The Great Alone

by Kristin Hannah, Julia Whelan (Read by)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A wild family drama set in the actual wilds of Alaska, this is the story of a father changed by the Vietnam war, his loving wife, and the 13-year-old daughter caught between it all. It’s a classic tale of nature vs nurture, steeped in layered characters, each with their own story to tell.

*The #1 New York Times bestseller*

The next audiobook sensation from Kristin Hannah, bestselling author of The Nightingale.

This program is read by acclaimed narrator Julia Whelan, whose enchanting voice brought Gone Girl and Fates and Furies to life. Kristin Hannah reads the acknowledgements.

Alaska, 1974.
Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land 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 first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska—a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night audiobook about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.

Praise for The Great Alone:

"Listeners, beware: You won't want to stop listening to narrator Julia Whelan's performance of this complex story of survival and family...With pitch-perfect timing and a touch of drama, Whelan exquisitely builds the tension, creating an enveloping atmosphere of foreboding that's difficult to turn away from...a don't miss audiobook experience." — AudioFile Magazine

"Reliably alluring...The Great Alone is packed with rapturous descriptions of Alaskan scenery… Hannah remembers and summons an undeveloped wilderness, describing a gloriously pristine region in the days before cruise ships discovered it." — The New York Times Daily Review

"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." — The Washington Post

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781427212689
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	02/06/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	720,773
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 5.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

KRISTIN HANNAH is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including The Nightingale, The Great Alone, and The Four Winds. A former lawyer turned writer, she lives with her husband in the Pacific Northwest.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/23/2018
Voice actor Whelan ratchets up the suspense in her tense narration of this tale of Ernt Albright, a Vietnam vet with PTSD, who takes his wife, Cora, and 13-year-old daughter, Leni, to Alaska to live off the grid. After a soldier buddy dies and leaves Ernt a plot of land with a shack, the family moves there, hoping that a life among nature and fending for themselves will be a fresh start and a good fit for Ernt. But the isolation, darkness, and cold only exacerbate Ernt’s irrational paranoia and anger. Whelan easily differentiates the voices of the three main characters: Ernt growls with rage, and Cora’s voice trembles with fear while attempting to sound light and casual as she tries to placate Ernt, and Leni sounds both youthful and frightened. The secondary characters are just as memorable. Whelan gives a no-nonsense tone to Large Marge, a neighbor; she also perfects the ranting and raving of Mad Earl, a conspiracy theorist whose far-out beliefs fuel Ernt’s paranoia. Whelan is especially effective during the violent scenes: instead of getting louder or more emotional, she drops her voice to a tense and chilling whisper. This edge-of-your-seat audiobook will keep listeners riveted. A St. Martin’s hardcover. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Audio

07/01/2018
Meet the Allbrights: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-afflicted Vietnam War returnee Ernt, his perennially in-denial wife Cora, and mature-beyond-her-years teenager Leni. Bequeathed a remote homestead in 1974 by a fallen army buddy, Ernt relocates his family to wild, remote Alaska, chasing dreams of self-sufficiency and simple independence. The family's dramatic unraveling as unprepared pioneers is exacerbated by Ernt's alcoholism-fueled brutality, Cora's desperate forgiveness, and Leni's unwillingness to reveal her parents' toxic bond even to the most welcoming, experienced locals. Despite her complicity, Leni finds friendship and love—and, eventually, salvation. Chameleonic veteran Julia Whelan makes the 15 hours of Hannah's (The Nightingale) latest best seller unstoppable, as she agilely narrates the twists and turns. Her characterizations beyond the fearsome trio are especially affecting, including general store owner (and former DC prosecutor!) Large Marge and Leni's soulmate Matthew in all his post-accident frustration and miraculous struggles toward recovery. Throughout the darkness and destruction that abounds, remember the name is Allbright—glimmers of lightness illuminate, with a final on-the-bright-water scene that will leave readers swathed in relief and joy. VERDICT Libraries should prepare for guaranteed demand. ["Not a cozy read, yet Hannah's fans will appreciate the astuteness of the story and the unbreakable connection between mother and child": LJ 10/1/17 review of the St. Martin's hc.]—Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

Library Journal

Listeners, beware: You won’t want to stop listening to narrator Julia Whelan’s performance of this complex story of survival and family set in a 1970s Alaskan homesteading community. Ernt, a Vietnam POW survivor; his wife, Cora; and their teenage daughter, Leni—all newly arrived and ill-prepared to make it through a northern winter—have darker demons to face than Mother Nature. With pitch-perfect timing and a touch of drama, Whelan exquisitely builds the tension, creating an enveloping atmosphere of foreboding that’s difficult to turn away from. Whelan’s believable portrayals of the local population; her heart-grabbing delivery of young Leni’s seen-too-much, grown-up-too fast perspective; and her performance of Ernt’s terrifying bouts with PTSD, all set against gorgeous descriptions of an unforgiving, untamed Alaska, create a don’t-miss audiobook experience. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2019 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2018 - AudioFile

★ 10/09/2017
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.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Great Alone:

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller (February 2018) | A 2018 Indie Next Pick

One of...
Southern Living's "Books Coming Out This Winter That We Can't Wait to Read"
Pop Sugar's "10 Most Anticipated Books of 2018"
Working Mother's "Most Anticipated Books of 2018"
Brit & Co's "Most Anticipated Books of 2018"
Seattle Times' "Books to Look Forward to in 2018"
The Everygirl's "10 New Novels to Read this Winter"
Refinery 29's "Best Books of February"
BuzzFeed's "Most Anticipated Women's Fiction Reads of 2018"

"Featuring a rich cast of characters and elevated by the riveting portrayal of homesteading in Alaska in the 1970s, this is a compassionate story of a family." —People, "Book of the Week"

"This epic atmospheric novel examines humans' will to endure the unthinkable." —Real Simple magazine

"There are many great things about this book...It will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet-like coming of age story and domestic potboiler. She recreates in magical detail the lives of Alaska's homesteaders...and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America. A tour de force." —Kirkus (starred review)

"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." —Booklist

"Reliably alluring...The Great Alone is packed with rapturous descriptions of Alaskan scenery… Hannah remembers and summons an undeveloped wilderness, describing a gloriously pristine region in the days before cruise ships discovered it." —New York Times

"In this latest from Hannah, the landscape is hard and bleak but our young heroine learns to accept it and discover her true self...fans will appreciate the astuteness of the story and the unbreakable connection between mother and child." —Library Journal

"Hannah skillfully situates the emotional family saga in the events and culture of the late ’70s... 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." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Hannah turns the written word into wonderful prose...Times are difficult for so many in this novel and Hannah captures their suffering with sensitivity. The author expertly shows how love, death and birth run the full circle of life." —RT Book Reviews

Praise for The Nightingale:

"Haunting, action-packed, and compelling."—Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Absolutely riveting!...Read this book." —Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, Director of the University of Miami Holocaust Teacher Institute

"Beautifully written and richly evocative." —Sara Gruen,#1 New York Times bestselling author

“A heart-pounding story.” —USA Today

"A respectful and absorbing page-turner." —Kirkus Reviews

"Tender, compelling...a satisfying slice of life in Nazi-occupied France." —Jewish Book Council

“Expect to devour The Nightingale in as few sittings as possible; the high-stakes plot and lovable characters won’t allow any rest until all of their fates are known.” —Shelf Awareness

"Powerful...an unforgettable portrait of love and war."—People

From the Publisher

03/01/2018
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

School Library Journal

★ 2017-10-31
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.

Kirkus Reviews