Ever feel the need to get away from it all? I’ve lived in a big city for years, but after reading this, I had such a hankering for big open spaces. Set in the 1970’s, this is a story of wild country, Alaska style. And it’s not just the scenery that’s dramatic. Kristin Hannah manages to compress a number of the issues of the day into the pressure-cooker of family life in the brutal environment of this untamed state, where to make one mistake is dangerous, to make two is fatal.
Domestic violence, the powerlessness of women, Vietnam, unplanned pregnancy, all weave in and out of the story, a coming of age tale about Lenora Allbright, the only child of troubled parents Cora and Ernt. The characters themselves have a pretty tough time of it, but the description of place is so complete, from snowy mountainsides, to crossing frozen lakes, fishing for salmon, to fending off bears and wolves. There is no electricity, no running water, no tv or phones – just the ham-radio to communicate with, the vast starry sky and northern lights.
You may not envy Leni her outhouse bathroom, but there is something appealing about the pioneer spirit of all that majestic scenery coupled with a simple way of life: survival, putting away enough food for winter. For a thirteen-year-old, Leni spends a great deal of her time salting, shelling, skinning, alongside everybody else in their tiny remote cluster of homesteads. Meanwhile trouble is brewing in the form of her dad’s post-Vietnam trauma, which builds throughout the book, and there is a touch of the Romeo and Juliet about her friendship with Matthew, from the rival Walker clan. A grim winter is definitely coming.
