CANR
WORK TITLE: The Great Alone
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 9/25/1960
WEBSITE: http://www.kristinhannah.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 293
http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/kristin-hannahs-inspirations-for-wwii-tale-the-nightingale/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born September 25, 1960, in Garden Grove, CA; daughter of Laurence and Sharon John; married Benjamin Hannah (a film buyer), May 17, 1986; children: one son.
EDUCATION:University of Washington, B.A., 1982; University of Puget Sound, J.D., 1986.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Northwest Diversified Entertainment, Seattle, WA, lawyer, 1986-93; writer, 1993—. Has also worked in advertising.
MEMBER:Romance Writers of America, Novelists, Inc.
AWARDS:Maggie Award and RITA/Golden Heart Award, Romance Writers of America, 1990, both for A Handful of Heaven; National Readers’ Choice Award, Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1996, and Booklist Best Book of 1996, all for Home Again; Best Historical Fiction Prize, Goodreads Choice Awards, 2015, and Fiction Prize, Audie Awards, named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and The Week 2016, all for The Nightingale.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Kristin Hannah gained success as a writer after first practicing as a lawyer. Her first writing effort, a historical tale set in Scotland, was written while she was in law school. She worked on it with her mother, who was ill with cancer at the time. Although that novel has never been published, it nevertheless was a milestone in Hannah’s path as an author. She completed law school and began practicing, but when her first pregnancy forced her to take complete bed rest, she turned to writing for something to while away the hours. She sold a novel when her son was just two years old, and she has published at a rate of about a book a year since then. Her novels are generally put in the category of romantic fiction, but many critics have lauded her work as being a cut above that usually found in the genre.
Hannah’s earliest several novels were published in paperback. On Mystic Lake was her breakthrough to the more prestigious hardcover market. According to a reviewer in Publishers Weekly, in On Mystic Lake Hannah “shows what it takes for an author to make that defining leap. Never one to gush, she is more than ever disciplined in her writing, and the result is a clean, deep thrust into the reader’s heart.”
The story concerns Annie Colwater, who faces loneliness when her seventeen-year-old daughter, Natalie, departs for a summer in London. Annie soon learns that her husband wants a divorce so he can pursue his relationship with a younger woman. Annie retreats to her hometown and the gruff affection of her father, who raised her after her mother’s untimely death. She meets up with her high school sweetheart, who is struggling in the wake of his wife’s suicide. Patty Engelmann, writing in Booklist, called this “an extremely satisfying, insightful, and emotional tale.”
In Hannah’s next hardcover novel, Angel Falls, Dr. Liam Campbell is forced to cope with a shattered life when his wife, Mikaela, ends up in a coma after a horseback riding accident. While she is unconscious, Liam learns that she was once married to a world-famous movie star, Julian True. Liam realizes that Julian’s name is the only one that evokes a response from Mikaela. Devastated and struggling with jealousy, Liam nevertheless contacts Julian, and the actor’s presence helps to revive Mikaela. She has partial amnesia, however, and Liam feels he must let her choose once again between Julian and himself.
Margaret Ann Hanes, writing in Library Journal, remarked that despite a melodramatic plot, “Hannah does manage to instill a sense of pathos and sentimentality that pulls the reader along.” A Booklist reviewer added that “Hannah ably uses her insights into small-town and family life … in a story sure to please fans of dramatic, romantic love stories.”
The problems sometimes faced by married couples after their children are grown form the core of Distant Shores, another of Hannah’s novels. Elizabeth and Jack Shore are struggling to chart their marital future. A former professional football player who now has a mostly unsuccessful career as a sports commentator, Jack has been a difficult husband—unfaithful and self-centered. When he contemplates a move to New York from Washington State in order to pursue his broadcasting career, Elizabeth must ask herself if she still loves him enough to follow.
Noting that the subject matter has the potential to be “depressing,” Angela A. Bauer in the Florida Times Union found that “Hannah’s skillful writing makes it an uplifting tale in which the reader gains the notion that the Shores will be all right. … It might inspire some readers to question what is lacking in their own lives and fill the void before they reach Elizabeth’s breaking point.” Booklist reviewer Engelmann also praised Distant Shores, declaring: “This insightful look into the dynamics of marriage will resonate with readers, and mark Hannah as a strong voice in women’s fiction.”
Between Sisters is the story of Meghann Dontess and Claire Cavenaugh, two sisters with very different lives and a great deal of baggage standing between them. Meghann is a thirty-something, successful divorce attorney who lives in Seattle, and her career is her entire life. Her younger sister, Claire, is a single mother with a five-year-old daughter, living in a small town in the Pacific Northwest, where she helps her father run the family resort, a small business that sits on the lake. Meghann and Claire are actually half-sisters, sharing a mother who had stars in her eyes and finally ended years of neglect by taking off for Hollywood to star in a science fiction series, abandoning the girls at the ages of sixteen and nine. Meghann, always more mother to Claire than their own mother was, located her sister’s father when their mother left; suddenly finding herself on her own, she focused solely on school and eventually her work. Now many years down the line, Claire is preparing to marry a country singer who has three divorces under his belt, a match that has Meghann terrified for her sister’s heart. When Claire is suddenly diagnosed with a brain tumor, however, everything comes grinding to a halt, including a potential reunion with their mother, who was offering to help Claire’s fiancé get a record deal. Meghann, with her networking skills and wide range of acquaintances, ends up stepping in as the true hero of the tale.
A reviewer in Publishers Weekly found the story to be melodramatic, noting that “some devoted fans will enjoy the sisterly bonding, but the broad-strokes characters will disappoint more demanding readers of women’s fiction.”
Hannah’s Comfort and Joy is a holiday romance that starts on a depressing note. Joy Faith Candellaro, a high school librarian in Bakersfield, California, is just getting off duty on the last day prior to the holiday break, but her mood is still low over the end of her marriage, sparked by the discovery of her husband, Thom, in bed with her sister, Stacey. The divorce is final, however, and Joy is making an attempt to move forward with her own life. Unfortunately, her old life keeps creeping up to distract her, as evidenced by the fact that, returning home, she discovers Stacey standing in her driveway with the announcement that she and Thom are marrying and that Stacey is going to have a baby. Devastated, Joy simply gets in her car and drives. Before she knows what she’s doing, she makes her way to the airport and buys a ticket to Hope, Canada. She has no real plans as to what she will do once she arrives, but she decides that is not the point. Anywhere must be better than home. Once she arrives, Joy meets a father and his son and discovers through them that there are plenty of people in the world with problems far more serious than her own.
