Set on a Farm or Ranch

Get back to the land! Try one of these books with an agricultural setting or featuring farmers or ranchers at work. Plant a seed, read!

Updated May 12, 2026
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Accidental shepherd : how a California girl rescued an ancient mountain farm in Norway
Greensfelder, Liese
Paper Book
A summer job turns serious when a young woman takes the reins on a remote farm--and learns far more than how to herd sheep In May 1972, Liese Greensfelder arrived in the small Norwegian town of Øystese to startling news: Johannes, the farmer who hired her for the...
Animal farm : the graphic novel
Odyr
Paper Book
A beautiful graphic adaptation of George Orwell's timeless and timely allegorical novel. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." In 1945, George Orwell, called "the conscience of his generation," created an enduring, devastating story of new tyranny...
Cash
Peterson, Jessica
Ebook
Cold Comfort Farm
Gibbons, Stella
Paper Book
"Quite simply one of the funniest satirical novels of the last century." --Nancy Pearl, NPR's Morning Edition The deliriously entertaining Cold Comfort Farm is "very probably the funniest book ever written" (The Sunday Times, London), a...
Daddy's girls : a novel
Steel, Danielle
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * In Danielle Steel's riveting novel, three women raised by their father on a sprawling California ranch now confront difficult truths about their past.   Decades ago, after the death of his wife, Texas ranch hand JT Tucker took his three...
Dangerous refuge
Lowell, Elizabeth
Paper Book
Murder and mystery spark unexpected romance in this captivating new tale from the beloved New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell. On the surface Shaye Townsend has little in common with Tanner. He's a hard-edged big city cop come home to the historic Davis family...
The excellent Lombards
Hamilton, Jane
Paper Book
A new classic from the author of Oprah's Book Club picks A Map of the World and The Book of Ruth. "This is the book Jane Hamilton was born to write... [it is] magnificent." --Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of...
The farmer's son : calving season on a family farm
Connell, John
Paper Book
For fans of James Herriot, a poignant memoir--and #1 Irish bestseller--about a wayward son's return home to his family's farm, and how he found a new beginning in an age-old world Farming has been in John Connell's family for generations, but he never intended to follow in...
Farming the woods : an integrated permaculture approach to growing food and medicinals in temperate forests
Mudge, Ken
Paper Book
The first in-depth guide for farmers and gardeners who have access to an established woodland and are looking for productive, innovative ways to create a natural forest ecosystems that produces a wide range of food, medicinals, and other non-timber products. "What a joy to...
Funny farm : my unexpected life with 600 rescue animals
Zaleski, Laurie
Paper Book
An inspiring and moving memoir of the author's turbulent life with 600 rescue animals. Laurie Zaleski never aspired to run an animal rescue; that was her mother Annie's dream. But from girlhood, Laurie was determined to make the dream come true. Thirty years later as a...
The gun man Jackson Swagger : a western
Hunter, Stephen
Paper Book
Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, "a true master at the pinnacle of his craft" (Jack Carr), returns with a classic Western--gunfights, horses, saloons, and looming above, the ominous presence of the railroad--about a Civil War veteran investigating the dark reality of a prosperous ranch....
Properties of thirst : a novel
Wiggins, Marianne
Paper Book
A National Bestseller | A New Yorker Best Book of the Year Fifteen years after the publication of Evidence of Things Unseen, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins returns with a "big, bold book" (...
Sacrificial animals : a novel
Pedersen, Kailee
Paper Book
Inspired by Kailee Pedersen's own journey being adopted from Nanning, China in 1996 and growing up alongside her family's farm in Nebraska, this rich and atmospheric supernatural horror debut explores an ancient Chinese mythology. The last thing Nick Morrow expected to receive...
The shepherd's life modern dispatches from an ancient landscape
Rebanks, James.
Paper Book
A New York Times BestsellerSome people's lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks' isn't. In evocative and lucid prose, he takes us through a shepherd's year - describing a way of life hasn't changed for hundreds of years and a fundamental connection with the land that most of us have...
This life is in your hands : one dream, sixty acres, and a family undone
Coleman, Melissa.
Paper Book
"Lyrical and down-to-earth, wry and heartbreaking, This Life Is in Your Hands is a fascinating and powerful memoir. Melissa Coleman doesn't just tell the story of her family's brave experiment and private tragedy; she brings to life an important and underappreciated chapter of our recent history....
A thousand acres
Smiley, Jane.
Paper Book
A thousand acres, a piece of land of almost mythic proportions. Upon this fertile, nourishing earth, Jane Smiley has set her rich, breathtakingly dramatic novel of an American family whose wealth cannot stay the hand of tragedy. It is the intense, compelling story of a father and his daughters, of...
Vampires of El Norte
Cañas, Isabel
Paper Book
As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters - her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead....
Your farm in the city : an urban dweller's guide to growing food and raising livestock
Taylor, Lisa.
Paper Book
The most complete book on urban farming, covering everything from growing organic produce and raising chickens, to running a small farm on a city lot or in a suburban backyard. Eating locally and growing one's own food is a rapidly evolving movement in urban settings - Hantz...

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