The Most Famous Book Set in Iowa

Everyone loves a good read, especially when that read is set in your own state! Business Insider put together a list of The Most Famous Book That Takes Place in Every State.

You may not be super familiar with the choice for Iowa. It's "A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley.

If you're not familiar with the book, here's a little synopsis:

When an Iowa farmer decides to retire, he plans to divide his thousand acres of land among his three daughters. The youngest protests, setting off a chain of events that unleashes long-suppressed emotions and secrets. It's a modern-day "King Lear."

Smiley's narrator describes the farm in Zebulon County as "paid for, no encumbrances, as flat and fertile, black, friable and exposed as any piece of land on the face of the earth," like a lot of land in Iowa." -Business Insider

Looks like a good read for us Iowans! If this has sparked your interest, you can purchase the book here.

Some of our neighboring states' famous books may be more familiar to you. Take a look!

• Illinois: "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair
• Minnesota: "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis
• Missouri: "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain
• Nebraska: "My Ántonia" by Willa Cather
• South Dakota: "A Long Way From Home" by Tom Brokaw
• Wisconsin: "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

And one of my personal favorites is Kansas with (you guessed it) "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum. Happy reading!

[Business Insider]