I really hated to come to the end of William Kent Krueger's This Tender Land (#916), I was so caught up in the perils and adventures of a group of four orphans escaping their pursuers in a canoe in the upper Midwest. It's a worthy companion to his extraordinary novel Ordinary Grace (See my post of 11/3/2016) which I discovered with one of my book clubs.
Odie O'Banion and his brother Albert find themselves the only white boys at the Lincoln School in Minnesota after the death of their father. An Indian training school, misery is a way of life under the harsh governance of the Brickmans in the midst of the Great Depression in 1932. Odie seems to be a special target for Mrs. Brickman's wrath, so when a devastating storm lays waste to the area, Odie and Albert escape in a canoe along with six year old Emmy and their mute friend Mose. The authorities are after them, accusing the three boys of kidnapping Emmy, a capital offense. With no one to rely on but themselves, the quartet must make their way to St. Louis, where there is a promise of a home with the O'Banion's aunt Julia.
The interior journeys of this unlikely set of travelers are as compelling as the physical dangers they face. Along the way they encounter an assortment of characters both good and evil, all with a lesson in survival of the body and heart to teach them. It's a rich, unforgettable read along the lines of Huckleberry Finn. It's bound to stay with the reader long after the covers of the book are shut. Don't miss it.
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