Staff Pick
This is by far my favorite Kristin Hannah book. With all the well-developed characters surviving against the Alaskan wilderness, you'll have a hard time putting it down. If you like the book Where the Crawdad's Sing, try this one. Recommended By Erica B., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
In Kristin Hannah's The Great Alone, a desperate family seeks a new beginning in the near-isolated wilderness of Alaska only to find that their unpredictable environment is less threatening than the erratic behavior found in human nature.
#1 New York Times Instant Bestseller (February 2018)
A People "Book of the Week"
Buzzfeed's "Most Anticipated Women's Fiction Reads of 2018"
Seattle Times's "Books to Look Forward to in 2018"
Alaska, 1974. Ernt Allbright came home from the Vietnam War a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes the impulsive decision to move his wife and daughter north where they will live off the grid in America's last true frontier.
Cora will do anything for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown. Thirteen-year-old Leni, caught in the riptide of her parents' passionate, stormy relationship, has little choice but to go along, daring to hope this new land promises her family a better future.
In a wild, remote corner of Alaska, the Allbrights find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the newcomers' lack of preparation and dwindling resources.
But as winter approaches and darkness descends, Ernt's fragile mental state deteriorates. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own.
Review
"Wonderful prose...Times are difficult for so many in this novel and Hannah captures their suffering with sensitivity. The author expertly shows how love, death and birth run the full circle of life." RT Book Reviews
Review
"This epic atmospheric novel examines humans' will to endure the unthinkable." Real Simple magazine
Review
"Featuring a rich cast of characters and elevated by the riveting portrayal of homesteading in Alaska in the 1970s, this is a compassionate story of a family." People, Book of the Week
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"The landscape is hard and bleak but our young heroine learns to accept it and discover her true self...fans will appreciate the astuteness of the story and the unbreakable connection between mother and child." Library Journal
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"Hannah vividly evokes the natural beauty and danger of Alaska and paints a compelling portrait of a family in crisis and a community on the brink of change." Booklist
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"Reliably alluring....The Great Alone is packed with rapturous descriptions of Alaskan scenery....Hannah remembers and summons an undeveloped wilderness, describing a gloriously pristine region in the days before cruise ships discovered it." New York Times
Review
"[Hannah] recreates in magical detail the lives of Alaska's homesteaders...and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America. A tour de force." Kirkus (Starred Review)
Review
"Vivid....[I]t's her tautly drawn characters — Large Marge, Genny, Mad Earl, Tica, Tom — who contribute not only to Leni's improbable survival but to her salvation amid her family's tragedy." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
About the Author
Kristin Hannah is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the The Nightingale, a major motion picture directed by Michelle MacLaren, and The Great Alone, set in Alaska. Hannah is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Firefly Lane, Winter Garden, Night Road, Fly Away, and Home Front, which has been optioned for film by 1492 Films (producers of the Oscar-nominated film The Help) with Chris Columbus attached to write, produce, and direct. She is the mother of one son and lives with her husband in the Pacific Northwest.