“There are not many left who remember these things. But I believe if you tell a story it’s like sending a nightingale into the air with the hope that its song will never be forgotten.” – This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
The Gist
In the summer of 1932, four orphans will be forced to escape the Lincoln Indian Training School, a hopeless place where students are treated like prisoners and the superintendent’s wrath earns her the nickname The Black Witch. Odie O’Banion, his brother, their best friend, and a little girl who just lost her mother will go on an adventure that unearths epic secrets and leads to a bighearted journey. Over the course of the story, they’ll meet a travelling revivalist church, a man who has lost his wife and daughter, a family that is down on its luck, and an aunt that will either be their savior or another person that lets them down.
Feyble’s Book Club Pick of the Month
To be honest, this book was not on my radar but thank goodness for sisters-in-law. When she loaned me her copy I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had no clue what the book was about. But I’m so glad I read it! The characters were rich and the story was so smooth. There are five parts to the book and each one reads like its own, independent adventure, but somehow William Krueger keeps the story cohesive and following a really riveting plot line.
Why is this book Feyble’s book club pick of the month?
Right now, Mother Earth is putting us through some serious mind games.
I mean 2020 has really been a year. We even saw two tropical storms enter the Gulf of Mexico for the first time ever. But This Tender Land is going to make you feel like 2020 ain’t no thing. The book is all about hope, faith, and overcoming extreme obstacles. Even if we have nothing, we still have hope and this book is a great reminder of that. It’s also a reminder to be kind. One instance of kindness can completely change someones life – like Odie’s act of kindness to a desolate family in Hooverville. He was able to help them escape circumstances that they couldn’t control.
The book is also great because it makes you ask a lot of questions.
In each part of the book, there are different characters and moral dilemmas. In addition, there is a lot of talk about God and what God means to you. All of these issues lead to one heck of a book club discussion.
I have only two peeves with this book.
The book gets a little slow in the middle and the story starts to lag but push through because it picks back up pretty quickly. Second, and ironically enough, I thought the ending was too fast! All of the sudden, there’s the anticipated conflict and it’s over in two pages. It just felt a bit rushed.
“It’s only when I yield to the river and embrace the journey that I find peace.”
Pick up this book for your next book club and you won’t be disappointed. Well you might be disappointed with Cindy’s crab dip or Mary’s wine pick, but you won’t be disappointed with this book. The writing was great, the characters were so well done, and the hope and faith in this story were inspiring.
If you’d like to see other reviews, check out what other people had to say here.
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Alyssa Flores
Alyssa reads hundreds of books a year and is on a never-ending quest to find the perfect book.
