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This Tender Land: A Novel

In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota’s Gilead River, Odie O’Banion is an orphan confined to the Lincoln Indian Training School, a pitiless place where his lively nature earns him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee after committing a terrible crime, he and his brother, Albert, their best friend, Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own. Over the course of one summer, these four orphans journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

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464 pages

Average rating: 8.05

620 RATINGS

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16 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

LTC
Nov 20, 2024
Book #50: Both Kelly and Karen nominated. This meeting was hosted via Zoom!
spoko
Oct 21, 2024
6/10 stars
The writing style was pretty blunt and a bit heavy-handed, and it sometimes felt like the author was playing Marginalized-Identities Bingo (I completed my G column with the Catholic-Jewish lesbian couple, for what it’s worth).

But I was reading it for a book club, and it wasn’t bad enough that I decided not to bother. If that sounds like mediocre praise, well.
Writer13
Jun 13, 2024
6/10 stars
**review coming soon**
margardenlady
Dec 27, 2023
10/10 stars
I was captivated by the story of these 4 orphans’ adventure in 1932. The boys escape from an abusive ‘Indian School’ and bring an orphaned little girl with them. Through their eyes we experience life on the hobo circuit, in Hoovertowns, tent revivals and on the river. The descriptions are engrossing and the kids form deep bonds with one another on their pilgrimage to find adult family to guide them.
KikiStoneCreek
Jun 03, 2023
10/10 stars
I loved reading this book! It was a marvelous adventure. Some people might call it a coming of age book, but I saw it more as a look into the souls of four beautiful beautiful characters. This is definitely one of my favorite books.

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