The Thelon River in northern Canada offers 500 miles of wild barren landscape. For Ellie Johnson the area yielded a 45-day teenaged-adventure of isolation that ultimately became the resource for the novel The Barrens credited to Ellie and her father Kurt Johnson.
In The Barrens, Lee and Holly set out on the same route taken by Ellie, but the journey is not the adventure they were hoping for. After an accident, Lee finds herself working alone with help nowhere close. Speaking from experience, Ellie recounts the feelings of being far from aid. "I'm not only hours from the nearest hospital... I'm days," says Ellie. "You just have to keep your head down and keep moving."
The father-daughter duo also took efforts to highlight the lives of Holly and Lee beyond the wild environment that makes up the plot. "There were a lot of beers involved," says Kurt Johnson about the conversations that focused on the more intimate details include those regarding sexuality.
The Barrens can be found locally. "They carry it at both Fitger's and Zenith," says Kurt Johnson. "We like to support the local bookstores." The novel is also availableonline.
Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
