The Great Alone
As seen:
By Kristin Hannah, and and, Julia Whelan
avg rating
1 review
The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss from the number one bestselling author of The Four Winds, The Nightingale and publishing February 2024, The Women.
‘A master storyteller’ – Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing
‘A rich, compelling novel of love, sacrifice and survival, as epic as the Alaskan landscape it so vividly describes’ – Kate Morton, author of Homecoming
‘A woman has to be tough as steel up here. You can’t count on anyone to save you and your children. You have to be willing to save yourselves’
Thirteen-year-old Leni is coming of age in a tumultuous time. Caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, she dares to hope that Alaska will lead to a better future for her family, and a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.
As Leni grows up in the shadow of her parents’ increasingly volatile marriage, she meets Matthew. And Matthew – thoughtful, kind, and brave – makes her believe in the possibility of a better life.
With her trademark combination of elegant prose and deeply drawn characters, Kristin Hannah celebrates the remarkable and enduring strength of women.
‘A masterclass’ – Karen Swan, author of The Stolen Hours
TweetReviews
Beautiful descriptions of the Alaskan weather, landscape, survivalists, life style. A visceral experience reading it - I felt at times I was actually physically there and could see the environment, feel the cold, the blood and brutality.
Strong characters in particular the women - best character was Large Marge..
Covered issues of PTSD, mental health, domestic violence - brutal at times but really engaged with it . Great storytelling. A page turner.
Blurb says they have a “stormy and passionate” relationship - on the contrary it was an abusive one!
Ending perhaps over melodramatic? Also like so many books we have read it was rushed so the weakest part of the book.
Read The Nightingale also - one of my favourite books - a simpler version of Faulk’s Birdsong.
Other group members recommended her “Four Winds” set in Dustbowl USA of the 193Os - a la Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.
Formulaic, cliched,stereotypes, pedestrian writing, like a magazine story, repetitive, - reminded me of a B rated American TV series - I only read up to the death of Matthew’s mother - felt I have seen this story before.
Undoubtedly she is a massively popular and successful writer but looking at comments on GoodReads, and various other online book group discussion forums she does divide opinion.
However generally those who enjoyed it felt it was a gripping, succinct piece of successful storytelling.
8 of us had read this book. Range of scores from a 3.5 to a 9 with a total of 59 and an average of 7.37.