A reviewer in Publishers Weekly remarked that, while the author’s fans might enjoy the book, it is otherwise “a bit too much for the more skeptical to swallow.”
Magic Hour tells the story of Dr. Julia Cates, a child psychiatrist who, though acquitted in court of incompetence in a case, is nevertheless skewered by the press to the point where she loses all of her clients. Then she gets a call from her estranged sister, Ellie, inviting her to head home to Rain Valley, Washington. Ellie is the police chief there and has an interesting case that calls for a child psychiatrist’s involvement. A young girl has been discovered recently in the local forest, accompanied by a wolf. The child has adopted animal behaviors and refuses to speak. Julia returns home and, together with Ellie, attempts to determine where the child belongs and to protect her from the dangers that seem to crop up everywhere. Engelmann, writing again in Booklist, dubbed the book “one of this perennially best-selling writer’s most compelling and riveting novels to date.”
Firefly Lane tells the story of the friendship between Tully Hart and Kate Mularkey. Despite their differences, the girls become friends as teenagers when fourteen-year-old Tully breaks down at a party and spills her secrets to Kate. Tully’s mother, a hippie, has run off and abandoned her. Kate, despite her own secure and loving family, sympathizes with Tully, and the two form a bond that lasts them through adulthood. As they grow up, Tully is determined to make a better life for herself. With the goal of becoming a television news anchor, she eventually gets a job at a small TV station following college, securing a spot for Kate as well. However, while Tully works hard in an effort to advance, Kate falls for their boss at the station and ends up as a wife and mother. Their lives diverge at this point, but their friendship continues until years later when certain events conspire to break the bond between them. Kristine Huntley, writing in Booklist, found the book to be “a moving and realistic portrait of a complex and enduring friendship.” Jane Ritter, in School Library Journal, wrote that Hannah’s offering “will keep readers turning the pages.”
Hannah’s next novel, True Colors, portrays the Grey sisters, Winona and Vivi Ann. The story is set in a small town in Washington State. The Grey sisters’ mother died when they were teenagers, but the plot mainly focuses on the men in the sisters’ lives. Winona has a crush on Luke, but he falls for Vivi Ann instead. Vivi Ann, however, cheats on Luke with Dallas. Vivi Ann marries Dallas and has his son, but Dallas is arrested and charged with murder. Winona, who has since become a lawyer, refuses to take the case because she is still upset about their betrayal of her beloved Luke. Dallas is convicted, effectively leaving Vivi Ann a single mother. The sisters’ redemption is established through Vivi Ann’s son, who brings Winona and Vivi Ann back together.
Critics applauded True Colors as a poignant, well-written, and riveting novel. Indeed, a Publishers Weekly writer commented that “though Hannah boldly embraces over-the-top drama, she really knows what women—her characters and her audience—want.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor was also impressed, finding that the book is “above-average formula fiction, making full display of the author’s strong suits: sense of place, compassion for characters and understanding of family dynamics.” Engelmann, again writing in Booklist, offered additional praise, noting that the author “creates a beautiful and captivating story of love and rivalry, family and community, that readers will happily devour.” A somewhat more ambivalent assessment was offered by an America’s Intelligence Wire reviewer: “ True Colors is as rewarding and riveting as one would expect from a Hannah novel. That is, if the reader isn’t turned off by borderline corny writing; indeed, at the novel’s conclusion, Hannah writes the ‘Grey’ sisters find their ‘true colors,’ as the title suggests.”
Library Journal writer Elizabeth Mellett called the book “an engrossing, fast-paced story that will appeal to … fans of women’s fiction. Furthermore, in a lengthy review on the Book Binge website, a critic commended the book as being “emotional,” going on to explain that “the reunion at the end of the book was extremely emotional. … I think that seeing Vivi grow up from a twenty-four year old carefree girl to a thirty-nine year old heartbroken woman was the hardest thing to read. If anyone deserved a happy ending, it was her.”
In Night Road, Jude fears that her fraternal twins, Mia and Zac, will have trouble adjusting to high school. Mia has always been overlooked by her fellow students, while Zach is typically a popular boy. Mia defies her mother’s doubts, and she befriends Lexi, a quiet girl who has spent her life in the foster care system. By their senior year, Mia must adjust to her brother’s budding relationship with her best friend. The trio struggles with the decision to part ways for college, but their ambitions are shattered when catastrophe strikes on their graduation night. Lexi has been drinking and driving when she crashes, and Mia is killed. Jude must mourn her daughter, but she also supports Lexi, who admits her guilt and peacefully serves out her sentence.
Critical reaction to Night Road was filled with praise. Reviewers noted that the plot features two compelling protagonists in Jude and Lexi, and many considered Night Road to be one of Hannah’s best novels to date. For instance, a contributor to the My Friend Amy website found that “ Night Road is a richly rewarding emotional read that engages universal themes and contemporary problems facing parents and teens alike.” A columnist at the online A Novel Source was equally laudatory, asserting: “ Night Road is a tale that will make you think you’ve jumped right into the story itself with its up and down, emotional rollercoaster, your heart will be ripped to shreds and patched up again in the same sentence.” The columnist added: “Everyone out there will see a little part of themselves in these characters.” In a rare negative review, a Publishers Weekly contributor complained that “even readers who like their melodrama thick will have problems as Hannah pushes credibility to the breaking point.” Norah Piehl, writing on Bookreporter.com, praised the book, however, pointing out that “Hannah sets herself a challenging task. The novel is simultaneously a love story, a book about siblings, and a story about several sets of mothers and daughters.” Piehl went on to call the story “a powerfully emotional journey that will leave readers reflecting on their own roles as mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.” Hanes, writing in Library Journal, called Night Road “not quite at the level of a Jodi Picoult or Chris Bohjalian story but awfully darn close.” Booklist reviewer Huntley commended the “several surprising twists” and “the way [Hannah] limns the grief and eventual healing of her appealing characters.”
