The Great Alone: A Novel

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to live out in a wild, remote area of Alaska? In Kristin Hannah’s latest novel, The Great Alone, a dysfunctional family moves to Kaneq, a remote town in Alaska, in the early 1970s to escape the darkness in their lives. Moving off the grid to Alaska will prove to be a dangerous decision with its long, harsh, and dark winters, where it’s just you against Mother Nature. Hannah takes the reader on a gripping story about abuse, family, love, mental illness, and survival. The patriarch, Ernt Allbright, is a former POW of the Vietnam War who suffers PTSD from his time in the war. He convinces his family to relocate once again, but this time to Alaska to escape his problems. The Allbrights move out to Alaska in their VW bus without researching or preparing for what life will look like in Kaneq, Alaska. Cora, the dutiful and battered wife, tip toes around her husband’s feelings due to her love and fear of him. Leni, the daughter and protagonist of the story, lives in fear of her mother’s safety.

It took me a while to get into the story, but once the family started to settle in Alaska, I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down. The story haunted me even after I was done reading it. I couldn’t stop thinking about the characters and the events that unfolded. There were times when I would get frustrated and annoyed by Cora because I just wanted her to leave her husband for the sake of Leni. Hannah writes with such clarity that you can picture yourself being in Alaska without actually having visited before. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves historical fiction and about Alaska.