The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, covering over 2.3 million square miles and spanning nine countries in South America.
It’s a famously inhospitable place, with its dangerous wildlife, thick vegetation, and unpredictable rainy season. Nevertheless, it has captured the imaginations of many and drawn plenty of adventurers and explorers.
If traveling to the Amazon rainforest is a little too far out of your comfort zone, why not transport yourself there through the pages of a book instead?
These are the best books set in the Amazon rainforest that will take you there!
It comes as no surprise that many of the books on this list are thrilling page-turner fiction novels and real-life stories of survival and adventure in the Amazon.
So if you are ready to embark on an incredible journey to the Amazon without leaving the comfort of home, you’re in the right place.
Here are the best books about the Amazon rainforest to add to your reading list:
Novels and Fiction Set in the Amazon Rainforest
Into the Jungle by Erica Ferencik
This thrilling, fast-paced novel follows a young woman seeking a fresh start at a teaching job in Bolivia.
After meeting a handsome local, she ends up on a dangerous and wild journey through the Amazon rainforest with him as they journey towards the remote village where he is from.
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Ruthless River by Holly FitzGerald
When Holly and her husband set out on a year-long backpacking trip as their honeymoon, they had no idea of the harrowing events that awaited them.
Five months into their trip, they were left stranded in the Amazon after a plane crash, with nothing but a small raft to carry them down the ferocious river. This remarkable true story chronicles their dramatic survival story.
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State of Wonder by Ann Pratchett
This engrossing novel follows Dr. Marina Singh, who journeys to the Amazon rainforest after her colleague and mentor have disappeared while researching a new drug. Hoping to find her missing friend, she is plunged into the insect-infested and unforgiving world of the Amazon rainforest.
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Non-Fiction Books About the Amazon Rainforest
The Unconquered by Scott Wallace
This true story follows a team searching for one of the last uncontacted tribes in the Amazon, a group of people whose civilization has remained more or less unchanged since pre-Columbian times.
Will they succeed in reaching this isolated tribe and survive the dangers of the jungle?
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Jungle by Yossi Ghinsberg
This true story tells the tale of four travelers in Bolivia who think they are embarking on the adventure of a lifetime backpacking in the Amazon rainforest. However, things start to go wrong when the group gets lost and splits up, leading to a harrowing fight for survival in the jungle.
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The Lost City of Z by David Grann
In 1925, a legendary British explorer named Percy Fawcett journeyed into the Amazon in search of a fabled lost civilization. He never returned. In this intriguing nonfiction book, the author replicates Fawcett’s journey in an attempt to uncover his fate and the mythical Lost City of Z.
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Mother of God by Paul Rosolie
If you are looking for another adventurous and exciting nonfiction book set in the Amazon rainforest, look no further than this one. Mother of God chronicles naturalist and explorer Paul Rosolie’s journey through the uncharted tributaries of the Amazon River from where it begins in the Madre de DÃos region of Peru, one of the wildest places on Earth.
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The Mapmaker’s Wife by Robert Whitaker
Based on a remarkable true story, this book set in 1735 follows a French mapmaker named Jean in South America who falls in love with a local woman named Isabel. When the two are separated, Isabel embarks on a dangerous and extreme journey across the continent, risking her life for true love.
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Walking the Amazon by Ed Stafford
Ed Stafford set out on a quest to become the first person to walk the entire length of the Amazon River. His incredible memoir chronicles his experience. Over the course of 860 days, he traversed 4,000 miles of the most bio-diverse environment on Earth.
He shares his adventures of surviving encounters with dangerous wildlife, battling illness and injuries, and withstanding extreme weather, in order to complete his ambitious journey through the Amazon.
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Young Adult Books Set in the Amazon Rainforest
Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
This young adult novel set in the Amazon rainforest takes place in 1910 and follows a young girl named Maia who has been tragically orphaned. In the wake of her parents’ death, she is sent from England to live with distant relatives in Manaus, Brazil. She is accompanied on her journey by an eccentric and mysterious governess, who has her own secret reasons for making the trip.
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City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende
One more young adult novel for this list is City of the Beasts by acclaimed South American author Isabel Allende.
It follows a teenage boy named Alex who accompanies his fearless grandmother on a scientific expedition in the Amazon rainforest. There, Alex and his new friend Nadia experience a thrilling and unforgettable journey in the unexplored wilderness of the Amazon.
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Best Books Set in the Amazon Rainforest
These are some of the best books set in the Amazon rainforest.
Have you read any of these books set in the Amazon rainforest? Do you have any favorite books set in the Amazon rainforest that I should add to this list? Let me know in the comments below!
Related: 19 Exciting Books Set in South America
Know someone else who wants to read books set in the Amazon Rainforest? Then please do pin this post.
Where next?
Start with this list of the very best travel adventure books. It includes great reads that will fuel your wanderlust and have you staying up late to finish them.
You should also check out the following series of book lists set in specific destinations:
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