Hannah turns to historical fiction with The Nightingale, a tale of two French sisters and their divergent lives in the wake of World War II. After their mother dies and their father withdraws, young Viann and Isabelle Rossignol are largely left to their own devices. Viann sleeps with a classmate and ends up pregnant and married by age sixteen, while her younger sister, Isabelle, is expelled from a growing list of boarding schools. When World War II erupts and the Germans invade France, everything changes. Viann’s husband is a prisoner of war in Germany, and she is forced to take in a German captain as a boarder to support herself and her child. Isabelle, meanwhile, joins the French resistance and helps French soldiers escape into the mountains and on to Spain.
“The author ably depicts war’s horrors through the eyes of these two women, whose strength of character … shines through,” a Publishers Weekly critic declared. In a more ambivalent assessment, a Kirkus Reviews contributor noted: “Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.” Nevertheless, the contributor went on to conclude that the novel is “still … a respectful and absorbing page-turner.” Patty Rhule, writing in USA Today, was even more positive, and she asserted that “The Nightingale is a heart-pounding story, based on a real Belgian woman who did what Isabelle did.” Rhule added that “Hannah’s book is most searing as the horrors of war ratchet upward,” and she commended “the novel’s soaring finale.” Offering further applause, Booklist correspondent Huntley advised: “This moving, emotional tribute … is bound to gain the already immensely popular Hannah an even wider audience.”
Discussing her writing process in an interview on her home page, Hannah noted: “In a perfect world, I begin writing at around nine o’clock in the morning. How long I spend at it is largely dependent on where I am in the book. In the first draft—which I write long hand—I can only spend four or five hours at a time working. After that, as the novel begins to take shape, my ability to concentrate increases. By the end of the process, I am often working ten to twelve hour days. … Honestly, I never believe I’m done, but sooner or later, my deadline arrives and I’m forced to say ‘enough.’”
In The Great Alone, Hannah tells the story of Ernt and Cora Allbright and their 13-year-old daughter, Leni, adjusting to a new life in the raw landscape of Alaska. The year is 1974, and Ernt has returned from the Vietnam war a changed man after years of imprisonment in a foreign land. When Cora married Ernt, at the disapproval of her middle class parents, he had been a happy man and became a devoted father when Leni was born. But now, struggling with PTSD, he is restless, paranoid, and violent.
Since Ernt’s return from war, the family has moved constantly, so frequently that Leni has attended five different schools in four years. When Ernt learns that an army friend has died and left him a piece of land in Kaneq, Alaska, he decides to uproot the family yet again and head north. Leni is initially resistant, tired of moving and having to make new friends, but she quickly adjusts to the quirks of the land. The house they move to lacks electricity, running water, and indoor plumbing, but Leni is drawn to the wildness of remote Kaneq.
It becomes clear that the Allbrights are ill-prepared for an Alaskan winter. The surrounding community, with such characters as Large Marge and Mad Earl, come together to help the family stay afloat. Leni finds comfort in books and in her new friend, Matthew. She meets the boy at the one room school they both attend, and, as the only other kid her age in the neighborhood, they are immediately drawn to one another. Matthew also comes from an unstable home life. As the two find comfort and connection in one another, their friendship blossoms into a young romance.
Tara Kehoe in School Library Journal wrote, “Hannah highlights, with vivid description, the natural dangers of Alaska juxtaposed against incongruous violence.” While Leni finds joy in the land, Ernt’s PTSD symptoms are not quelled. Leni watches on as Ernt abuses her mother and his paranoia and isolation worsen. He develops an irrational hatred of Matthew’s family, and Leni’s relationship with Matthew is threatened. Again the Kaneq community comes to the aid of the family, providing a way to safety for Leni. Ron Charles in Washington Post wrote that the novel “makes Alaska sound equally gorgeous and treacherous,” while Kristine Huntley in Booklist noted Hannah “paints a compelling portrait of a family in crisis and a community on the brink of change.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
America’s Intelligence Wire, March 27, 2009, review of True Colors.
Booklist, November 15, 1998, Patty Engelmann, review of On Mystic Lake, p. 547; February 1, 2000, Catherine Sias, review of Angel Falls, p. 996; January 1, 2001, Patty Engelmann, review of Summer Island, p. 870; July, 2001, Joyce Saricks, review of Summer Island, p. 2029; May 1, 2002, Patty Engelmann, review of Distant Shores, p. 1444; March 15, 2003, Patty Engelmann, review of Between Sisters, p. 1253; April 15, 2004, Patty Engelmann, review of The Things We Do for Love, p. 1404; December 15, 2005, Patty Engelmann, review of Magic Hour, p. 5; December 15, 2007, Kristine Huntley, review of Firefly Lane, p. 24; November 1, 2008, Patty Engelmann, review of True Colors, p. 5; February 1, 2011, Kristine Huntley, review of Night Road, p. 28; December 15, 2014, Kristine Huntley, review of The Nightingale, p. 33; November 1, 2017, Kristine Huntley, review of The Great Alone, p. 13.
Florida Times Union, August 4, 2002, Angela A. Bauer, review of Distant Shores, p. D4.
Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2003, review of Between Sisters, p. 496; May 15, 2004, review of The Things We Do for Love, p. 460; October 15, 2008, review of True Colors; December 1, 2014, review of The Nightingale; November 15, 2017, review of The Great Alone.
Library Journal, August, 1994, Kristin Ramsdell, review of When Lightning Strikes, p. 66; November 15, 1995, Kristin Ramsdell, review of Waiting for the Moon, p. 64; November 15, 1996, Kristin Ramsdell, review of Home Again, p. 52; December, 1998, Carol J. Bissett, review of On Mystic Lake, p. 154; November 1, 1999, Jodi L. Israel, review of On Mystic Lake, p. 143; March 15, 2000, Margaret Ann Hanes, review of Angel Falls, p. 126; February 15, 2001, Margaret Hanes, review of Summer Island, p. 200; December, 2001, Jodi L. Israel, review of Summer Island, p. 198; April 15, 2003, Margaret Hanes, review of Between Sisters, p. 122; June 1, 2004, Margaret Hanes, review of The Things We Do for Love, p. 120; November 1, 2008, Elizabeth Mellett, review of True Colors, p. 57; February 1, 2011, Margaret Hanes, review of Night Road, p. 53.
