Four orphans on a riverboat journey during the Great Depression

After his stunning novel Ordinary Grace, William Kent Krueger returns with a new novel set in Minnesota. This time, his story is set in 1932, where young orphan Odie O’Banion is living as one of the one white boys at the Lincoln School, a home for Native American children. The school is atrociously ruled by a mean-spirited superintendent, who cares little for the children and especially loathes Odie. One summer night, Odie flees the school in a canoe, along with his older brother, their best friend Mose, and a newly orphaned little girl. Thus sets up a river journey reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn.

If you don’t mind a slower pace, This Tender Land enchants the mind with an image of life during the Great Depression. Between meeting bootleggers, struggling farmers, and traveling revivalists, the four children witness aspects of the era that transport you back to that period of US history. Krueger highlights the injustice inherent in that era without forcing modern values into the minds of past generations.

Despite the weak ending where everything ties together in a neat little bow, the story held my attention throughout, and was definitely my favorite of all the September 2019 book releases I’ve read so far.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Atria Books. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.