
Historical fiction
This Tender Land
Each year thousands of members vote for our Book of the Year award—congrats to This Tender Land!
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A coming-of-age odyssey that'll leave you in awe of the rawness of the Great Depression and the American Midwest.
Emotional
Heavy read
400+ pages
Action-packed
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.
In the beginning, after he labored over the heavens and the earth, the light and the dark, the land and sea and all living things that dwell therein, after he created man and woman and before he rested, I believe God gave us one final gift. Lest we forget the divine source of all that beauty, he gave us stories.
I am a storyteller. I live in a house in the shade of a sycamore tree on the banks of the Gilead River. My great-grandchildren, when they visit me here, call me old.
“Old is a cliché,” I tell them, with mock disappointment. “A terrible trivializing. An insult. I was born along with the sun and earth and moon and planets and all the stars. Every atom of my being was there at the very beginning.”
“You’re a liar.” They scowl, but playfully.
“Not a liar. A storyteller,” I remind them.
“Then tell us a story,” they plead.
I need no goading. Stories are the sweet fruit of my existence and I share them gladly.
The events I’m about to share with you began on the banks of the Gilead. Even if you grew up in the heartland, you may not remember these things. What happened in the summer of 1932 is most important to those who experienced it, and there are not many of us left.
The Gilead is a lovely river, lined with cottonwoods already ancient when I was a boy.
Things were different then. Not simpler or better, just different. We didn’t travel the way we do now, and for most folks in Fremont County, Minnesota, the world was limited to the piece of it they could see before the horizon cut off the land. They wouldn’t have understood any more than I did that if you kill a man, you are changed forever. If that man comes back to life, you are transformed. I have witnessed this and other miracles with my own eyes. So, among the many pieces of wisdom life has offered me over all these years is this: Open yourself to every possibility, for there is nothing your heart can imagine that is not so.
Because I live in a city that’s more concrete than grass, I sometimes go weeks without spending time in nature—which means I fantasize about tossing my phone down a subway grate and setting off into the woods a lot. As this is neither practical (I have no outdoorsy skills) nor feasible (the woods are very far away), I like turning to the next best thing: books set in the great outdoors. Give me a character canoeing down a river, or a vivid description of changing fall leaves, and I am, shall we say, a happy camper.
It was with this in mind that I picked up This Tender Land, a nature-filled adventure story set in rural Minnesota. The book begins with Odie, a young boy with a good heart but a penchant for getting in trouble, who suffers alongside his brother Albert at a cruel boarding school. Odie spends his days doing school-enforced manual labor, playing his contraband harmonica—and landing in detention. When circumstances force Odie, Albert, and two fellow orphans to escape, their getaway takes them on a grand adventure, crossing paths with strangers and witnessing the effects of the Great Depression.
This book is everything I want in a fall read: warm, heartfelt, and chock-full of observations on the natural world. Odie and his compatriots remind me of the savvy, adventurous children that occupied books from my childhood—the kids from Bridge to Terabithia come to mind—rendered all the more believable by William Kent Krueger’s lyrical prose. If you too enjoy a story brought to life by its environment (looking at you, Where the Crawdads Sing fans!) then snuggle up under an autumn tree with a copy of This Tender Land.
Elizabeth K.
Sherman , TX
William Kent Krueger is one of my favorite authors and this book didn’t disappoint. I love his way of storytelling…this was one I couldn’t put down. Highly recommend anything by this author. ????????????????
Heather E.
Albion , NY
Ever scroll through the “add ons” because none of the monthly selections appeal to you, see a cover, take a gamble? That’s this book. No regrets. So unique and beautiful, I absolutely adored it! 5⭐️’s
Amanda H.
Alexandria, VA
Definitely one of my favorite books I’ve read! If you liked “Where the Crawdads Sing,” then you will love this book. Wonderful author and a great storyteller. I can’t wait to read more of his novels!
Taylor G.
Orange, TX
I absolutely loved this book! It is literally everything you want in a novel. It has adventure, love, loss, heartache, and imagination. I am putting this one in my top 5 books ever read! Definitely recommend
Jamie D.
Huntington Beach, CA
Truly one of the best books I’ve ever read, and I’ve read A LOT of books. This story ripped my heart to shreds but in the most wonderful way, if that’s even possible. It will be on my mind for months+