Publishers Weekly, June 22, 1992, review of The Enchantment, p. 56; January 11, 1993, review of Once in Every Life, p. 57; December 13, 1993, review of If You Believe, p. 66; September 26, 1994, review of When Lightning Strikes, p. 61; September 18, 1995, review of Waiting for the Moon, p. 125; October 28, 1996, review of Home Again, p. 76; January 18, 1999, review of On Mystic Lake, p. 327; October 4, 1999, “Hannah’s Mystical Appeal,” p. 21; March 20, 2000, review of Angel Falls, p. 72; January 22, 2001, review of Summer Island, p. 300; May 27, 2002, review of Distant Shores, p. 33; April 14, 2003, review of Between Sisters, p. 49; June 21, 2004, review of The Things We Do for Love, p. 45; September 26, 2005, review of Comfort and Joy, p. 63; September 29, 2008, review of True Colors, p. 57; January 3, 2011, review of Night Road, p. 30; December 1, 2014, review of The Nightingale, p. 33; October 9, 2017, review of The Great Alone, p. 41.
School Library Journal, April 1, 2008, Jane Ritter, review of Firefly Lane, p. 173; March, 2018, Tara Kehoe, review of The Great Alone, p. 128.
Seattle Times, March 22, 1999, Melinda Bargreen, review of On Mystic Lake, p. E3; March 19, 2001, Melinda Bargreen, “Mother Knows Best,” p. E1; July 28, 2002, Melinda Bargreen, review of Distant Shores, p. K9.
USA Today, February 8, 2015, Patty Rhule, review of The Nightingale.
Washington Post, February 6, 2018, Ron Charles, review of The Great Alone.
ONLINE
A Novel Source, http://www.anovelsource.com/ (April 13, 2011), review of Night Road.
Book Binge, http://thebookbinge.com/ (March 13, 2009), review of True Colors.
Bookreporter.com, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (March 28, 2011), Norah Piehl, review of Night Road.
Kristin Hannah Website, http://www.kristinhannah.com (May 3, 2015).
My Friend Amy, http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/ (March 21, 2011), review of Night Road.
Kristin Hannah is an award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels including the international blockbuster, The Nightingale, which was named Goodreads Best Historical fiction novel for 2015 and won the coveted People's Choice award for best fiction in the same year. Additionally, it was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and The Week.
Kristin's highly anticipated new release, The Great Alone, will be published on February 6, 2018 (St. Martin's Press). The novel, an epic love story and intimate family drama set in Alaska in the turbulent 1970's is a daring, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival and the wildness that lives in both nature and man. It has been listed as one of the most anticipated novels of the year by The Seattle Times, Bustle.com, PopSugar, Working Mother, Southern Living, and Goodreads.
The Nightingale is currently in production at Tri Star, with award-winning director Michelle MacLaren set to direct. Home Front was optioned for film by 1492 Films (produced the Oscar-nominated The Help) with Chris Columbus attached to write, produce, and direct. Movie news on The Great Alone is coming soon.
www.kristinhannah.com
Kristin Hannah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kristin Hannah
Born September 25, 1960 [1]
Garden Grove, California, U.S.A.
Occupation Novelist
Nationality American
Period 1991 - present
Genre fiction
Website
www.kristinhannah.com
Kristin Hannah (born September 25, 1960) is an award-winning and bestselling[2] American writer, who has won numerous awards, including the Golden Heart, the Maggie, and the 1996 National Reader's Choice award.[3]
Contents
1 Biography
2 Bibliography
2.1 Single novels
2.2 Omnibus
2.3 Anthologies in collaboration
3 References and sources
4 External links
Biography
Hannah was born in California. She graduated from law school in Washington and practiced law in Seattle before becoming a full-time writer. She currently lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington,[4] with her husband and their son.
Bibliography
Single novels
A Handful of Heaven (July 1991)
The Enchantment (June 1992)
Once in Every Life (December 1992)
If You Believe (December 1993)
When Lightnings Strikes (October 1994)
Waiting for the Moon (September 1995)
Home Again (October 1996)
On Mystic Lake (February 1999)
Angel Falls (April 2000)
Summer Island (March 2001)
Distant Shores (July 2002)
Between Sisters (April 2003)
The Things We Do for Love (June 2004)
Comfort and Joy (October 2005)
Magic Hour (February 2006)
Firefly Lane (2008)
True Colors (2009)
Winter Garden (2010)
Night Road (March 2011)
Home Front (2012)
Fly Away (2013)
The Nightingale (2015)
The Great Alone (2017)
Omnibus
On Mystic Lake / Summer Island (2005)
"Firefly Lane/ Fly Away (2008, 2013)
Anthologies in collaboration
"Liar's Moon" in Harvest Hearts 1993 (with Joanne Cassity, Sharon Harlow and Rebecca Paisley)
Of Love and Life 2000 (with Janice Graham and Philippa Gregory)
"Liar's Moon" in With Love 2002 (with Jennifer Blake and Linda Lael Miller)
Kristin Hannah is an award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels including the international blockbuster, The Nightingale, Winter Garden, Night Road, and Firefly Lane.
Her novel, The Nightingale, has been published in 43 languages and is currently in movie production at TriStar Pictures, which also optioned her novel, The Great Alone. Her novel, Home Front has been optioned for film by 1492 Films (produced the Oscar-nominated The Help) with Chris Columbus attached to direct.
Kristin is a former-lawyer-turned writer who lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Her novel, Firefly Lane, became a runaway bestseller in 2009, a touchstone novel that brought women together, and The Nightingale, in 2015 was voted a best book of the year by Amazon, Buzzfeed, iTunes, Library Journal, Paste, The Wall Street Journal and The Week. Additionally, the novel won the coveted Goodreads and People’s Choice Awards. The audiobook of The Nightingale won the Audiobook of the Year Award in the fiction category.
How long have you been writing?
