The Great Alone

by Kristin Hannah

you don’t stop loving a person when they’re hurt. You get stronger so they can lean on you.

All this time, Dad had taught Leni how dangerous the outside world was. The truth was that the biggest danger of all was in her own home.

Mostly he was afraid for Leni, because no matter how this all worked out, no matter if she did everything perfectly and got away and saved her mom, Leni’s heart would always have a broken place. It didn’t matter how you lost a parent or how great or shitty that parent was, a kid grieved forever.

Her hair looked like shavings from an Etch A Sketch that had been glued to her skull.