The Great Alone

What a beautiful story of love, loss, and finding happiness.

Ernt and Cora Allbright embark on finding new happiness in Alaska with their daughter Leni. Ernt has never been the same since coming home from Vietnam and Cora bears the brunt of his agony. In the 70's Alaska is barren with only a handful of homesteaders present who are able to tackle The Great Alone. Leni soon finds herself in love with a local boy who's family established the town they live in. Soon Ernt can no longer bear the isolation and in a tragic turn of events Cora and Leni have a hard choice to make.

This story of love and loss is gut wrenching and well developed. I only gave it four stars solely based on pace, there were a few times I wanted to give up because plot progression was inching along. I'm glad I stuck it out though, the strong female characters are important and their story was told very thoughtfully.