This novel didn’t resonate for me. I was intrigued by the setting and had heard great things about the author’s previous novel, The Hummingbird. However, I felt that the pace dragged for me and the barrage of terrible events in the lives of the primary characters was over the top. Ultimately, I would not recommend this book.

I enjoyed every single page of this book. Wonderfully written, great storyline, am sad to see it end!

This isn't coming out till Feb but I just finished an arc of it and I can't even express how much I loved it. This is the book about Alaska in the 70's that I never knew I needed to read. Dealing with the after effects of a POW situation after the Vietnam War a family heads to the wilds of Alaska to find a new start as the father faces the demons in his mind. Full of beautiful description and heartbreaking moments this story of love and strength was just wonderful. So many layers to this story it was impossible to put down.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley for my honest review.

Leni is a 13 year old girl who moves to the wilderness of Alaska in the mid 1970's with her family. Her dad was a POW in the Vietnam war and suffers from PTSD. He inherited some land in Alaska from a war buddy, who didn't make it home. Leni and her family are very unprepared to live in the harsh wilderness of Alaska but thanks to some caring neighbors they learn their way. Len's father, Ernt, is abusive to her mother, Cora. She forges a strong friendship with Matthew and is devastated when his mother dies and he goes to live with relatives in Fairbanks. When they are finally reunited several years later, they realize that they are in love. Ernt disapproves of this and things change forever one night.

This book left me with so many emotions. Sadness for Cora, who wouldn't/couldn't leave an abusive relationship. Heartbreak, when Leni and Matthew are torn apart. Hopeful when they are reunited. Such a roller coaster of emotions.

This may be one of my top 5 books of 2017.

This was a phenomenal read, and the characters will stay with me for a very long time. I cried myself through many chapters, and found myself wanting to grab Cora by the shoulders and tell her to RUN! I have read and loved many of Kristin Hannah's novels, but this one is by far my favorite. Highly recommend!

I had high hopes for this book. I recently read Diann Lake's book about her time in the Manson family, as well as the new unauthorized biography about Stevie Nicks, and have been in a 70's groove. I enjoyed how the book started out, telling the story of the main characters' father who waas a Viet Nam vet and distrusted the American government.
The first third of the book was great, and the description of Wild Alaska was wonderful, but then the story started to drag. As if to make up for that, so much was crammed into the last few chapters of the book to wrap things up. Doing so made the ending feel very trite.
I was disappointed the story didn't get the ending that I think it deserved, it could have been a great ending.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing an advanced copy for me to review.

This is by far one of the best books of 2017! This is the story of the Allbright family. In the 1970's they decide to escape to the Alaskan Frontier. The father (Ernt) is a Vietnam POW that comes home from the war broken. His wife (Cora) and daughter (Leni) follow him to this wild frontier to try to become whole again.

So much happens to this family and you just wonder how it is all going to turn out. Will they make it in this harsh land? Will they ever find peace and happiness?

I highly recommend this to everyone! Preorder this book today, you will not be disappointed. My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced readers copy!

As usual, Kristen Hanna's storytelling is spot on. This is story of a family in retreat during the turbulent 1960's who wind up in rural Alaska and live for the next several decades as survivalist. Living off the grid is not the ideal lifestyle we may think of. There are tough subjects to deal with in this book, abuse, death, and isolation, I almost gave up, but was glad I finished this book. I have seen several upcoming books that deal with these topics, and this is the first one I've read. I will recommend this book to my readers.

She never disappoints!! Another amazing read by an amazing author.

Kristin Hannah has done it again—another emotionally-packed story of hardship and survival despite overwhelming circumstances—this time in the Alaskan wilderness of the 1970s.

Thirteen-year-old Leni Albright travels to Alaska with her mom and dad for a “fresh start.” A former Vietnam POW, her dad has anger issues and her mom defends him with unyielding love. They are woefully unprepared, but kind townspeople help them out at every turn. Leni becomes friends with Matthew, the only other kid in town her age. But the winter’s increasing darkness brings her father’s problems to the breaking point, and Leni and her mom try their best to keep the family together.

Without giving the story away, there’s not too much I can say other than this one will tug at your heart strings and, for those of you who remember the ‘70s, it will bring back memories of a time when women had to fight for their rights.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of The Great Alone.

Hannah does it again. A riveting story, but not her usual historical mother daughter tale. She covers a sensitive topic but I won’t spoil it.

What a powerful book about survival in Alaska. Ernt Allbright was a View Nam POW who was left some land and a cabin in Alaska by one of his Army friends. Ernt, his wife Cora and their daughter Leni leave Seattle for life in Alaska. The long dark Alaskan nights prove to be toxic for Ernt who suffers flashbacks from Viet Nam and is abusive to his wife and finally to his daughter. Daughter Leni meets a boy in school, Matthew, which blossoms into love. This is such a wonderful book with a lot of twists, a lot of heartbreak, a lot of love and family situations.

I really liked The Nightingale as was very much looking forward to this book. Definitely a fast read that grabbed my attention --and kept it--for the most part.