It feels as if I just got started on this career. I’m always a little bit surprised by my answer to this question: it’s almost 30 years. Honestly, I don’t know how that’s possible being as young as I am! That’s certainly the upside of a career you love. Time flies.
What’s your ideal writing day like?
Hmmm…let’s see. The perfect writing day. Well, first of all, I’ll be in a place where I can hear the waves washing along the sand and warm breezes rustling through coconut palms or evergreen trees. Then I’ll wake up early, go for a nice morning run along the beach, and come home ready to get to work. My very favorite thing is to sit in a lawn chair on my deck, notepad in hand, and lose myself in the story. It doesn’t happen every day — or even often — but when it does, it’s pure magic. And the perfect writing day.
How long does it take you to write a book?
For the most part, each of my books has taken a year. Some — notably The Nightingale, Firefly Lane and On Mystic Lake — have taken up to two years. Generally, I spend about three months coming up with idea, researching it, and formulating a loose plan for the spine of the story and the character arcs. After a few months of research, the writing of the first draft — if I’m lucky — is about five months. This usually entails several “wrong” starts and do-overs. The final process of taking that draft and turning it into the novel I’d envisioned takes between four and six months. Normally, I do about ten drafts of the book.
Do you miss practicing law?
Wait. I have to stop laughing. I can’t see the computer keys. No. I don’t miss it. I loved the law, but writing is the best career on the planet for me. I’m truly blessed. I can’t imagine having to wear heels to work again. I’d probably fall flat on my face.
Why do you write?
Quite simply, I write because it frees something in me. It’s the greatest job in the world. It allows me to be the wife/mother/friend I want to be, with plenty of time for the people I care about, while still giving me something that’s mine, something that defines me as an individual.
What’s a typical day like for you?
The great thing about being a writer is that there really is no typical day. When my son was home, my writing schedule was pretty much subject to the local school schedule. For years, I wrote school hours, school days, school months. It gave me a lovely, if inflexible, routine. Nowadays, though, I’m much more of a gypsy with a pen and paper. My ordinary day begins with a three or four mile run — preferably along a stretch of sunny beach — then it’s back home to get started. I’ll write fairly solidly until about five o’clock. There are certainly breaks taken along the way — lunch, phone calls with girlfriends, and checking my email. At the end of the day, I try to spend at least an hour outside, sitting on my deck and relaxing. Now, of course, I’m supposed to fit blogging into all of that. Wish me luck!
How do you know when a book is over?
I’m exhausted. Or my deadline is looming. Or I have a migraine that lasts for two days. The truth is, a book never really feels “done.” I wish it did. What’s more likely is that my deadline is approaching and I’ve simply run out of time. Thankfully, I’m a disciplined writer. I actually start my books on time; no more than two weeks after the previous effort is finished. The stress of being “behind” is really not something I’d good with, so I stay on schedule.
Do you always know the whole story, including the ending, when you begin?
I think I do. On occasion, I even turn out to be correct. Because my books are more character than plot driven, the end of my novels is wholly dependent on the characters’ arcs and growth patterns. When I was a beginning writer, I followed a strict, twenty-page outline and lengthy character biographies. I spent a lot of my research time creating characters; then I moved them through the plot as I’d conceived it. In the end, I found that this hampered my creativity somewhat and began, as I moved into the bigger, more complex books, to require more editing. So, I let go. Now I spend more of my time discovering my characters. Although it creates a lot of missteps and wrong starts and endless drafts, I find that I enjoy the process more.
Do you have a favorite character in your own novels?
Honestly, I have a couple of characters that stay in my mind after the writing is over. They are, in no particular order — Izzy from On Mystic Lake, Alice from Magic Hour, Tully from Firefly Lane, and Anya Whitson from Winter Garden. But at the moment my very favorite character is the protagonist from the novel I’m currently writing. She may be my favorite character of all time. We’ll see.
How do you recommend new writers get started?
This is a question that I get asked a lot, of course. The easiest and most obvious answer is also the most difficult to accomplish: it’s to sit down and keep writing. Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of writers come and go — published and unpublished — and what I’ve learned is that the ones who make it keep writing no matter what. When life is tough, they write; when the kids are sick, they write; when rejections pile up, they write. Are you seeing a pattern? That’s really what this career is ultimately about. Showing up at your computer day after day to hone your craft. Of course you should take classes and read other peoples’ books and study as much as you can, but none of it can ever take the place of daily work.
My dad is almost eighty years old and last year he hiked the Amazon to see its source. We went to Africa six years ago and believe me, if he’d gone there as a young man, I would have grown up seeing elephants in my back yard. As it was, we left California in 1968 (flower decals on the side of our VW bus, curtains on the windows) and set out on a family adventure. My father tasked us all with finding the place that spoke to us. We found it in the Pacific Northwest.
Of course, for an adventurer like my father, no place can satisfy for long. Home for him is a state of mind, rather than an address. He goes where others don’t.
Not me. I don’t forge trails through jungles or climb mountains or jump out of airplanes. I follow the rules and wait my turn. The biggest risk I ever took was in daring to believe I could write novels.
Maybe that’s why I love stories of women who joined the Resistance during World War II. When I read about an otherwise ordinary young Belgian woman who created an escape line for downed airman, I was mesmerized by her courage and resilience. I knew I had to write a novel about the many women who became spies and couriers and risked their lives to save others during the war.
And then there were the women who hid Jewish children in their homes. These courageous women put themselves directly in harm’s way. Many of them paid a terrible price for their heroism.
As I researched, I found myself consumed by a single, haunting question, as relevant today as it was seventy years ago: When would I, as a wife and mother, risk my life — and more importantly, my child’s life — to save a stranger? That question is the very heart of The Nightingale.
It was a risk for me to write this novel. World War II. France. A sweeping historical epic told in an intimate way, about women. It isn’t what I’ve done before. But I had to do it.
All too often, women’s war stories are forgotten or overshadowed. I wanted to write a novel that remembered their sacrifice and courage while vividly showing what it was like to live in Occupied France during the war. When reading it, I hope the reader asks: What would I do?
Fun Facts
This was one of the most surprising interviews I’ve done. It was for a website called Book Cave, and it shows some real imagination. I thought you all might like a peek… (See the original interview.)
