Hello everyone, I hope that you all enjoyed your holiday and hope that you were able to get some good deals shopping if that is what you participated in. I was fortunate to receive an ARC of Kristin Hannah’s new book that is set to be released February 6, 2018 from St. Martin’s Press.
Goodreads Description:
Alaska, 1974.
Untamed.
Unpredictable.
And for a family in crisis, the ultimate test of the human spirit.
From the author who brought you the phenomenon of The Nightingale.
Review:
Let me just start by saying get ready to go on an emotional adventure. Kristin Hannah does it AGAIN!!!
In this novel we meet the Albrights. They are a family of three. Ernt(dad), Cora(mom), and Leni(daughter). This novel takes place in the mid seventies, after the Vietnam War. Ernt has returned home after being captured and held captive for 6 years. He suffers from what would not be called PTSD. There really wasn’t a word for it then. The men were just described as “being changed by the war.” He cant hold down and job and he has anger issues. Cora tries to pacify him by giving in to his grand ideas and constant moving around, although their daughter, Leni, has to suffer because of all the changes.
The dynamic of the relationship of Cora and Ernt is not apparent at first but quickly surfaces once the family moves to Alaska. Ernt has been gifted a house and some land by a fellow war comrade. When they first move to Alaska, things seem as if they will be okay. As the time goes on, Ernt takes a turn for the worse. While he is spiraling out of control, Leni is beginning to grow into a young adult and she is becoming a mentally strong young woman. She begins to see things in her parents that she had not noticed before and is having a difficult time accepting them.
Leni meets Matthew Walker, a young man who is going to play a key role in her life. As will his family in her father’s breaking point.
I will stop there because I really do not want to give away much more about the story. Just know that there is so much more that is going on in their lives.
This is one of those novels that will make you think about how mental health and love can affect relationships. It also shows how unconditional love can either make or break a person. As I said earlier, this novel is another emotional adventure. I read The Nightingale a couple of months ago and was emotionally exhausted when I finished it. I love a book that can make me feel that way and The Great Alone did the same thing. Hannah puts on paper real life issues and makes you think and feel with her characters.
I may have had some watery eyes with the end of this novel, but I will neither confirm or deny it. I strongly suggest purchasing this novel when it is published if you are a fan of Kristin Hannah and if you have not read any of her novels, this is a great introduction to her style of writing. This book isn’t even out yet and I am already looking forward to her next novel. I guess I will have to go get one of her older novels off my shelf to hold me over.
I give this book 5 stars!
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