Often a 3.5 but at some point I got a bit bored. And I found some of the story line too predictable for such an unpredictable cast of characters. And--there were many--in fact, the entire populace of the book!

The setting [based in part on the author's family experiences--adventurers]. As noted: Alaska, 1974. Untamed and unpredictable. A Vietnam vet with PTSD, A wife who loes him too much and suffers physical and mental abuse. A teenage daughter who's caught in between. The cluster of people who escaped to the wilderness in search of a different life.

What worked for me.
The language--some of the very brief phrases/descriptions:
"spatula-shaped Earth shoes"
"blowing into the chapel of his bare hands"
"terrible, toxic knot that was their family"
"watched cancer erase her mother"

The cast of characters--so well drawn. I LOVED LARGE MARGE!! And even though I didnt like Mad Earl--I wasn't supposed to! And I found Leni refreshing. And mostly strong women.

All the information on living and working to survive in Alaska--what one had to do to prepare for the loooong winters. How the community banded together. Going back in time to the "great alone" of Alaska.

What didnt:
being hammered over the head with Ernt's drinking, abuse, and broken promises [and every love-filled reunion between Ernt and his wife, Cora--enough!]
figuring out several plot lines way too early

Nonetheless, I suspect that once you pick up this book you won't want to put it down until it ends and it's all tied together [maybe a bit too neatly].

If you haven’t read Kristin Hannah’s incredible novel, The Nightingale, do so immediately! In fact, here is the link from Amazon so you can get it now. In February, Kristin’s new book will be out and you won’t want to miss The Great Alone. What a talented author to write such varying books, yet still so detailed. Her books are unforgettable.

In The Great Alone, the setting is Alaska, which resonated with me since its one of my favorite places. The book starts in 1974 when young Leni is moved to a desolate, beautiful town in Alaska by her parents. Her father, Ernt, is a struggling Vietnam vet prone to violence and her mother, Cora, is a gentle hippie who is often the recipient of her husband’s anger. Leni quietly watches her parents struggle and fight, only to make up. For a while, things are better in Alaska where Leni’s dad bonds with some of the men and the women are quick to help Leni’s mother.

Soon though, Ernt begins to descend further into crazy conspiracies and mental instabilities, and Cora is unable to help him. With the long, dark days of cold Alaskan winters where the threat of wolves and bears is a daily consideration, the most terrifying threat to Leni and Cora is actually within the walls of their small remote cabin.

The Great Alone is a fantastic coming of age story that had me hooked from page one. You are going to love it!

Wow. Just wow. This book was incredible, and I fell in love with it from a few pages in. The characters and setting felt so real and the pain and heartbreak was so emotionally intense.

I felt like I was in the Alaskan bush with Leni and her family, laughing when she did and crying when things went downhill. I am glad for every moment I spent with this book

This was a sad, hopeful and deep love story. I really enjoyed the strength and courage of Cora and Leni, it stretched to the point of almost unbelieveable. I have recommended it to others.

Kristin Hannah again knocks it out of the park with an emotional ride of a novel, the Great Alone. The story of a recovering Vietnam POW taking his family to Alaska for a fresh start was both enthralling and horrifying. I couldn’t stop reading Leni’s story. There were a few things that were tied up too neatly, to mention would spoil things, but overall it was an excellent addition to Hannah’s collection.

Kristin Hannah has done a marvelous job of taking us back to the mid 1970'sto mid-1980's in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. I didn't realize just how drastically our world has changed over these last thirty-eight years until she allowed me to revisit the Alaskan communities of Homer and the graveled and rutted dirt ALCAN highway back in 1974.

We travel through time and space to a whole new generation for the Allbright family, and it is a compelling story. This is another Hannah novel I can recommend to all my friends and family. Those of us who grew up in the the '70's can look back with nostalgia, and those youngsters in the mix can take a peek at what it was. And no, the lack of support both civil and legal for abused women was not exaggerated. It was really this bad. And Alaska was really this free, for which one had to pay the price.

received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Kristin Hannah, and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

What can I possibly say about this story that will do it some justice? I’m downright speechless about this emotionally charged masterpiece.

I’ve read every single story this author has ever written. Let’s be honest I didn’t relate to every one of them but when I love a writing style I stick to it. The Great Alone is one of my most memorable reads to date. It’s does deals with PTSD and domestic violence. What’s great about that? It’s not. It’s the love of a community that comes together in time of need.

Ernt comes back Vietnam to Cora, his wife and daughter Leni when he shouldn’t have. Years of moving around, ever loss of jobs and instability brings them to the Alaskan’s wilderness. It’s a fresh beginning for all of them but little did they know that it could be their worst nightmare. That’s all I’ll say about what it’s about.

This story took my emotions, spun them at tornado speed, twisted them and left me reeling at the end. It’s a raw and powerfully written story. The scenes in Alaska where described so vividly that it felt like I was there. The culture and their way of living felt like so real. The characters emotions latched on my entire being and left me a crying mess. Beautifully written story with an excellent storyline that was set from 1974 to 1986.

Standalone told in the third person with its unique HEA. I strongly encouraged the reading of this story.