This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
“The tale I’m going to tell is of a summer long ago. Of killing and kidnapping and children pursued by demons of a thousand names. There will be courage in this story and cowardice. There will be love and betrayal. And, of course, there will be hope. In the end, isn’t that what every good story is about?”
William Kent Krueger, author of Ordinary Grace, has come out with an epic about a family of sorts, during the 1930s on the riverbank in Minnesota. This Tender Land is reminiscent of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer’s adventures, centering on brothers Odie and Albert. They are orphaned white boys who have been taken in by The Lincoln Indian Trading School, a school for Native American children who have been separated from their parents. Odie is younger, a wonderful storyteller who’s often in trouble and finds solace in playing the harmonica. Albert is red-headed and freckled, the responsible one. From punishments and beatings to physically exhausting jobs and natural disasters, the boys have much to endure. When they decide to flee in search of freedom, they are joined by their best friend, Mose, a Sioux who doesn’t speak with his voice, and Emmy, the young daughter of a teacher who was killed during a tornado. With just the clothes on their backs, these four orphans venture down the river in a canoe to find a better life.
The kids meet farmers and healers and other colorful characters, all the while avoiding being recognized and returned to their school and the evil folks that run it. From healing ceremonies to deadly snake encounters to glimpses of love, and evidence of hate, the journey is action-packed. Emotional and exhilarating, these four parentless children struggle to get along, be smart and search for a new and better life.
“Something was happening to us. When we’d begun our journey, Albert was distrustful to a fault, more likely to be crowned the king of England than put his faith in a man we barely knew. Mose, the most easygoing kid I’d ever known, had turned his back on us. Me, I was desperately in love. We’d been on the rivers only a month and already we were in places I couldn’t have begun to imagine at the Lincoln Indian Trading School.”
I loved this all-engrossing, fast-paced, beautifully written adventure. Krueger has a sentimental and descriptive voice; he can really tell a great story! A picturesque, fictional epic adventure, beautifully told with compassion and based on history, This Tender Land has compelling characters that grow and change, and a lush setting you won’t soon forget.
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