Notes from the Shelf

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This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger is a 450-page historical fiction novel set in the summer of 1932. From the book blurb: In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota’s Gilead River, the Lincoln Indian Training School is a pitiless place where Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to Odie O’Banion, a lively orphan boy whose exploits constantly earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Odie and his brother, Albert, are the only white faces among the hundreds of Native American children at the school.

After committing a terrible crime, Odie and Albert are forced to flee for their lives along with their best friend, Mose, a mute young man of Sioux heritage. Out of pity, they also take with them a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy. Together, they steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi in search for a place to call home.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphan vagabonds journey into the unknown, crossing 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, bighearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

This book captivated me immediately. It reads more like an adventure novel, which I appreciated since sometimes historical fictions can be a bit of a dull read. I found it interesting it was set during the Great Depression, but from an orphan child’s view, so some of the harsh realities of the depression were a little easier to read about. However, it was still heartbreaking and haunting at times. I believe This Tender Land will be a new classic; it is such beautiful writing.

I give This Tender Land 5 stars.

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