The Great Alone: A Novel

Kristin Hannah

Feb 2018 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Julia Whelan

About this audiobook

*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

Ratings and reviews

A heart breaking and up lifting adventure story about a family who loves deeply,a POW Vet in the 60's who is abusive and his daughters perspective from ages 12 to adulthood. Set in the beauty and danger of Alaskian wilderness and so wonderfully written it drew me into a another world and time. I went through an emotional gambit and rooted for this girl to find happiness. One of the best books I've read.

I loved the book and the progression of the story line, when you think you can predict what's going to happen the author throws a curve ball. The only reason I deducted stars is because, as a lifelong Alaskan, I cringed every time the Audiobook mispronounced simple Alaskan words. Not a single Alaskan name was pronounced correctly. It doesn't take much time to do your research and make sure you're doing the author and the Land justice (even if the story is fictional).

This book is a YA/Romance chimera. Melodramatic, assumptive, convenient when required, reinforced by broad stereotypes and underlined by a unique but awkward style of writing, this promised adventure fell short of expectation. The overuse of trauma and death as vehicles of narrative grew past stale to torturous. This was effectively literary masturbation made possible and perhaps encouraged by the wild success of the Author's previous works. Dangle the carrot, but to our pleasure, not yours.

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.