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 set in a 1970s Alaskan homesteading community. Ernt, a Vietnam POW survivor; his wife, Cora; and their teenage daughter, Leni--all newly arrived and ill-prepared to make it through a northern winter--have darker demons to face than Mother Nature. 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. Whelan's believable portrayals of the local population; her heart-grabbing delivery of young Leni's seen-too-much, grown-up-too fast perspective; and her performance of Ernt's terrifying bouts with PTSD, all set against gorgeous descriptions of an unforgiving, untamed Alaska, create a don't-miss audiobook experience. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2018]