Novels set in Westchester, NY?
December 31, 2013 8:27 AM   Subscribe

Looking for books set in Westchester County, New York, in any of the towns/ cities. So far, I have T.C. Boyle's World's End, Gish Jen's Mona In The Promised Land, and various John Cheever works. I want the "a ha!" moment, when I recognize a street or a founding family's name while I am reading. (Boyle did that so very well.) Fictionalized towns are OK too. Thanks!
posted by Neeuq Nus to Media & Arts (17 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: ...and E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime.
posted by Neeuq Nus at 8:28 AM on December 31, 2013


Best answer: Part of the Nero Wolfe novel "In the Best Families" takes place in Westchester.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:04 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I believe one of the characters in Franzan's The Corrections was from Scaresdale. Also, can you call or email the westchester library system and ask? I'd think they'd be a good resource.
posted by cestmoi15 at 9:19 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Girl detective Trixie Belden was from the fictional town of Sleepyside-on-Hudson.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 9:24 AM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Obvious choice is Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"!
posted by Quisp Lover at 9:47 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: It is not Westchester but the book Little Chapel on the River is set in Garrison. It is a great book. I live in Westchester and this book resonated with me.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:47 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: The Devil's Arithmetic is a YA book set in New Rochelle.
posted by inertia at 9:48 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Westchester Magazine has a roundup from a few years ago:

The Clique Series by Lisi Harrison
Home School by Charles Webb
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff
Jane Austen in Scarsdale: Or Love, Death and the SATs by Paula Marantz Cohen
Westchester Burning: A Portrait of a Marriage by Amine Wefali
Where It Lies by K.J. Egan
posted by mochapickle at 9:58 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I believe Professor Xavier's school for very special children is located in Westchester, so, technically, all the X-Men novelizations fit the bill.
posted by bq at 11:30 AM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]


Dang, bq beat me to it.
posted by mon-ma-tron at 1:27 PM on December 31, 2013


Best answer: Mary Higgins Clark's books often take place in Manhattan, the Bronx, Greenwich, or Westchester. I know for sure that Daddy's Little Girl takes place in Westchester, but I know that several other of her books travel in the near by area.

(As a Putnam resident, I totally know that a ha! moment you refer to when reading Westchester books. Have you watched any of Sleepy Hollow on Fox? Every episode has a fun thrill of something I recognize or a reference to somewhere I know. lots of fun! Then again, there was an episode of Law and Order SVU where they talked about my town...because the child molestering perp was from there! Not so fun.)
posted by firei at 1:38 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Jonathan Carroll's Crane's View Trilogy is set in a fictitious Westchester County town based on Dobbs Ferry. (The narrator mentions entering Westchester County and being compelled to drive through his hometown in Kissing the Beehive - Carroll's biography page mentions the Dobbs Ferry thing.)
posted by kittyb at 2:09 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: On March 26, 1997, I was on an Amtrak train leaving New York City, heading north. As we hit Yonkers, the universe folded in on itself as I cracked open my newly purchased copy of Elizabeth Hand's Glimmering, a post-apocalyptic novel that begins in Yonkers on March 26, 1997. I had to keep looking out the window at the sky to make sure it wasn't on fire. That was weird.
posted by chocolatepeanutbuttercup at 2:32 PM on December 31, 2013 [8 favorites]


Best answer: All That Is and Light Years by James Salter have a Westchester base.
posted by lilboo at 3:38 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow is largely set in New Rochelle NY.
posted by bq at 7:47 PM on December 31, 2013


Best answer: Must it be a novel? With Love from Karen is a biographical sequel written by Karen's mom, Marie Killilea, but it is set in Larchmont and mentions all sorts of local landmarks and families. For example, Jean Kerr (of Please Don't Eat the Daisies fame) and her family moved next door to Karen's family midway through the book, and actor Walter Slezak lived across the street.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:11 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thank you for the great answers! I coincidentally came across this graphic novel in a shop yesterday which may also fit the bill.
And Firei, you get me! :-)
posted by Neeuq Nus at 8:02 AM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]


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