Spiderman or Superman: Batman.
Wonder Woman or Batgirl: Honestly, neither. Trinity from The Matrix is my girl.
Chunky or Smooth: Smooth.
Favorite flavor ice cream: Not a huge fan of ice cream (pastries are my downfall), but if forced to choose, I would say pistachio gelato.
Favorite ice cream topping: Fresh peaches cooked in butter and brown sugar, with just a hint of cinnamon.
Subway or Taxi: Okay, truth—taxi.
Broadway Show or Movie Theater: LOVE them both. I guess theater by a hair…
TiVo or DVR: DVR.
Favorite vacation place: So far–Botswana and Italy
Next vacation destination: Tahiti, I hope
Favorite NYC hotspot: Love everything about the city, so it’s hard to choose one. Single best memory is seeing Phantom of the Opera on Broadway with my husband and son, so I’ll say Broadway.
Guilty Pleasure: Cosmopolitans and massages
Good luck charm: My mom’s engagement diamond, which I wear on a chain.
When you were a little girl, you thought you would grow up to be a: Ballet dancer.
Last thing bought at the mall: The mall? I live on an island. Malls are exotic destinations for me. You’re more likely to catch me shopping at a small collection of main street shops or in the canyons of downtown Seattle. Last fun thing I bought was perfume for a friend at a duty free store in the airport.
Item on your grocery list: Tonight’s? Well I’m in Hawaii right now, so: fresh tiger shrimp, sweet thai chili sauce, lilikoi puree, coconut flakes, vegetables for roasting, and new skewers.
French fries or Onion Rings: Only fries. No onion rings for me.
Pizza: New York or Chicago? I come from the Pacific Northwest. New York AND Chicago.
Midnight snack: No midnight snacking. Does a glass of wine count?
Bookmark or dog ear? Okay, here’s something that makes me guilty; you’re right. Dog ear.
Read with dustjacket or remove it? With dust jacket.
Ocean, Lake, Desert, Mountain: Ocean.
Favorite book: Ever? To Kill a Mockingbird. Lately–The Shadow of the Wind.
Item you can’t live without: Since my family is an obvious answer, I’m going to say writing. I can’t go very long without writing or I get crabby. A quirky thing I can’t live without is…the perfect pen.
What kid or teen books made a difference in your world growing up? The Lord of the Rings, Dune, The Oz books, everything by Roald Dahl (especially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), everything by S.E. Hinton.
Where do you like to write your books (bed ~ coffee shop ~ an office)?: All of the above. I write longhand, so I can be in bed, in a chair, on the beach, on the ferry going to town, on an airplane. Anywhere.
Describe your ideal place to write: In a room where I can see the ocean and hear the surf.
What are you reading at the moment?: Research books, mostly.
Where do you usually read?: See answer to where do I write. Everywhere.
Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?: Only if one doesn’t have my full attention. There’s nothing I love better than a book I can’t put down.
Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?: I tend to read nonfiction primarily when I’m researching an idea. Then I read solely nonfiction.
Here are some of my favorite things. Looking at this list is like a snapshot of me!
Movies
Fargo
Raising Arizona
Notting Hill
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (all three Lord of the Ring movies, actually)
Gone with the Wind
The Matrix
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Way We Were
The Godfather
Blade Runner
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
West Side Story
Pan’s Labryinth
Books
A Little Life
Inamorata
Sentimental Journey
Mai Tai One On
Shutter Island
Water for Elephants
The Road
Beautiful Ruins
11/22/63
The Goldfinch
Dark Places
The Cuckoo’s Calling
Room
The Lord of the Rings
To Kill a Mockingbird
As I Lay Dying
The Shining
The Stand
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Turtle Moon
The Prince of Tides
The Bean Trees
Dune
The Shadow of the Wind
Peachtree Road
The Thorn Birds
Gone with the Wind
The Great Gatsby
The Witching Hour
Queen of the Damned
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Atonement
Horror/Fantasy/Thriller
It
The Dead Zone
Watchers
Dark Rivers of the Heart
Tell No One
The Poet
Heart Shaped Box
A Simple Plan
His Dark Materials trilogy
The Keep by F. Paul Wilson
Dune
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Passage
The Witch and Vampire series by Anne Rice
The Harry Potter books
Songs
Dancing in the Dark
Glory Days
Music of the Night
Crazy for You
Only the Good Die Young
Candle in the Wind
Imagine
Foods
Freshly caught lobster or dungeness crab, with drawn butter
Chateaubriand with bearnaise sauce
Pina coladas
My husband’s chicken piccata
Homemade pasta alla sorrentina in Italy
Pistachio gelato
Places
Sunset on the Arno river in Florence
Sitting in San Marco Square at night, listening to music
People watching in Rome
Walking along the Seine in springtime
the beach at Biarritz
Driving Slea Head on the Dingle Peninsula
Sunset in Africa, watching shadowy, graceful giraffes walk across the savannah
A cooking class in Tuscany, preferably near Cortona
Walking through Florence, Italy–well, really just doing anything in Florence
The beach in Kauai
The slopes of Northern Idaho
The Seattle waterfront
The San Juan Islands
Southeastern Alaska
Costa Rica
New York City
San Francisco
London
Edinburgh
Nashville
The Hood Canal in Washington state
Portofino, Italy
Eze, France
Restaurants
Canlis and Wild Ginger in Seattle
Elio’s in New York
Mastro’s in Beverly Hills
Lighthouse Bistro in Kilauea
Biba’s in Sacramento
Musicals
The Phantom of the Opera
Rent
Jesus Christ Superstar
West Side Story
My Fair Lady
Television shows
Breaking Bad
Orphan Black
Sons of Anarchy
Orange is the New Black
Lost
M*A*S*H
Seinfeld
The Sopranos
Deadwood
Carnivale
Survivor
Project Runway
Twin Peaks
Prison Break
Game of Thrones
Time of Day
Sunset (preferably at the Princeville Hotel, overlooking Bali Hai)
Cocktails
Ginger Margarita
Tuaca Sidecar
Hannah, Kristin: THE GREAT ALONE
Kirkus Reviews. (Nov. 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Hannah, Kristin THE GREAT ALONE St. Martin's (Adult Fiction) $28.99 2, 6 ISBN: 978-0-312-57723-0
In 1974, a troubled Vietnam vet inherits a house from a fallen comrade and moves his family to Alaska.
