The Lone Husky by Hannah Gold is the wonderful new instalment of April Wood’s adventures in Svalbard. Readers will remember April from Hannah’s phenomenal earlier books, The Last Bear and Finding Bear. In this book, April once again has to draw on her reserves of courage and bravery for an experience unlike any other.
This is the fifth of Hannah’s environmental novels and like all the others, this is an absolute page-turner and one that makes for perfect reading as we head into the winter months. Illustrations once again come from the brilliant Levi Pinfold. Please note that the following review contains spoilers.
About The Lone Husky
“April saw the husky’s eyes were not just blue. They were lost. The same lost she had been once upon a time, before she’d found Bear, before she’d found her purpose in life. Before she’d found love.”
April Wood has a new role in this novel – she’s helping Hedda look after her huskies. One day a new husky arrives, but this one has had sad life experiences and is wary of humans. With patience and love, April manages to earn his trust. But no one believes that this husky can be a sled dog. No one, apart from April. Named Blaze, this lone husky forms an unbreakable bond with April.
“’Hedda has a name for what me and you have,’ April murmured. ‘She says we have a forever bond. Do you know what that is? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime connection between a human and an animal.”
Hedda is due to take part in an inaugural sled race against her arch rival, Ace Hudson, but when disaster strikes, it’s April who rises to the challenge against the younger Finn Hudson. And by her side is the husky that almost everyone had given up on. Everyone, but April.
The Lone Husky and Cli-Fi
“One Team, One Dream.”
Hannah’s novels have strong environmental themes running through them. The Lone Husky contains cli-fi themes which show how the climate crisis is impacting the Arctic:
- “’The research findings were sobering,’ he said with a deep sigh. ‘The loss of so much ice is affecting the survival rate of the cubs more than we thought.’”
- “The hot weather was a stark reminder of the rising temperatures that were causing the glaciers to melt. Slowly but steadily, the glaciers were getting smaller and smaller year on year. Until one day, there would be none left at all.”
I believe Hannah’s award-winning and beautifully written books can help shift the trajectory we’re on, towards a brighter future.
Summary
“We might struggle to change the world by ourselves but we can do it by sticking to our values and by working together.”
Humanity has entered unchartered territory. It was recently confirmed by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, that we’ve missed the Paris climate goal of limiting temperature rises to 1.5C. Thus, climate instability will worsen, jeopardising more lives. In addition, threats posed by AI simultaneously risk social upheaval.
It feels like a very daunting point in humanity’s history. We are allowing governments to jeopardise our collective future. The only way things will change is if enough people demand that governments act on the many crises we now face. In order for people to realise that change is needed, they first need to be made aware of the issues we face.
Hannah’s novels do a stellar job of educating readers about the climate and environmental crises. I therefore wholeheartedly recommend all her novels including The Lone Husky, and it’s my sincerest hope that they’ll help shift momentum towards a better future, which is still within our grasp.
My reviews of Hannah’s other books can be found here:
My cli-fi children’s picture book, Nanook and the Melting Arctic is available from Amazon, including Amazon UK and Amazon US. My eco-fiction children’s picture book, Hedgey-A and the Honey Bees about how pesticides affect bees, is available on Amazon’s global stores including Amazon UK and Amazon US.