List of books set in New York City


This article provides an incomplete list of fiction books set in New York City. Included is the date of first publication.

Books for adults

Nineteenth century

1800s

A History of New York – Washington Irving

1820s

Brother Jonathan – John Neal

1860s

1880s

1890s

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets – Stephen Crane New York Ghetto – Abraham Cahan

Twentieth century

1900s

The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton The Melting Pot – Israel Zangwill Ashes of Roses – Mary Jane Auch The Custom of the Country – Edith Wharton The Rise of David Levinsky – Abraham Cahan

1920s

The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton The Beautiful and Damned – F. Scott Fitzgerald Old New York – Edith Wharton Bread Givers – Anzia Yezierska The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald Manhattan Transfer – John Dos Passos The Island Within – Ludwig Lewisohn Plum Bun – Jessie Redmon Fauset

1930s

Jews Without Money – Michael Gold Doc Savage pulp fiction series – Kenneth Robeson Miss Lonelyhearts – Nathanael West Call It Sleep – Henry Roth The Thin Man – Dashiell Hammett Fer-de-Lance – Rex Stout Turn, Magic Wheel – Dawn Powell

1940s

The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand Laura – Vera Caspary A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith The Big Clock – Kenneth Fearing The Deadly Percheron – John Franklin Bardin The Street – Ann Petry Three Bedrooms in Manhattan – Georges Simenon East Side, West Side – Marcia Davenport I, the Jury – Mickey Spillane The Last of Phillip Banter – John Franklin Bardin The Victim – Saul Bellow Consider Her Ways – Frederick Philip Grove

1950s

The Caine Mutiny – Herman Wouk The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger A Walker in the City – Alfred Kazin Go – John Clellon Holmes Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison The Caves of Steel – Isaac Asimov Go Tell It On The Mountain – James Baldwin Cities in Flight – James Blish Marjorie Morningstar – Herman Wouk Last Angry Man – Gerald Green Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand Bunny Lake Is Missing – Merriam Modell Breakfast at Tiffany's – Truman Capote Brown Girl, Brownstones – Paule Marshall

1960s

Franny and Zooey – J. D. Salinger Another Country – James Baldwin The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath The Group – Mary McCarthy Joy in the Morning – Betty Smith Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction – J. D. Salinger Joe Gould's Secret – Joseph Mitchell Last Exit to Brooklyn – Hubert Selby Brendan Behan's New York – Brendan Behan A Singular Man – J. P. Donleavy An American Dream – Norman Mailer The Warriors – Sol Yurick The Doorbell Rang – Rex Stout The Fortunate Pilgrim – Mario Puzo Make Room! Make Room! – Harry Harrison A Queer Kind of Death – George Baxt The Butterfly Kid – Chester Anderson The Chosen – Chaim Potok Rosemary's Baby – Ira Levin Swing Low, Sweet Harriet – George Baxt Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone – James Baldwin My Sister Eileen – Ruth McKenney The Godfather – Mario Puzo Topsy and Evil – George Baxt

1970s

Desperate Characters – Paula Fox Mr. Sammler's Planet – Saul Bellow Time and Again – Jack Finney Enemies – Isaac Bashevis Singer Umbrella Steps – Julie Goldsmith Gilbert A Bomb Built in Hell – Andrew Vachss A Fairytale of New York – J. P. Donleavy Great Jones Street – Don DeLillo Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York – Gail Parent The Taking of Pelham One Two Three – Morton Freedgood If Beale Street Could Talk James Baldwin Looking for Mr. Goodbar – Judith Rossner Sophie's Choice – William Styron Players – Don DeLillo A Contract with God – Will Eisner Dancer from the Dance – Andrew Holleran Faggots – Larry Kramer Happy All the Time – Laurie Colwin The Stand – Stephen King

1980s

  1. They have 'Last Angry Man' by Gerald Green in the 1980's section whereas it should be in the 1950's section insteadL is for Lion: an italian bronx butch freedom memoir – Annie Lanzillotto The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger – Stephen King Winter's Tale – Mark Helprin Bright Lights, Big City – Jay McInerney Duplicate Keys – Jane Smiley Banana Fish – Akimi Yoshida Blood Music – Greg Bear Flood – Andrew Vachss The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster The Bachelor's Bride – Stephen Koch Dreams of an Average Man – Dyan Sheldon Money – Martin Amis Social Disease – Paul Rudnick War Cries Over Avenue C – Jerome Charyn The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three – Stephen King Ice and Fire – Andrea Dworkin Knight Life – Peter David Paradise Man – Jerome Charyn Stars and Bars – William Boyd Strega – Andrew Vachss The Year of Silence – Madison Smartt Bell Blue Belle – Andrew Vachss People Like Us – Dominick Dunne The Crazy Kill – Chester Himes Emma Who Saved My Life – Wilton Barnhardt Hard Candy – Andrew Vachss I Pass Like Night – Jonathan Ames

