A few days ago, I was reading this sumptuous novel and my
husband was talking to me. Or so he says he was, I have
no recollection of it. He could have been telling me
there were cats having tea on our ceiling and I would
paid him no mind, that's how involving I found Sere
Prince Halverson's new novel, ALL THE WINTERS AFTER.
The summary you'll see below offers a good basis, so I
won't get into that. Instead, can I tell you how this one
made me feel?
I found myself swept away by the narrative of this
complicated, layered family in this complicated, layered
land. I know nothing of Alaska (beyond what I've learned
in my repeated viewings of The Proposal, let's be
honest) and I'm one of those folks who considers myself a
life-long learner. I love learning about people and
places that I have no first hand knowledge of and the
fact this was set in Alaska was the reason I picked it up
in the first place. On that front, it did not disappoint.
I feel like I got a gentle but thorough history of
America's Final Frontier, while also learning about some
incredibly realistic characters.
But I asked if I could tell you how it made me feel, so
let me do that. It made me feel thankful for my family
and grateful for the opportunity to love. Cheesy, I know,
but true. There were moments in this narrative, as the
two main characters began to reveal piece of themselves
to each other I actually paused and took a breath.
It felt like I was trespassing on intimacy, and man, does
that take craft. I am in awe of Halverson's work here.
I'd absolutely recommend ALL THE WINTERS AFTER for anyone
who loves
life-like descriptions (there's definitely more narrative
than dialogue) and rich worlds.
That's what Kachemak Winkel's mother used to tell him. A
lot
of mistakes were made that awful day twenty years ago, when
she died in a plane crash with Kache's father and
brother--and Kache still feels responsible. He fled Alaska
for good, but now his aunt Snag insists on his return. She
admits she couldn't bring herself to check on his family's
house in the woods--not even once since he's been gone.
Kache is sure the cabin has decayed into a pile of logs,
but
he finds smoke rising from the chimney and a mysterious
Russian woman hiding from her own troubled past. Nadia has
kept the house exactly the same--a haunting museum of life
before the crash. And she's stayed there, afraid and
utterly
isolated, for ten years.
Set in the majestic, dangerous beauty of Alaska, All the
Winters After is the story of two bound souls trying to
free
themselves, searching for family and forgiveness.
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