The Great Alone is a tale of Alaskan life. It takes the readers through the journey of the Allbright family.

It’s 1974. Ernt AllBright had been fighting the Vietnam war, where he got shot down and captured. When he finally came home, he was a different man. He couldn’t hold jobs, so they had to move from place to place. His wife Cora soaks it all up. His anger, his beatings, his abuse, his nightmares, and their instability. Ernt apologizes and Cora forgives him, every time. Their thirteen-year-old daughter Leni sees it all and believes that this is what adult love looks like.

One day Ernt comes home with a letter from Earl Harlan, the father of his late friend Bo Harlan, who he fought alongside in Vietnam. Earl states that Bo wanted the AllBrights to have his land along with a cabin up in Alaska. Cora and Leni are skeptical of moving their lives into the unknown, but Ernt has made the final decision. Thus, off goes the Allbright family to Alaska. They are unprepared but hopeful of their better future. As the winter approaches, Ernt mental state deteriorates, leaving Cora and Leni consistently on guard when they’re around him. It doesn’t take them long to realize that their survival is in their own hands, and in their own hands only. In The Great Alone, no one will come to save you.

How did it make me feel?

This is my second book from Kristin Hannah after The Nightingale. It is one of my favorite books, so I had very high expectations with this one. While I love Hannah’s writing style, this was not up to par with The Nightingale for me.

I loved the first half of the book. This was my first glimpse into life in Alaska and it was such an intriguing narrative. I could really feel the suffocation that was intended with this storytelling, of living in the wilderness, living alone, and surviving. However, the second half felt a bit disconnected. I felt like so much happened in the last 40% of the book but it didn’t match the pace of the first half. The storyline felt rushed.

On a positive note, I felt connected to the characters. I felt smoldering anger at Ernt, exhausted with Cora’s love for him, and felt such deep helplessness for Leni. This was a story with a great setup and a great set of characters. I only felt that the later parts of the storyline were dragged in place for a rushed conclusion.

Nevertheless, I always only gain by reading Historical Fiction, and to read one from Hannah is never a loss. If you want a feel of what lives could look like in Alaska, go for this one. You can get your copy of The Great Alone on Amazon. If you use my link to buy, I may get a small commission at NO additional cost to you! It will help me keep my blog running! 🙂 Thank you for your support!