1990s

Billy Bathgate – E. L. Doctorow Children of the Night – Mercedes Lackey A Home at the End of the World – Michael Cunningham The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love – Oscar Hijuelos Moon Palace – Paul Auster Our House in the Last World – Oscar Hijuelos Skinny Legs and All – Tom Robbins Aftershock – Chuck Scarborough American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis Day of Atonement – Faye Kellerman Sacrifice – Andrew Vachss Sliver – Ira Levin The Blindfold – Siri Hustvedt The First Wives Club – Olivia Goldsmith Good Fairies of New York – Martin Millar Sweet Liar – Jude Deveraux The Kaisho – Eric Lustbader A Mother's Love – Mary Morris Nude Men – Amanda Filipacchi Closing Time – Joseph Heller Down in the Zero – Andrew Vachss A Feather on the Breath of God – Sigrid Nunez Just Like That – Lily Brett The Alienist – Caleb Carr Footsteps of the Hawk – Andrew Vachss Full Stop – Joan Smith The Lady Who Liked Clean Restrooms – J. P. Donleavy One Coffee With – Margaret Maron World's Fair – E. L. Doctorow The Book of Night with Moon – Diane Duane A History of Violence – John Wagner Lives of the Monster Dogs – Kirsten Bakis Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer – Steven Millhauser Sewer, Gas and Electric – Matt Ruff Sex and the City – Candace Bushnell Snow in August – Pete Hamill Underworld – Don DeLillo The Waterworks – E. L. Doctorow Always Hiding – Sophia G. Romero Bringing Out The Dead – Joe Connelly The Extra Man – Jonathan Ames The Hours – Michael Cunningham Last Days of Summer – Steve Kluger Of Kings and Planets – Ethan Canin Safe House – Andrew Vachss The Willow Tree – Hubert Selby Jr. Wrong Information is being Given Out at Princeton – J. P. Donleavy The Broken Hearts Club – Ethan Black Choice of Evil – Andrew Vachss Downsiders – Neal Shusterman Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis Liberty Falling – Nevada Barr Morningside Heights – Cheryl Mendelson Motherless Brooklyn – Jonathan Lethem The Silk Code – Paul Levinson Vapor – Amanda Filipacchi Murder on Astor Place – Victoria Thompson

