This Tender Land Published by Atria Books by William Kent Krueger
on September 3, 2019
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Pages: 450
Source: Borrowed, Scribd
Format: eBook
Find the Author: Website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube
Reading Challenges: Beat the Backlist 2020
Find the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
ISBN: 1476749299
Rating:
For fans of Before We Were Yours and Where the Crawdads Sing, a magnificent novel about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression, from the New York Times bestselling author of Ordinary Grace.
1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.
Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.
This is my second read for my Modern Mrs. Darcy book club and so far this book club hasn’t steered me wrong.
Normally, when I choose a book for myself, it involves tons of romance, some action, and a bit of fantasy.
This Tender Land didn’t have much in the romance department and I have to say… I loved this book!
This book is about four runaway children from an orphanage. The time they spent there, they endured abuse both physically and mentally. These four children are parentless, moneyless, and escaping from the law–but have so much faith and love in each other that from the beginning I felt that these kids could survive anything.
The journey that the kids go through to get to their “home”–different for each child–is heartbreaking and anxiety-inducing. Along the way they meet some friendly and some not-so-friendly characters that enrich the story and manage to bring out more facets of each of the characters.
The main character is Odie–or, Odysseus–a 12-year-old boy with a knack for stories and a heart full of love. Like his namesake, Odie is the catalyst for this journey–or Odyssey–that the kids embark on. He’s, at times, the glue that holds them together… and sometimes the force that pushes them apart.
This Tender Land was an incredibly uplifting read and the characters will forever be on my heart.
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About William Kent Krueger
Krueger writes a mystery series set in the north woods of Minnesota. His protagonist is Cork O’Connor, the former sheriff of Tamarack County and a man of mixed heritage—part Irish and part Ojibwe. His work has received a number of awards, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, and the Friends of American Writers Prize. His last five novels were all New York Times bestsellers.
"Ordinary Grace," his stand-alone novel published in 2013, received the Edgar Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition for the best novel published in that year. "Windigo Island," number fourteen in his Cork O’Connor series, was released in August 2014. (less)
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