After years as a prisoner of war, Ernt Allbright returned home to his wife, Cora, and daughter, Leni, a violent, difficult, restless man. The family moved so frequently that 13-year-old Leni went to five schools in four years. But when they move to Alaska, still very wild and sparsely populated, Ernt finds a landscape as raw as he is. As Leni soon realizes, "Everyone up here had two stories: the life before and the life now. If you wanted to pray to a weirdo god or live in a school bus or marry a goose, no one in Alaska was going to say crap to you." There are many great things about this book--one of them is its constant stream of memorably formulated insights about Alaska. Another key example is delivered by Large Marge, a former prosecutor in Washington, D.C., who now runs the general store for the community of around 30 brave souls who live in Kaneq year-round. As she cautions the Allbrights, "Alaska herself can be Sleeping Beauty one minute and a bitch with a sawed-off shotgun the next. There's a saying: Up here you can make one mistake. The second one will kill you." Hannah's (The Nightingale, 2015, etc.) follow-up to her series of blockbuster bestsellers will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet-like coming-of-age story, and domestic potboiler. She re-creates in magical detail the lives of Alaska's homesteaders in both of the state's seasons (they really only have two) and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America.
A tour de force.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Hannah, Kristin: THE GREAT ALONE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A514267869/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=062448da. Accessed 9 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A514267869
The Great Alone
Kristine Huntley
Booklist. 114.5 (Nov. 1, 2017): p13+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The Great Alone.
By Kristin Hannah.
Feb. 2018.448p. St. Martin's, $28.99 (9780312577230).
Hannah (The Nightingale, 2015) takes readers on a journey to Alaska in the 1970s with the Allbright family: damaged Vietnam vet Ernt; his devoted wife, Cora; and their 13-year-old daughter, Leni, the novel's protagonist. Initially unhappy to leave her Seattle home, Leni soon falls in love with the wilds of remote Kaneq. Leni adjusts to the lack of electricity, running water, and indoor plumbing, but her father's increasingly erratic and violent behavior is much harder to endure. Leni finds an escape in her books and her one-room school, where she meets Matthew, the only other kid her age in the area. Matthew becomes Leni's best friend and eventually her first love. But Leni's father's irrational hatred of Matthew's family threatens to keep them apart, and Leni fears her father's uncontrollable rage could be the death of her and her fragile mother. Though smaller in scope than her previous blockbuster, in this tightly focused drama, Hannah vividly evokes the natural beauty and danger of Alaska and paints a compelling portrait of a family in crisis and a community on the brink of change.--Kristine Huntley
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: In addition to the draw of Hannah's massive popularity, this dark family adventure will be rolled out with an enormous first print run, extensive media coverage, and a major author tour.
YA: Leni's passionate romance with Matthew and her complicated family situation will resonate with teens. KH.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Huntley, Kristine. "The Great Alone." Booklist, 1 Nov. 2017, p. 13+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A515382903/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7f63e773. Accessed 9 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A515382903
The Great Alone
Publishers Weekly. 264.41 (Oct. 9, 2017): p41.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* The Great Alone
Kristin Hannah. St. Martin's, $28.99 (448p) ISBN 978-0-312-57723-0
Hannah's vivid depiction of a struggling family begins as a young father and POW returns from Vietnam, suffering from PTSD. The Allbright family, barely making ends meet in 1974, moves from Seattle to the untamed wilderness of Kaneq, Alaska, to claim a parcel of land left to Ernt by a slain Army buddy. Together with his wife, Cora, who spurned her middle-class parents to marry him, and their 13-year-old daughter, Leni, who barely remembers the adoring dad who's become so restless, Ernt is totally unprepared for the rigors of the family's new home. Soon, his fragile mental health and his relentless abuse of Cora worsen during the long nights of the family's first winter up north, even as the quirky and steely homesteaders around the Allbrights rally to help them. They intervene by forcing Ernt to leave in the winter to work on the newly started oil pipeline, but the added income and absences from Kaneq fail to fix his intractable paranoia and anger. Meanwhile, Leni finds friendship and love in a neighbor boy, Matthew, who is also a troubled survivor of a shattered family. Hannah skillfully situates the emotional family saga in the events and culture of the late '70s--gas shortages, Watergate, Ted Bundy, Patty Hearst, and so on. But it's her tautly drawn characters--Large Marge, Genny, Mad Earl, Tica, Tom--who contribute not only to Leni's improbable survival but to her salvation amid her family's tragedy. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Great Alone." Publishers Weekly, 9 Oct. 2017, p. 41. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A511293294/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=204059e7. Accessed 9 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A511293294
HANNAH, Kristin. The Great Alone
Tara Kehoe
School Library Journal. 64.3 (Mar. 2018): p128.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
HANNAH, Kristin. The Great Alone. 448p. chart. St. Martin's. Feb. 2018. Tr $28.99. ISBN 9780312577230;
Set in 1974 Alaska, this sweeping tale follows a girl coping with the dangers of domestic violence. Though ill-prepared for the extreme and harsh conditions, 13-year-old Leni and her parents, Ernt and Cora, have to learn how to survive in the unforgiving wild of their new home on the Kenai Peninsula. With the help of the small-knit community of endearing fellow homesteaders, the Allbrights manage to just barely stay afloat. But Ernt, who has never recovered from the trauma of fighting in the Vietnam War, struggles with the isolation and the interminably dark days of winter. Leni grows up witnessing her father (who is increasingly unable to control his paranoia and jealousy) abuse her beloved mother. Leni's greatest comfort and escape is her schoolmate and neighbor Matthew. Over the years, their friendship evolves into a forbidden romance. Hannah highlights, with vivid description, the natural dangers of Alaska juxtaposed against incongruous violence. VERDICT Give to teens who loved the author's The Nightingale and to fans of Jodi Picoult.--Tara Kehoe, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, Charlotte, NC
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Kehoe, Tara. "HANNAH, Kristin. The Great Alone." School Library Journal, Mar. 2018, p. 128. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A529863662/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4598fec5. Accessed 9 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A529863662
Book World: Everything goes south for a family in Alaska
Ron Charles
The Washington Post. (Feb. 6, 2018): News:
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Full Text:
Byline: Ron Charles
The Great Alone
By Kristin Hannah
St. Martin's. 440 pp. $28.99
---
Kristin Hannah's new novel makes Alaska sound equally gorgeous and treacherous - a glistening realm that lures folks into the wild and then kills them there. It's the essential setting of "The Great Alone," an epic story about a teenage girl trapped in her parents' toxic marriage.
