''The Great Alone'' is a semiautobiographical novel written by American author

Kristin Hannah Kristin Hannah (born September 25, 1960) is an Americans, American writer. Her most notable works include ''Winter Garden'', ''The Nightingale (Hannah novel), The Nightingale'', ''Firefly Lane (novel), Firefly Lane'', ''The Great Alone'', and ''T ...

published by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

in 2018. The story follows the Allbright family's move to the Alaskan wilderness and the ensuing challenges they face there.

Development

The title ''The Great Alone'' is a reference to

Robert W. Service Robert William Service (16 January 1874 – 11 September 1958) was an English-born Canadian poet and writer, often called “The Poet of the Yukon" and "The Canadian Kipling". Born in Lancashire of Scottish descent, he was a bank clerk by trade ...

's poem " The Shooting of Dan McGrew". Hannah cites her family, 1970s politics, and Alaskan culture as inspirations for the novel. Hannah had initially written a whole draft of a thriller with the same characters trying to solve a crime that had taken place in the past, but during revisions only kept the 1970s Alaska setting; then started writing a first-person point-of-view novel from a teenage narrator.

Reception

''The Great Alone'' spent four weeks at number one on ''The New York Times'' Fiction Best Seller list in 2018, and two weeks at number one on the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' hardcover fiction bestsellers list. It was 17th on ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

's'' 2018 year-end top 100 best-selling books list. The novel won Best Historical Fiction at the 2018

Goodreads Choice Awards The Goodreads Choice Awards is a yearly award program, first launched on Goodreads in 2009. Winners are determined by crowdvoting, users voting on books that Goodreads has nominated or books of their choosing, released in the given year. Most boo ...

. As of 2021, the novel has sold two million copies in the United States. The novel was featured in positive starred reviews by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' and ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

''. The ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'' praised its "compassionate, nuanced portrait of the “twisted love" that results from domestic violence, and of the ways in which women cope with such abuse." The ''

Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...

'' stated that Hannah "has created an atmosphere of brooding paranoia and simmering violence that can set your heart racing. Anticipated plot twists unravel unexpectedly." However,

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' criticized the novel, calling it "a heart-tugger written in borderline young adult style, combining terrible troubles with notes of overripe romance." Ron Charles of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' noted that "the weaknesses of ''The Great Alone'' are usually camouflaged by its dramatic and often emotional plot."

Adaptation

Before the book's publication, ''

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'' announced Sony's

TriStar Pictures TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is part of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, which is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The compan ...

had preemptively purchased movie rights to ''The Great Alone'', with Elizabeth Cantillon of the Cantillon Company and Laura Quicksilver as producers and Julia Cox as the screenwriter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Alone, The 2018 American novels Fiction set in 1974 Historical novels Novels set in Alaska Novels set in the 1970s St. Martin's Press books Novels about alcoholism Novels by Kristin Hannah