There is no one to save them this far from civilization.Īt once an epic story of human survival and an intimate portrait of a family tested beyond endurance, The Great Alone, offers a glimpse into a vanishing way of life in America. On their small piece of land, miles from anyone, Leni and her mother, Cora, learn what all Alaskan homesteaders learn: they are on their own.

As the vast Alaskan landscape grows smaller and smaller in the darkness, Ernt's fragile mental state deteriorates, and the dangers outside of their remote homestead pale in comparison to the danger within. (Feb.In 1974, when thirteen-year-old Leni Allbright's volatile, unpredictable father, Ernt, a former POW, loses another job, he makes an impulsive, desperate decision: he will move the family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the land in a spectacular wilderness.Īt first, the eighteen hour sunlit Alaskan summer days and the generosity of the locals make up for the family's lack of preparation and dwindling resources, but winter in Alaska will reveal their every weakness. 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. 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. Meanwhile, Leni finds friendship and love in a neighbor boy, Matthew, who is also a troubled survivor of a shattered family.

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. 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. 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. 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. Hannah’s vivid depiction of a struggling family begins as a young father and POW returns from Vietnam, suffering from PTSD.

The great alone review new york times