Homestead

Homestead opens in Anchorage in 1956, where Marie and Lawrence meet at the Moose Lodge and are drawn to each other at once. Within days they decide to marry, and what binds them is less each other than the promise of homesteading in Alaska.

For Lawrence, a 150-acre parcel is a chance to belong at last in a world that has never kept its promises to him. For Marie, the land offers a way out of the empty future she sees ahead, and a risky bet seems better than none.

Over the next few years the couple work the land to earn the deed to their homestead, and in doing so they must confront everything they do not know about each other. As the Territory of Alaska moves toward statehood and sweeping change, the question is whether Marie and Lawrence can build something new or will break apart in the attempt.

Melinda Moustakis's novel is an unflinching portrait of a new state and of the hard, gritty work of making a family.