever even thought of is what draws me to this setting.
The Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins takes place in a lot of areas of the world, and it has an abundance of characters. However, if one were to describe the setting, it would be called the End Times. Left Behind opens with people all over the world disappearing, while others have been left behind to endure the years of tribulation prophesized in the Book of Revelation. I was today years old when I learned that there is a final book in the series that I never read. Will need to change that soon.
Though Panem is not a place I would like to visit, one has to appreciate the world that Suzanne Collins built for The Hunger Games series. The majority of this world lives in poverty in the ruins of North America, while those in the Capitol appreciate an overabundance of everything. Computer-generated worlds are the setting for a series of games that are fought to the death with only one victor annually. Even the beasts are as unique as they are frightening.
What are some of your favorite book settings?
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23 comments:
I found several in this list I think I would enjoy, thank you for sharing
Caroline was a good read.
I loved the Little House books when I was a kid, but I hadn't realized that another author revisited the stories from a different POV. That sounds really neat!
My TTT: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2025/02/25/top-ten-tuesday-books-set-in-the-past/
That's great, Teri. Our lists continue to grow. LOL! Thanks for visiting.
Agreed. Thanks for visiting, Lydia.
Caroline was amazing, Nicole. Hope you get a chance to read it. Thanks for visiting.
I have only read The Left Behind series from you list, but I have read other books by Suzanne Fisher Woods.
So many good choices! I really enjoy historical fiction. Of course Harry Potter is always a good choice too. Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
Nice list! I haven't read any of these. I think I'd enjoy the Little House books.
Hope you get a chance to read some of these soon, Cindy. Thanks for stopping by.
Agreed, Poinsettia. Can't go wrong with HP. Thanks for visiting.
Hope you pick up the Little House books one day, Yvonne. They really are wonderful. Thanks for visiting.
I've always wanted to visit the world of HP. To see Hogwarts, and even Hogsmeade.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/favorite-historical-fiction-reads-from-2024/
Love both Harry Potter and the Hunger Games! And I thought Caroline was a very well-written book and interesting look at the Ingalls family and their story from a different POV. And I'd really like to read more books set during the Revolutionary War. Great list. :D
I've heard such great things about Shades of Gray. I don't often read Civil War historical fiction, but I do hope to read that someday. Caroline is another one I really want to read. I will definitely have to check out The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson. She's one of my favorite poets. The Hunger Games was a good one!
Hogwarts is such a wonderful setting, so imaginative and fun. I would attend there in a heartbeat!
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
The American Civil War was a turbulent time. I would like to read more stories set during that time.
I'm hoping to reread The Hunger Games this year. I love those books.
Me too, Susan. Thanks for visiting.
Very much so, Deb. It does make a good story setting, though. Thanks for visiting.
Hope you get to do that this year, Aj. I would like to read the series again too. Thanks for visiting.
Can't believe I forgot about The Hunger Games. So many dystopian titles would work for this.
I agree, Alicia. Dystopian is initially where my mind went. Thanks for visiting.
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