This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger 

LJ Reviews 2019 July
Krueger's second coming-of-age story is not the sequel to Ordinary Grace; it's his version of Huckleberry Finn or the Odyssey, as adolescents are forced to move toward adulthood. It's a remarkable story of a search for home that also reveals the abusive treatment of Native American children in schools and the wanderings of people during the Depression. Readers expecting an actual mystery from crime writer Krueger might be disappointed, but those who want to read about the mystery of life will discover what one of Odie's companions observes. "You tell stories but they're real. There are monsters and they eat the heart of children." Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2019 Library Journal.


PW Reviews 2019 July #3
This lively but heavy-handed adventure from Krueger (Ordinary Grace) follows four orphans as they search for safety in Depression-era Minnesota. Krueger keeps the twists coming, and the constant threat of danger propels the story at a steady clip.

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.


Booklist Reviews 2019 August #1
Richly imagined and exceptionally well plotted and written, the novel is, most of all, a compelling, often haunting story that will captivate both adult and young adult readers. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

 

New York Journal of Books

The result, 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. – C.C. Harrison

 

Kirkus Reviews

Krueger aims higher and hits harder with a standalone novel that shares much with his other work....A novel that transforms narrator and reader alike.

 

Publishers Weekly

Lively . . . Krueger’s enjoyable riff on The Odyssey will satisfy fans of American heartland epics.