That was “The Nightingale” (2015), based on a true story and centered on two sisters caught up in the French Resistance, and it was such a hard act to follow that Hannah says she wrote and discarded a novel she could have published next. Hannah sure knows how to pack a punch.Kristin Hannah has written more than 20 novels, but it took one monster hit to really put her on the map. The story is filled with vivid descriptions of the Alaskan terrain, pioneer spirit, and heart wrenching relationships. So much so that Leni and her mother need to make a choice regarding how they want to live their lives. As they settle into their new life, with the help of the community around them, Ernt becomes increasingly paranoid and dangerously violent. She meets Matthew, who quickly becomes her best friend. Leni comes to love her new home and feels accepted in a way she never has before. They are shocked by how unprepared they are for the rugged Alaskan lifestyle as well as the beauty that greets them. Then they receive a letter saying that there’s a piece of land and a cabin in Alaska that’s all theirs and the family packs up a VW bus and drives on up. Unfortunately, Leni’s father, Ernt is having a hard time adjusting back to his old life and is haunted by vicious memories.
Leni and her mother are two peas in a pod, inseparable, and when her father returns from the Vietnam War where he was a POW, they have the opportunity to live as a family again. Hannah takes the reader on a survivor’s journey in her new book, The Great Alone.
I’m reminded (again) that books, especially powerful vivid ones like this, have the ability to sway our thinking.
That is, until reading The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Although I’m from the Pacific Northwest, which is relatively close to Alaska compared to the rest of the United States, I haven’t had much of an interest in visiting the Northern state.
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