The Longest Winter

by Julie Harris

Overview

In 1911, a young John Shaw from South Carolina had his first taste of flying. In 1926, two years after the plane crash death of his best friend, he attempted a solo flight record in a refitted 1923 Curtiss Jenny. Then, with half the journey completed, his plane was caught in a storm, went down, and for seventeen years he was listed as missing, presumed dead.
'The Longest Winter' is a work of fiction, the tale of one man's life. His story is one of despair and courage, tragedy and triumph-stranded on an uncharted rocky island, his body broken by the crash, John is adopted into a tribe of Aleuts, until the evacuation of the Aleutian Islands in May 1943.
This is John's story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780987345622
Publisher:	Julie Harris
Publication date:	03/08/2013
Pages:	250
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.57(d)

About the Author

Julie Harris is the Australian author of The Longest Winter, Anna's Gold, An Absence of Angels, The Diamond Factory, Beyond Laughter: The Marie Corelli Story, Kizzy, A Tear of Blood, The Site, The Edge of Nowhere, and more.

She has been published in Australia, USA, UK, Germany and France.

Julie lives with her husband in a small country town on the Darling Downs in Queensland, Australia.

Editorial Reviews

Australian Harris's first novel is a compelling fictional biography of John Robert Shaw, a South Carolinian who crashed his plane on an uncharted island somewhere north of Anchorage in 1926 and spent 17 years living among the Eskimos who rescued him and nursed his broken body (he lost his left arm in the crash) back to a semblance of health. How much of the account is based on real events is unclear, but the tale that unfolds, mostly through Shaw's narration, is memorable. Even as the downed aviator adjusts to his new life with Kioki, the Eskimo woman he comes to love and to have children with, Shaw finds refuge from his stark, unforgiving surroundings in memories of his past life: of his lonely, widowed mother; of his sister Meg, an erstwhile ballerina struck down by polio; of Billy Taylor, the father figure who taught him to fly; of Bobby Sullivan, the best friend who died in his arms after a crash; of Sally, the woman with whom he shared a single night during his doomed flight but whom he can never forget. This moving novel is about courage and growth and survival, about how Shaw comes to love the barren world in which he at first feels trapped and abandoned. Concluding with two dramatic homecomings, it makes an unforgettable story. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

YA-John Robert Shaw's plane crashes on a small island in the Aleutians in 1926; when the 24-year-old Georgian wakes up, his arm has been amputated, his face severely scarred, and his leg is rendered almost useless. There are no trees on the island and winter lasts most of the year. There are also no radios. During his 17 years there, he slowly adjusts; marries two of the chief's daughters; helps raise his son and daughter; gathers shellfish; and hunts. In 1943, the American Army evacuates the island in one day. One of the soldiers tries to rape Shaw's 11-year-old daughter. Soon after, he visits his hometown, and then moves to Alaska. This fictional account of a true incident starts slowly but will hold interest. Shaw's adjustment to the sudden change of culture and physical capability is the crux of the novel and the author is skilled at orchestrating his gradual realizations. An accomplished debut.-Clodagh Lee, Chantilly Regional Library, VA

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