Winner of the Minnesota Book Award and a2022 Great Group Reads Selection
"The Barrensgrabbed me from the opening pages and never let go."-Michael Punke, author ofThe Revenant

Two young women attending college decide to have a summer adventure canoeing the rapids-strewn Thelon River that runs 450 miles through the uninhabited Barren Lands of subarctic Canada. Holly made the trip once before with a group of skilled paddlers she trained with at camp, and she wants to share that experience with her friend and lover, Lee, believing it will draw them closer. But a week in, Holly, the risk-taker, falls while taking a selfie near the edge of a cliff. She is left injured and comatose, and soon dies. Their locator beacon for summoning rescue was smashed in Holly's fall. It remains to Lee, the inexperienced paddler, to continue the grueling and dangerous trip alone, to save herself and return her lover's body to civilization and Holly's family.

In their relationship, Holly and Lee had always told each other stories; Lee had called Holly a "storyist." Storytelling helps Lee endure the rigors of her journey and engage her grief as she explores her relationship with Holly while chronicling her own coming-of-age off the grid in Nebraska with her estranged eco-anarchist father, who is now serving time in prison.

About the Author

Kurt Johnsongrew up spending summers on a remote island near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, first with his parents and later with his wife, Stephanie, and then their daughter, Ellie. He lives in Minneapolis.

Ellie Johnson paddled the 450-mile Thelon River with three other women at the age of seventeen. The novel is based in part on that canoe trip as well as her real-life experiences growing up as a gay woman. Ellie is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota and lives in St. Paul.

Book Information
ISBN 9781950994489
Author Kurt Johnson
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint Arcade Publishing
Publisher Skyhorse Publishing
Weight(grams) 403g
Dimensions(mm) 209mm * 139mm * 18mm