The Great Alone characters

Also known as Leni

Appears from the start

The thirteen-year-old daughter of Ernt and Cora Allbright. Repeated moves and her parents' turbulent marriage have made her observant and self-contained. She hopes that Alaska will give the family a lasting home, even as she recognizes how quickly her father's moods can change.

Appears from the start

Leni's mother, who became pregnant as a teenager and left a privileged family to marry Ernt. Glamorous, impulsive, and fiercely attached to her husband, she repeatedly assures Leni that love can carry them through his instability.

Appears from the start

Leni's father, a Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war who struggles with nightmares, anger, and an inability to keep steady work. He believes an inherited homestead in remote Alaska offers the family a chance to live freely and start over.

Also known as Large Marge

First appears in chapter 4

A former lawyer who runs the general store in Kaneq. Physically imposing, capable, and direct, she is among the neighbors who help the unprepared Allbrights make their inherited cabin habitable before winter.

First appears in chapter 4

A prosperous homesteader and widowed father who owns the local saloon and has invested in Kaneq's future. Generous with supplies and practical help, he represents a cooperative vision of the community that conflicts with Ernt's suspicion of outsiders.

First appears in chapter 4

Tom Walker's son and Leni's only classmate when she arrives in Kaneq. Friendly, confident, and thoroughly at home in the Alaskan wilderness, he becomes her guide to both the school and the surrounding country.

Also known as Mad Earl

First appears in chapter 5

The father of Ernt's late army friend Bo Harlan and the patriarch of a family living beyond town. He distrusts government and modern society and encourages Ernt to prepare for violent threats he believes are coming.

First appears in chapter 6

Tom Walker's companion and Matthew's kind, warmhearted mother. She welcomes Leni and Cora into her home and offers them a glimpse of a secure family life in Alaska.

First appears in chapter 2

Ernt's deceased friend from Vietnam, whose family leaves Ernt a cabin and land near Kaneq. Though absent from the present action, Bo's generosity is the reason the Allbrights travel north and gives Ernt an immediate connection to the Harlan family.

Also known as MJ

First appears in chapter 29

Leni's young son, named for Matthew. He grows up in Seattle surrounded by Cora's love and by stories that leave much of his Alaskan family history unexplained.