Twenty-first century

2000s

The 25th Hour – David Benioff The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay – Michael Chabon Bodega Dreams – Ernesto Quiñonez City of God – E. L. Doctorow Killing Time – Caleb Carr Minor Miracles – Will Eisner Murder in Central Park – Michael Jahn The Night Inspector – Frederick Busch The Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot Redemption Song – Bertice Berry The Toy Collector – James Gunn About the Author – John Colapinto Bad Connection – Michael Ledwidge Black Water Transit – Carsten Stroud Borrowed Tides – Paul Levinson Box Office Poison – Alex Robinson Clara Callan – Richard B. Wright The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen Fixer Chao – Han Ong The Foreigner – Meg Castaldo The Fourth Angel – Suzanne Chazin Going, Going, Gone – Jack Womack The Good People of New York – Thisbe Nissen The Grand Complication – Allen Kurzweil The Haunting of Hip Hop – Bertice Berry Hell's Kitchen – Chris Niles High Maintenance – Jennifer Belle The Hum Bug – Harold Schechter Jeremy Thrane – Kate Christensen Kissing in Manhattan – David Schickler Look at Me – Jennifer Egan Lucky Us – Joan Silber The Manhattan Hunt Club – John Saul Murphy's Law – Rhys Bowen Rivington Street – Meredith Tax Saturn's Return to New York – Sara Gran Shooting Dr. Jack – Norman Green Absolute Rage – Robert K. Tanenbaum The Consciousness Plague – Paul Levinson Death of Riley – Rhys Bowen Disturbing the Peace – Nancy Newman Dreamland – Kevin Baker The Nanny Diaries – Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus The Navigator of New York – Wayne Johnston Only Child – Andrew Vachss Paradise Alley – Kevin Baker Pipsqueak – Brian Wiprud Save Karyn – Karyn Bosnak Shopaholic Takes Manhattan – Sophie Kinsella The Tea Rose – Jennifer Donally Three Junes – Julia Glass The Anniversary – Amy Gutman The Fortress Of Solitude Jonathan Lethem Carrie Pilby – Caren Lissner Cosmopolis – Don DeLillo Dead for Life – Ethan Black The Devil Wears Prada – Lauren Weisberger For the Love of Mike – Rhys Bowen For Matrimonial Purposes – Kavita Daswani Forever – Pete Hamill The Furies – Fernanda Eberstadt Hex – Maggie Estep Imitation in Death – J.D. Robb A Killing Gift – Leslie Glass Kunma – Frank Corsaro The Last Good Day – Peter Blauner Love Me – Garrison Keillor Lucia, Lucia – Adriana Trigiani Moral Hazard – Kate Jennings The Name of the Game – Will Eisner Oracle Night – Paul Auster Pattern Recognition – William Ford Gibson The Pixel Eye – Paul Levinson The Quality of Life Report – Meghan Daum Sheet Music – M. J. Rose Shopaholic Ties the Knot – Sophie Kinsella Small Town – Lawrence Block What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt Absent Friends – S. J. Rozan An Almost Perfect Moment – Binnie Kirshenbaum Bergdorf Blondes – Plum Sykes Between Two Rivers – Nicholas Rinaldi East Side Story – Louis Auchincloss Down Here – Andrew Vachss The Green and the Gray – Timothy Zahn In the Shadow of No Towers – Art Spiegelman Joy Comes in the Morning – Jonathan Rosen Love Monkey – Kyle Smith Matzo Ball Heiress – Laurie Gwen Shapiro Monster Island – David Wellington Nellie's Promise – Valerie Tripp Oh, Play That Thing – Roddy Doyle The Outside World – Tova Mirvis Solos – Kitty Burns Florey The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah – Stephen King Under the Manhattan Bridge – Irene Marcuse The White Rose – Jean Hanff Korelitz The Brooklyn Follies – Paul Auster The Curse of Ravenscourt: A Samantha Mystery – Sarah Masters Buckey & Jean-Paul Tibbles Everyone Worth Knowing – Lauren Weisberger Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer The History of Love – Nicole Krauss In Like Flynn – Rhys Bowen Love Creeps – Amanda Filipacchi Summer Crossing – Truman Capote Metropolis – Elizabeth Gaffney Pinkerton's Sister – Peter Rushforth The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion Beautiful Lies – Lisa Unger Oh Danny Boy – Rhys Bowen Nightlife – Rob Thurman The Emperor's Children – Claire Messud Mask Market – Andrew Vachss The Plot to Save Socrates – Paul Levinson The Righteous Men – Sam Bourne Rise and Shine – Anna Quindlen Size 12 Is Not Fat – Meg Cabot Size 14 Is Not Fat Either – Meg Cabot Tyrell – Coe Booth The Year of Endless Sorrows – Adam Rapp Big Boned – Meg Cabot Exit Ghost – Philip Roth Moonshine – Rob Thurman Queen of Babble in the Big City – Meg Cabot The Invention of Everything Else – Samantha Hunt Lush Life – Richard Price Madhouse – Rob Thurman Netherland – Joseph O'Neill The Associate – John Grisham Chronic City – Jonathan Lethem Deathwish – Rob Thurman Let the Great World Spin – Colum McCann New York – Edward Rutherfurd

2010s

The Thieves of Manhattan – Adam Langer A Manhã do Mundo, The Morning of the World – Pedro Guilherme-Moreira Tabloid City: A Novel – Pete Hamill Open City – Teju Cole The Gods of Gotham – Lyndsay Faye The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up – Jacob M. Appel The Submission – Amy Waldman The Biology of Luck – Jacob M. Appel Bleeding Edge – Thomas Pynchon The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt The Interestings: A Novel – Meg Wolitzer

Books for children

1870s

Eight Cousins – Louisa May Alcott Rose in Bloom – Louisa May Alcott

Twentieth century

1930s

Roller Skates – Ruth Sawyer

1940s

The Matchlock Gun – Walter D. Edmonds The Saturdays – Elizabeth Enright Stuart Little – E. B. White

1950s

All-of-a-Kind Family – Sydney Taylor Camilla – Madeleine L'Engle Eloise – Kay Thompson

1960s

The Cricket in Times Square – George Selden It's Like This, Cat – Emily Cheney Neville Harriet the Spy – Louise Fitzhugh The Pushcart War – Jean Merrill The Long Secret – Louise Fitzhugh The Jazz Man – Mary Hays Weik The Contender – Robert Lipsyte From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – E. L. Konigsburg Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth – E. L. Konigsburg The Young Unicorns – Madeleine L'Engle

1970s

The Planet of Junior Brown – Virginia Hamilton Freaky Friday – Mary Rodgers Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing – Judy Blume The Genie of Sutton Place – George Selden Nobody's Family is Going to Change – Louise Fitzhugh A Billion for Boris – Mary Rodgers Alan and Naomi – Myron Levoy

