The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah is a compelling novel about Leni Allbright, her parents Cora and Ernt, and them living in Alaska.

The family in the the mid-1970s moved there from Seattle, onto a a piece of land that was gifted to Ernt by his platoonmate in Vietnam, where Ernt spent time in captivity and came back from with PTSD, a drinking problem, and short fuse to anger. 

Early teenager Leni, her mother that she had a close bond with, and her erratic at best father found themselves across Kachemak Bay from Homer, in the fictional town of Kaneq, woefully unequipped for the harsh winters. People in Kaneq, where less than thirty people lived year-round, included Marge, a former attorney in charge of the general store, Bo Harlan, whose deceased son gifted the land to Ernt, and Tom Walker, whose family including youngest son Matthew and wife Geneva. The teacher at Kaneq's school would come into town, noted as being right near Sadie Cove, from her home in Bear Cove, with both real places in Kachemak Bay.

It's a compelling book, one with maddening decisions made at times by Cora, but those decisions also heighten the drama. Each member of the family loved each other, but Cora's love for Ernt led her to her going along with his rash and often dangerous choices. His issues were compounded in winter, with the onset of harsh conditions and short days of sunlight. The title of the book came from a Robert Service poem and it's a bit melodramatic, but also a lovely book. The author acknowledgements in the back note that Hannah moved to Alaska with her when she was young. Her parents started the Great Alaska Adventure Lodge, where three generations of their family has now worked. 

The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Women by Kristin Hannah is a compelling novel about Frances "Frankie" McGrath, who served in the Army Nurse Corps in Vietnam. The first half of the book covers Frankie in Vietnam following the enlistment and death in combat of her brother Finley, and second half is about her life after returning from the war.

While in Vietnam, Frankie worked numerous MASCAL, or mass casualty, events at the same time that the American government was lying to people about how successful the war was. Hannah wrote that on a day the Stars and Stripes newspaper reported no American casualties, seven men died in Frankie’s operating theater. Also, she saw cases of South Vietnamese civilians being killed by American bombs and napalm. 

Returning home, she had strangers proclaim her a “baby killer,” people at the VA tell her that services weren’t for her as "women weren't in combat," friends from school say she was joking about having been in the war, and her father get revealed as having told friends while Frankie gone that she was studying in Florence. 

The book jacket notes how idealism and courage come under fire in this era and as a female veteran, Frankie had to face people telling her “there are no women in Vietnam.” This was particularly cruel because as Hannah notes, “remembrance matters.” The ending is well-written and shows that people can start anew, and help others do the same. Also, it's noted that “being proud is something people have for themselves, even if others don't say they should be.”

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is a lovely novel about the characters Vianne Mauriac and her sister Isabelle in occupied France during World War II. 

It's so important have books like this that keep alive the stories of German atrocities during the war, and Hannah does a great job telling of the heroic actions of the sisters, with a great conclusion to the book about the lasting impact of both women.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah is an engrossing novel that felt like it could be a nonfiction account. 

Hannah tells the story of Elsa Wolcott, who in 1920s Central Texas was pregnant and cast out by her parents, joining with what would turn out to be a abandoning husband and father in Rafe Martinelli and his saint-like parents Tony and Rose. 

By 1934, the Martinelli family farm was barely producing crops as drought and dust storms ravaged the land and created enormous poverty, along with health problems for Elsa's son Anthony. She takes he and his sister Loreda to California in search of a better life and is met there by the continued Great Depression and xenophobia against migrants from the Dust Bowl. The story that Hannah tells set in the San Joaquin Valley continues to be a captivating one as Elsa fights to keep her children sheltered and fed in a harsh and unforgiving environment stacked against migrant workers not in a position of power. 

It's an excellent book that provides a story that seems taken straight from history and shows one woman's fight for her family and the importance of caring about one another in the face of hardships. The tale that Hannah eloquently writes is of a time and events that should be remembered and she notes her website containing a suggested reading list about the Dust Bowl years and migrant experience in California.