The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah FIC Han

Often an author will write a book that I love (The Nightengale) and I can't wait for the next one.  Usually that one is good too but not quite as wonderful.  That did not happen in this case!  What a book!

It is the story of Cora and Ernt.  They fell in love at a very young age and had a daughter named Leni.  Their bond was strong and they were happy.  But then Ernt is sent to fight in Vietnam and ends up in a POW camp.  When the book begins it is after Ernt has returned to his wife and young daughter who really doesn't remember the early years.  Ernt is not the man who went away.  He is tortured by nightmares, unable to hold a job and has a violent temper.  But Cora still loves him as much as ever.  So whenever he has an idea to move somewhere and start over, she follows.  They do not have an easy life.

Then one day a letter catches up with Ernt.  He finds out that one of his buddies who died in Nam has left him a cabin and some land in Alaska.  So they buy an old VW bus and head north.  They arrive in the spring when days are getting longer and longer.  It is quite an adjustment to live in a run-down shack and to have to find food to eat and to get ready for the winter when the darkness seems to go on forever.  It isn't a good scenario for a man who is mentally unstable.

A fantastic read that is hard to put down.  The descriptions are vivid and the lives of these 20th century pioneers makes me so grateful to live a much less adventurous life!  Read it!

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