1980s

Sarah Bishop – Scott O'Dell Superfudge – Judy Blume Annie on my Mind – Nancy Garden Sometimes I Think I Hear My Name – Avi Summer Switch – Mary Rodgers The One Hundredth Thing About Caroline – Lois Lowry So You Want to Be a Wizard – Diane Duane In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson – Bette Bao Lord Motown and Didi – Walter Dean Myers The Bronze King – Suzy McKee Charnas The Cave Under the City – Harry Mazer A Rat's Tale – Tor Seidler Slake's Limbo – Felice Holman Charley Skedaddle – Patricia Beatty Remember Me to Harold Square – Paula Danziger Scorpions – Walter Dean Myers Silver Days – Sonia Levitin

1990s

Babyface – Norma Fox Mazer Berts vidare betraktelser – Anders Jacobsson and Sören Olsson Caperucita en Manhattan – Carmen Martín Gaite The Mouse Rap – Walter Dean Myers Voices After Midnight – Richard Peck Monkey Island – Paula Fox Nothing To Fear – Jackie French Koller The Pigman and Me – Paul Zindel Amy Elizabeth Explores Bloomingdale's – E. L. Konigsburg Jumper – Steven Gould Letters from Rifka – Karen Hesse Who Was That Masked Man, Anyway? – Avi Amy Dunn Quits School – Susan Richards Shreve City of Light, City of Dark – Avi The Kingdom of Kevin Malone – Suzy McKee Charnas Missing Angel Juan – Francesca Lia Block Scooter – Vera B. Williams Behind the Lines – Isabelle Holland Brooklyn Doesn't Rhyme – Joan W. Blos Rite of Passage – Richard Wright 2095 – Jon Scieszka Adam Zigzag – Barbara Barrie Lost In Cyberspace – Richard Peck The Thief from Five Points – Louise Fitzhugh Another Way to Dance – Martha Southgate No-Thanks Thanksgiving – Ilene Cooper Lily's Crossing – Patricia Reilly Giff Where You Belong – Mary Ann McGuigan Berts Babyface – Anders Jacobsson and Sören Olsson Jazmin's Notebook – Nikki Grimes The Kidnappers – Willo Davis Roberts The Other Shepards – Adele Griffin Dave at Night – Gail Carson Levine Downsiders – Neal Shusterman In the Forests of the Night – Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Paperboy – Isabelle Holland Rats – Paul Zindel

Twenty-first century

2000s

Love and Other Four-Letter Words – Carolyn Mackler Miracle's Boys – Jacqueline Woodson Over the Wall – John H. Ritter Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot When I Dream of Heaven: Angelina's Story – Steven Kroll 6-321 – Michael Laser All The Way Home – Patricia Reilly Giff Chipper – James Lincoln Collier Don't You Know There's A War On? – Avi The Revenge of Randall Reese-Rat – Tor Seidler The School Story – Andrew Clements Secret in St. Something – Barbara Brooks Wallace Spellbound – Janet McDonald Ashes of Roses – Mary Jane Auch Bluish – Virginia Hamilton Boy Next Door – Meg Cabot Chill Wind – Janet McDonald Frog King – Adam Davies Gossip Girl – Cecily von Ziegesar Hey Kid, Want to Buy a Bridge? – Jon Scieszka Micawber – John Lithgow My Heartbeat – Garret Freymann-Weyr Twelve – Nick McDonell Vampire State Building – Elizabeth Levy The World of Henry Orient – Nora Johnson Gregor the Overlander – Suzanne Collins Pattie's Best Deal – Dawn Dittmar A House of Tailors – Patricia Reilly Giff It Can't Rain This Hard Forever – Dawn Dittmar City of Bones – Cassandra Clare Percy Jackson & the Olympians series – Rick Riordan Brookland – Emily Barton Missing You – Meg Cabot Jinx – Meg Cabot The Night Tourist – Katherine Marsh Mine All Mine – Adam Davies When You Reach Me – Rebecca Stead

2010s

Lowboy – John Wray The Murderer's Daughters – Randy Susan Meyers TimeRiders – Alex Scarrow TimeRiders: Day of the Predator – Alex Scarrow Open City – Teju Cole Bunheads – Sophie Flack TimeRiders: The Doomsday Code – Alex Scarrow TimeRiders: The Eternal War – Alex Scarrow TimeRiders: Gates of Rome – Alex Scarrow New York Stories – Renald Iacovelli City On Fire – Garth Risk Hallberg The Tapper Twins series - Geoff Rodkey Modern Lovers – Emma Straub
2020sThe City We Became – N. K. Jemisin