fiction featuring NYC
Explore top fiction books set in NYC! Discover captivating novels featuring the vibrant streets, iconic landmarks, and rich culture of New York City in our curated list.
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Winter's Tale
by Mark Helprin
When master mechanic Peter Lake attempts to rob a mansion on the Upper West Side, he is caught by young Beverly Penn, the terminally ill …
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Empire Rising
by Thomas Kelly
It is 1930, and ground has just been broken for the Empire State Building. One of the thousands of men who will come to work …
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Forever
by Pete Hamill
Moving from Ireland to New York City in 1741, Cormac O'Connor witnesses the city's transformation into a thriving metropolis while he explores the mysteries of …
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Manhattan Transfer
by John Dos Passos
An "expressionistic picture of New York" (New York Times) in the 1920s that reveals the lives of wealthy power brokers and struggling immigrants alike. From …
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The Interpretation of Murder
by Jed Rubenfeld
The search for a serial killer during Sigmund Freud's 1909 visit to New York City, his one visit to the U.S., propels the plot of …
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Call It Sleep
by Henry Roth
When Henry Roth published his debut novel Call It Sleep in 1934, it was greeted with considerable critical acclaim though, in those troubled times, lackluster …
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Brookland
by Emily Barton
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the YearA Los Angeles Times Book Review Favorite Book of the Year Since her girlhood, Prudence …
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Another Country
by James Baldwin
From one of the most important American novelists of the twentieth century—a novel of sexual, racial, political, artistic passions, set in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and …
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City of Dreams
by Beverly Swerling
A sweeping epic of two families—one Dutch, one English—from the time when New Amsterdam was a raw and rowdy settlement, to the triumph of the …
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Metropolis
by Elizabeth Gaffney
On a freezing night in the middle of a New York winter, a young immigrant is suddenly awakened by a fire in P. T. Barnum’s …
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Old New York
by Edith Wharton
Four short novels of New York in the 19th century deal with infidelity, illegitimacy, the class system and the place of women in society.
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Time and Again
by Jack Finney
Simon Morley is selected by a secret government agency to test Einstein's theory of the past co-existing with the present and is transported back to …
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Maggie
by Stephen Crane
Maggie is an astonishing novel of social realism, which parallels many of today's ills. Set in the urban squalor of New York in the 1890s, …
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant …
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Strivers Row
by Kevin Baker
The Rev. Jonah Dove is the son of a legendary Harlem minister, and a man troubled in both mind and spirit. He feels himself unworthy …
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The Electric Michelangelo
by Sarah Hall
Cy Parks is the Electric Michelangelo, an artist of extraordinary gifts whose medium happens to be the pliant, shifting canvas of the human body. Fleeing …
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The Drowning Room
by Michael Pye
Set during the terrible winter of 1642, in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, this haunting and evocative novel, based on fact, tells of Gretje …
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The Night Inspector
by Frederick Busch
An immensely powerful story, The Night Inspector follows the extraordinary life of William Bartholomew, a maimed veteran of the Civil War, as he returns from …
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The Alienist
by Caleb Carr
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A TNT ORIGINAL SERIES • “A first-rate tale of crime and punishment that will keep readers guessing until the …
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Suspension
by Richard E. Crabbe
"Suspension" is a riveting historical thriller filled with fascinating details of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, chosen as one of the year's best by …
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Gramercy Park
by Paula Cohen
Mario Alfieri, a world-famous tenor, seeks a few months of quiet before his Metropolitan Opera debut. Clara Adler, the ward of a deceased millionaire, has …
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Paradise Alley
by Kevin Baker
They came by boat from a starving land—and by the Underground Railroad from Southern chains—seeking refuge in a crowded, filthy corner of hell at the …
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Emma Who Saved My Life
by Wilton Barnhardt
Gil Freeman, a midwestern aspiring actor, comes to the city in search of stardombut instead encounters the perils of Alphabet City, the desperation of off-off-off-Broadway …
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The Fortunate Pilgrim
by Mario Puzo
FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE GODFATHER - "A classic... The novel is lifted into literature by its highly charged language, its penetrating insights, and its …
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Summer in Williamsburg
by Daniel Fuchs
Describes the lives of the Jewish inhabitants of a tenement building in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in the thirties
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The Gangs of New York
by Herbert Asbury
The basis of Martin Scorcese's acclaimed 2003 film, The Gangs of New York is a dramatic and entertaining glimpse at a city's dark past. Focusing …
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The Mevrouw Who Saved Manhattan
by Bill Greer
When a young bride opens a Manhattan tavern in 1626, her razor-sharp tongue and premium beer spur the tiny settlement of New Amsterdam toward a …
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Dancer from the Dance
by Andrew Holleran
One of the most important works of gay literature, this haunting, brilliant novel is a seriocomic remembrance of things past -- and still poignantly present. …
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The Year of Silence
by Madison Smartt Bell
Marian died by her own hand exactly one year ago. The author approaches Marian's death from the viewpoints of the people that touched her life …
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Billy Bathgate
by E. L. Doctorow
The story of Billy Bathgate, a boy who has insinuated himself into the inner circle of the notorious Dutch Schultz gang to become apprentice and …
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The Banished Children of Eve
by Peter Quinn
In Banished Children of Eve, Quinn presents a lavishly praised novel of a great American city in crisis.
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The Street
by Ann Petry
A young African American woman struggles to retain her moral integrity and guard her small son from evil in Harlem.
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North River
by Pete Hamill
From the bestselling author of Forever and Snow in August comes a story of love, family, and regained hope against the backdrop of Depression-era New …
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Martin Dressler
by Steven Millhauser
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • The author of Voices in the Night reveals the mesmerizing journey of an American dreamer as …
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The Invention of Everything Else
by Samantha Hunt
Hunt's novel is a wondrous imagining of an unlikely friendship between theeccentric inventor Nikola Tesla and a young chambermaid in the Hotel New Yorker, where …
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Friday Nights at Honeybee's
by Andrea Smith
The Friday night musical gatherings of Honeybee McColor attract the finest jazz and blues musicians of the period, including lost souls Forestine Bent and Viola …
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Netherland
by Joseph O'Neill
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • WINNER OF THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD • "Netherland tells the fragmented story of a …