Kristin Hannah’s newest novel, The Great Alone, has landed atop just about every best-seller list since its publication in February, including The New York Times’ hardcover fiction list. The success of The Great Alone, Hannah’s 23rd novel, continues a recent run that has seen her jump from being a successful writer into the type of brand-name author whose name alone guarantees a spot on the best-seller list. And that success has attracted Hollywood’s attention. Four of her books in development, including 2015’s mega-hit The Nightingale, which is on a fast track at TriStar. Before publication, Sony Pictures snapped up the rights to The Great Alone with Elizabeth Cantillon attached to produce it (she’s also producing The Nightingale).
Hannah, 57, talked with The Hollywood Reporter as her national book tour for The Great Alone was wrapping up and she was about to head off with her husband for a vacation in the Pacific. The mother of one (her grown son is an aspiring screenwriter here in Hollywood) and former attorney who lives on Puget Sound opened up about the inspiration for The Great Alone, how it connects to her own childhood, the earlier version of the novel she abandoned and what it’s like in the Time’s Up era to have an all-female team making The Nightingale.
Set in 1974, The Great Alone follows the Allbright family as they move to remote Alaska to get a new start on life. Ernt Allbright is a former Vietnam War POW suffering from PTSD and struggling to stay employed. After losing yet another job, he moves his family to Alaska to live off the grid. Leni is his 13-year-old daughter, who is caught up in her parent’s stormy marriage, a victim of Ernt’s volatile mood swings and a young girl trying to find her place in the world. The Allbrights wildly underestimate the harshness of their new home and struggle to survive, leaning on their fiercely independent neighbors for help.
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