And it’s so romantic.” But the romance is an illusion: “You always think, ‘Oh, if I could just get away.’ People, especially troubled people, think, ‘If I could just get away from this, I’d be happy.’” They’re going to the ends of the earth, and they’re trying to survive a world they can’t really imagine.

What you’re looking at and what this is about is this portrait of American pioneers 100 years later than you’d expect them. “I was really surprised that you could still literally homestead in the 1970s in Alaska. Hannah, whose parents founded an adventure lodge in Alaska, was familiar with the state but found this period of its history fascinating. But I didn’t realize how politically turbulent the time was until I started researching it for the book.”Īnother influence was the cultural pull of Alaska for Americans looking for a fresh start. “I remember Patty Hearst, of course, and I remember the Vietnam War. “A lot of us a couple of years ago realized how turbulent our own world is right now, and it made the ’70s interesting again.” Despite coming of age in the 1970s herself and wearing a POW bracelet for a friend’s father, Hannah admitted that looking back on the period surprised her. “I find it interesting that at the moment, the ’70s are everywhere, sort of in popular culture,” she said.

Hannah told THR about the multiple strands that influenced the novel. The Allbrights wildly underestimate the harshness of their new home and struggle to survive, leaning on their fiercely independent neighbors for help. Leni is his 13-year-old daughter, who is caught up in her parent’s stormy marriage, a victim of Ernt’s volatile mood swings and a young girl trying to find her place in the world. After losing yet another job, he moves his family to Alaska to live off the grid. Ernt Allbright is a former Vietnam War POW suffering from PTSD and struggling to stay employed. Set in 1974, The Great Alone follows the Allbright family as they move to remote Alaska to get a new start on life. The mother of one (her grown son is an aspiring screenwriter here in Hollywood) and former attorney who lives on Puget Sound opened up about the inspiration for The Great Alone, how it connects to her own childhood, the earlier version of the novel she abandoned and what it’s like in the Time’s Up era to have an all-female team making The Nightingale. Hannah, 57, talked with The Hollywood Reporter as her national book tour for The Great Alone was wrapping up and she was about to head off with her husband for a vacation in the Pacific. China Film Pavilion in Cannes Showcases Hits, Opens Door to Potential Partners

The great alone review