This Tender Land

By William Kent Krueger

Atria Books     2019

450 pages     Historical Fiction

I knew when I began reading This Tender Land, that my list of best books of the year was not yet complete. Not only my list--but my heart as well--because this book filled my heart with remarkably appealing characters and a sterling plot. The book is part Huckleberry Finn and part The Odyssey, but it takes place in my home territory of Minnesota in the 1930s.

Odie, the narrator, prefaces the novel by saying that all his life he has been a storyteller, and he has this particular story to tell from the summer of 1932. He says, “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.”

And what a story it is! Odie and his brother, Albert, are orphans who have been brought to the Lincoln residential school in Fremont County, Minnesota. They are the only white children there because the school is filled with Native American children who have been removed from their homes and brought to the school. No one knew what to do with Odie and Albert when their bootlegger father, their last surviving  parent, was murdered, so they were dumped at the Lincoln school on the Gilead River. The directors of the school are evil people, but as with the rest of the story, there are people there who are kind, people who are protective, and people who are supportive. And as bad as things get—and believe me they get bad—there is always hope.

Odie, Albert, and their mute Native American friend, Moses, are always plotting an escape. The boys are hoping to get to relatives in St. Louis, but when their favorite teacher Mrs. Frost dies in a tornado, the three rescue her little girl Emmy, take the family’s canoe and escape down the Gilead River heading for the Mississippi and St. Louis. Because the boys have Emmy with them, and because they left a dead body in their wake, they are hunted by the police and by the administrators of the school. Consequently, they are always running and hiding.

Sometimes the number of challenges these voyageurs face is completely daunting, and a bit overwhelming for the reader. But somehow, the reader has endless faith in these children and their courage, determination, grit and smarts. When the circumstances seem insurmountable, they somehow find their way, occasionally having to outwit those who would do them harm. More importantly, they find themselves in the presence of those who offer them love, food, care, and hope.

The Depression is never far from the details of the story. There are shanty towns, depressed farms, tent meetings, and run-down neighborhoods. Yet, like much of what we know about life during the Depression, there was always goodness and hope. That is a theme that Krueger emphasizes again and again, from the old German who helps the children escape from the Lincoln school, to Sister Eve the Evangelist, who renews their spirits and sets them on a new path. Odie muses, “With every turn of the river since I’d left Lincoln School, the world had become broader, its mysteries more complex, its possibilities infinite.”

Krueger is a tremendous storyteller, and a master of plot. The story line seldom if ever lags, and the reader keeps turning pages. Sometimes I was so scared for the children, I couldn’t put the book down, while at other times, I was close to tears as they are helped along the way. When they finally are able to settle down, I breathed a sigh of relief, and closed the book for the final time—exhausted and exhilarated at the same moment. The reviewer in the New York Journal of Books says, “This Tender Land (is) a book you won’t own. It will own you. Long, sprawling, and utterly captivating, readers will eat up every delicious word of it.”

William Kent Krueger is most known for his Cork O’Connor Minnesota mysteries as well as the award-winning stand-alone novel, Ordinary Grace. At the end of the book, Krueger talks about his process in writing This Tender Land, particularly the research he did on schools for Native American children. He also talked about canoeing and kayaking on the rivers that are featured in the book. I found his reflections on the book’s construction to be fascinating.

This is a wonderful reading adventure. I heartily recommend it. William Kent Krueger’s website.