Hannah, the author of more than 20 novels, including "The Nightingale" (2015), which sold 4 million copies, has a sharp eye for drama. This time around, she draws directly on her own family's knowledge of the challenges and rewards of living on the last frontier. In the 1980s, her parents co-founded what is now the Great Alaska Adventure Lodge, which is still operating out of Sterling, Alaska.
You may remember "The Great Alone" as a 2015 documentary about Iditarod champion Lance Mackey, but Hannah's title reaches back to a thumpty-thump poem published in 1907 by Robert Service called "The Shooting of Dan McGrew," which includes this couplet:
(BEGIN ITAL)Were you ever out in the Great Alone, when the moon was awful clear,(END ITAL)
(BEGIN ITAL)And the icy mountains hemmed you in with a silence you most could hear?(END ITAL)
Hannah's novel ventures into that same awful clarity hemmed in by mountains of ice. The story opens in 1974 when an army vet named Ernt Allbright inherits an Alaskan cabin and 40 acres from a buddy he served with in Vietnam. The timing couldn't be better. Ernt can't keep a job - or stop drinking - and the country feels to him like it's collapsing from coast to coast with scandals in Washington, D.C. and serial killers in Washington state. "Think of it," Ernt tells Cora, his long-suffering wife. "A house that's (BEGIN ITAL)ours.(END ITAL) That we (BEGIN ITAL)own(END ITAL). In a place where we can be self-sufficient, grow our vegetables, hunt our meat, and be free." For Cora, whose idea of necessary survival skills is "putting on false eyelashes and walking in heels," Alaska doesn't have much to offer, but she's wound her will around Ernt's erratic desires for so long that the idea of refusing him is impossible.
Fortunately, once they get to Alaska, everything works out just fine.
No.
Actually, nothing works out. The cabin that Ernt inherited turns out to be an abandoned shack "studded with dozens of bleached-white animal skulls." It has no water or electricity. Ernt and Cora know nothing about growing their own vegetables or hunting their own meat. And, as Ned Stark would say, "Winter is coming." Hannah notes that the dangerously naive Allbrights have chosen to live on "a piece of land that couldn't be accessed by water at low tide, on a peninsula with only a handful of people and hundreds of wild animals, in a climate harsh enough to kill you. There was no police station, no telephone service, no one to hear you scream."
And - who knew? - it turns out that living on a frozen hellscape where the night can be 18 hours long is not the best place for a violent alcoholic suffering from untreated depression and PTSD. It's not so hot for his wife, either, but she's drunk on the misconception that every jealous beating is a mark of her husband's devotion.
We experience this harrowing tale from the point of view of their teenage daughter, Leni. She's a book-loving girl, toughened by years of frequent moving, and a close student of her father's capricious moods. But nothing could prepare her for the way isolation and deprivation aggravate his condition. Ernt can't see Russia from here, but he does imagine a host of other evil forces threatening him and his family, which drives him to more brutal expressions of paranoia. At one point, he even starts building a giant wall on the border of his property like some racist loon.
While Ernt and Cora play out the captivating disaster of their union, Leni remains an irresistibly sympathetic heroine who will resonate with a wide range of readers. (And moviegoers, too. TriStar Pictures just purchased the film rights.) She quickly adapts to the demands of frontier life even as she grows more aware of "the twisted love that bound her parents together."
Hannah also creates a rich, tightknit community of characters around the Allbrights. They're rugged individualists who nonetheless genuinely look out for each other. The most delightful is Large Marge, a former D.C. lawyer, ferocious enough to take on a grizzly but kind enough to keep an eye on a teenage girl finding her way in the wild.
The romantic heart of the novel is Matthew, a boy Leni meets in their one-room schoolhouse. When we first see him, he's as cute and goofy as an Alaskan husky puppy, but as the years pass he grows into a certified hero: just, merciful, honorable and brave and, of course, "tall, long blond hair, incredibly good-looking." Darned if he isn't the son of the town's wealthiest man, whom Ernt despises with an unhinged rage. That star-crossed plot casts poor Leni and Matthew as the lovers in a snowbound version of "Romeo and Juliet."
Apparently, Leni and Matthew have sex (BEGIN ITAL)somewhere(END ITAL) in these pages, but it's hard to imagine them generating enough friction to melt an ice cube together. Whereas Hannah describes violent scenes in terms of splashing gore and protruding bone fractures, the erotic moments take place behind a scrim of metaphorical verbiage:
"She hadn't known until now how love could erupt into existence like the big bang theory and change everything in you and everything in the world. She believed in Matthew suddenly, in the possibility of him, of them. The way she believed in gravity or that the earth was round. It was crazy. (BEGIN ITAL)Crazy(END ITAL)."
Which is bad. (BEGIN ITAL)Bad(END ITAL).
The weaknesses of "The Great Alone" are usually camouflaged by its dramatic and often emotional plot. It all skates along quickly, but slow down, and you're liable to crack through the thin patches of Hannah's style. No Alaskan trail is marked as clearly as the path of this story, which highlights every potential danger. When something bad is going to happen, "Leni had a terrible, building feeling that something bad was going to happen." We're subjected to flashing-red cliffhangers to let us know that "this thing could blow up." And the dialogue sometimes sounds bumper-sticker natural: "Alaska brings out the best and the worst in a man."
But who cares? By the end, I was surrounded by snow drifts of tissues damp with my tears, which may be as close as I'll ever get to the last frontier.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Charles, Ron. "Book World: Everything goes south for a family in Alaska." Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A526503524/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=09efac0e. Accessed 9 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A526503524