The Great Alone: A Story of Love, Heartbreak and Survival by Kristin Hannah (Best of #Booktok)

A gripping novel of family dynamics, heartbreak and hope which tugs at the heartstrings, set against the beauty of the Alaskan wilderness, from the bestselling author of The Nightingale.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, is caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that Alaska will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown.

At once an epic story of human survival and love, and an intimate portrait of a family tested beyond endurance, The Great Alone offers a glimpse into a vanishing way of life in America. With her trademark combination of elegant prose and deeply drawn characters, Kristin Hannah has delivered an enormously powerful story that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the remarkable and enduring strength of women.

The Great Alone is perfect for all those who loved The Light Between Oceans, and fans of Jodi Picoult, Victoria Hislop and Diane Chamberlain.

Review

A rich, compelling novel of love, sacrifice and survival, as epic as the Alaskan landscape it so vividly describes (Kate Morton)

I didn’t just love this book, I became obsessed with it [. . .] The characters were flawed and vulnerable, strong and naïve, and Hannah has delivered a masterclass in all the different ways love can both save us and destroy us. She is an absolutely lyrical writer [. . . ] she perfectly captures and evokes the majesty and splendid isolation of Alaska and it feels a privilege to have journeyed there with her. This is a story that will stay with me for a long, long time. (Karen Swan)

Epic . . . By the end, I was surrounded by snow drifts of tissues damp with my tears (Washington Post)

Great characters, great plots, great emotions, who could ask for more in a novel? (Isabel Allende on The Nightingale)

Beautifully written . . . packed with action and emotion (Sara Gruen, bestselling author of Water for Elephants on The Nightingale)

Movingly written and plotted with the skill of Greek tragedy. You’ll keep turning the pages until the last racking sob (Daily Mail on The Nightingale)

Product details

    Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pan; Open Market edition (10 Jan. 2019)
    Language ‏ : ‎ English
    Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
    ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1529013941
    ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529013948
    Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
    Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 11.1 x 2.9 x 17.8 cm

About the Author

Kristin Hannah is a New York Times bestselling author. She is a lawyer-turned-writer and is the mother of one son. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest near Seattle, and Hawaii. Her first novel published in the UK, Night Road, was one of eight books selected for the UK’s 2011 TV Book Club Summer Read, and her novel The Nightingale was a New York Times number one bestseller, selling almost three million copies worldwide.