This Tender Land

William Kent Krueger is a master storyteller. I learned that when I picked up Ordinary Grace last spring. This Tender Land reinforced that in my mind. What a masterful story.

This Tender Land tells the story of four vagabond children: Odie, his older brother, Albert, Native American Moses and little Emmy. The three boys were all residents at the Lincoln Indian Training School in Minnesota. Odie and Albert are the only non-Indian students at the school, taken in by the school after the murder of their father. Their mother had died several years earlier. Moses (which wasn't his real name) came to the school after the murder of his mother at which time his tongue was cut out. Emmy's mother was one of the teachers at the school. Her father had died and she lived with her mother, an exceptionally kind women.

The children at the school were mistreated. I know that the purpose of "Indian schools" was to "civilize" the Indians. But this school sounded more like a prison than a school. Emmy's mother, Mrs. Frost, had suggested that she take in Odie, Albert and Moses so they could leave the school. Then the "tornado god" took something else away from Odie when Mrs. Frost gets killed. Emmy goes to live at the school, with the school's superintendent whom is referred to as "The Black Witch." Odie, Albert, and Moses "kidnap" Emmy and thus starts the adventures of the four vagabonds. 

I feel like my synopsis of the book does it a disservice. This book is wonderful. There have been some comparisons to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In a way it reminded me of "The Wizard of Oz" as the four children follow the river to search for what they are missing and to search for home. They meet mean-spirited people making them question why they left the Lincoln School. But they also meet people who only want to help and to restore their faith in humanity and in God. This is all set with the background of the Depression, where most everyone is suffering from hard times.

My New Jersey book club had selected this for their February title. Since they're still meeting on Zoom, I'll get to join in to the discussion. I'm really looking forward to that.

This Tender Land is the first audio book that I've listened to while walking. A few weeks ago, I became determined to find a headset that would be comfortable while walking. I needed something that wouldn't be uncomfortable or pop out of my ears or block out the noise of what might be around me. I bought a pair of Shokz OpenMove headphones. They are perfect! Until recently, I thought I could only enjoy audio books while driving in the car by myself. These headphones allow me to "read" while I'm walking (which also encourages me to walk more). I'm also able to "read" while doing simple housekeeping tasks, something I wasn't able to do when I was trying to listen through my phone's speaker. Now... off to find my next audiobook read.

Ordinary Grace

I discovered Ordinary Grace while scrolling through the books available at the library last week. I recognized the name William Kent Krueger as being the author of This Tender Land, a much talked about novel these days, one that I haven't (yet?) read. Next I checked the reviews on goodreads.com. They seemed fabulous. Having nothing else to read, I checked this novel out of the library and began to read.

I was quickly caught up in the summer story of brothers, 13-year old Frankie Drum and  his younger brother, Jake.

It was the summer of 1961. Their father, Nathan, has been a minister in the southern Minnesota town of New Bremen, the hometown of their mother, Ruth. There's a lot of personal history in this small town.

The summer of 1961 is a summer of tragedy for the Drum family and for the people of New Bremen. Each person's faith is tested numerous times over the summer. As such, this is a book about faith. It's also a mystery, a genre I don't typically enjoy. But in this case the mystery was secondary.

For a book full of heartache, this was a pleasant book to lose oneself in.