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The Great Alone
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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Summary
Alaska, 1974. Untamed. Unpredictable. A story of a family in crisis struggling to survive at the edge of the world, it is also a story of young and enduring love.
Cora Allbright and her husband, Ernt, a recently returned Vietnam veteran scarred by the war, uproot their 13-year-old daughter, Leni, to start a new life in Alaska. Utterly unprepared for the weather and the isolation, but welcomed by the close-knit community, they fight to build a home in this harsh, beautiful wilderness.
At once an epic story of human survival and love and an intimate portrait of a family tested beyond endurance, The Great Alone offers a glimpse into a vanishing way of life in America. With her trademark combination of elegant prose and deeply drawn characters, Kristin Hannah has delivered an enormously powerful story that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the remarkable and enduring strength of women.
About the highest stakes a family can face and the bonds that can tear a community apart, this is an audiobook as spectacular and powerful as Alaska itself. It is the finest example of Kristin Hannah's ability to weave together the deeply personal with the universal.
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What listeners say about The Great Alone
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 21-08-18
Outstanding
One of the best books I have ever read! Perfect in every way. Sad to be finished.
14 people found this helpful
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- Mrs Linda Best
- 19-08-18
Seemed like just a couple of hours long.
I took every opportunity to listen to the next part of the book when listening to this story. I usually listen whilst dog walking, ironing, in the car etc but I found myself literally just sitting still to listen to this story as I was so concerned about the characters that I needed to make sure in my head that they were ok. Its a story of love, resilience and tenacity mixed with brutality, ignorance and weakness. The narrator had a great voice which switched effortlessly between the characters.
14 people found this helpful
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- Dolly w
- 09-05-18
Stick with it
This book was recommended to me by a few friends. For the first few chapters I thought I had wasted my money. The story felt dull and I didn't enjoy the narrators voice. Then about an hour in it hooked me and I loved it. An epic tale.
14 people found this helpful
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- Sarah Noel
- 10-04-19
The Great Alone
I am always cautious after hearing so very many great reviews for a book that seems to be the latest fad. However, this deserves the praise as it’s a well written, engaging story.
It’s not ground breaking but holds the attention and paints a realistic picture of homesteading life in Alaska. (She says- never having been there!)
It wasn’t a challenging read, pretty straight forward, maybe a little predictable at times but I’ll try her other offerings.
12 people found this helpful
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- Sigrin
- 28-02-19
A palpable book
Having read The nightingale by Kristin Hannah’s I knew how this author writes and was looking forward to listening to this.
She has again delivered a marvellous book, that reaches out so you can feel all the emotions of the characters and know them personally.
The setting in Alaska with it’s fabulous descriptions of the terrain flora and fauna and people make you want to get up and discover it yourself. The Alaskan tourist board will be happy.
Lastly Julia Whelan, what an amazing narrator male female and child accents delivered perfectly.
I personally do not like American narrators and I have returned books which I know I would have enjoyed due to that American twang and nasal inflections. However Julia just purred into my ear and told this story faultlessly.
7 people found this helpful
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- Rachel
- 14-06-18
BEST BOOK I'VE EVER LISTENED TO!!!
Thank you Kristin Hannah. You captured a whole chunk of my life. I worked in Alaska during the years of the setting of this book. I met the people from Anchorage to Fairbanks. The people who worked on the pipeline and their families. I remember the Land of the Midnight Sun. The moose and reindeer who strolled into town, and the black bears who reminded us we were not the top of the food chain in this extraordinary landscape. I saw cabbages the size of VW Bugs in the Matanuska Valley ... and the mosquitoes. People say New Yorkers are tough -- and they are -- but no one who hasn't lived in Alaska will ever be Alaska Tough. These people are the salt of the earth and have roots like an Oak tree. There is no one like them! I remember Alaska as what America, and life, should always remain.
6 people found this helpful
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- Kim
- 24-03-18
Gripping
One of the best books I’ve read in years. Stayed up all night long listening to it.
4 people found this helpful
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- Sarah Bland
- 17-06-19
Great story
Beautiful descriptions throughout the whole book and I find myself missing it now it's finished. Great storyline nothing too predictable and some last a lifetime philosophy and life observation.
I did find myself getting fed up with the he said, she said, mama said, dad said sometimes they came so often, but don't let it put you off the book - I definitely recommend
3 people found this helpful
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- M. A. Collin
- 09-02-22
Just exhausted, as couldn't put down
Beautiful book. Great characters and well written. Just out of this world. READ, READ, READ!
2 people found this helpful
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- ellen hovstø
- 09-01-22
Disappointed
After all the good reviews I read, I was so looking forward to this book. Very nicely written, as in the beautiful description of the surroundings and wildlife. But the story itself is just down right depressing. I stopped reading half way through.
2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 15-08-20
Captivating
This is a book about family relationships and toxicity intertwined with love and the complications that cause broken lives.
It’s a book about self-sacrificing love and the power we have a people to achieve this, even in the face of great adversity.
It’s an ode to place and a people whose way of live differs so from modern culture and lifestyle, yet has its own beauty in hardship.
It’s was wonderful and heartbreaking and frightening and inspiring....
3 people found this helpful
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- Marlieke
- 11-05-18
Loved iT
I really loved this story. The narrator spoke a little too fast for me though, but performed the story very well. I highly recommend.
2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 18-06-21
Incredible!
So many tears! Starts off slow but wow I couldn’t stop listening in the end. Best book I’ve listened to in sooo long!
1 person found this helpful
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- Liezl Bonnema
- 20-11-20
Absolutely Awesome!!!
I loved everything about this book!!! Story, narrator, all of it!! Makes we want to travel to Alaska!!
1 person found this helpful
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- Not
- 05-11-20
Amazing read!!!
Narrator was great! Thoroughly enjoyed this story!! I could not put it down and felt so empty at the end of it!
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 19-09-20
Atmospheric and emotional
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. The reader's voice portrayed the characters so well. Wonderful descriptions of an isolated, beautiful part of the world and the dangers and belligerence that haunted a family. At the center of it all, is love in all it's naivety, trust, and forgiveness. Promises kept and broken and a haunting tale of resilience and hope. I would certainly recommend this book.
1 person found this helpful
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- azura278
- 18-04-20
Beautiful
I struggled to finish this around the 25th Chapter and almost gave it up but then was pleasantly surprised with the last part. All in all an enriching read.
1 person found this helpful
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- Michele Russell
- 07-04-20
Apt title during covid 19 isolation
As a person who grew up on the rugged West Coast of Tasmania this had an immediate appeal. It’s the ultimate love story but with so much more. It’s an insight into a community and way of life that few will understand appreciate or simply ever be a part of.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 17-03-20
Wow!!!
Such a wonderful, powerful and emotional book!!
I couldn’t leave it until it ended. I had a strong experience while reading it.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anna Cooperman
- 14-03-22
one of the best
I rarely re-read books. this one stayed with me. relistened and will do so again and again.
its story is enchanting, real, emotional and hits every spot. a story of love in every possible aspect. it's magnificent.