The Bear

By Andrew Krivak

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From National Book Award in Fiction finalist Andrew Krivak comes a gorgeous fable of Earth's last two human inhabitants, and a girl's journey home

In an Edenic future, a girl and her father live close to the land in the shadow of a lone mountain. They possess a few remnants of civilization: some books, a pane of glass, a set of flint and steel, a comb. The father teaches the girl how to fish and hunt, the secrets of the seasons and the stars. He is preparing her for an adulthood in harmony with nature, for they are the last of humankind. But when the girl finds herself alone in an unknown landscape, it is a bear that will lead her back home through a vast wilderness that offers the greatest lessons of all, if she can only learn to listen.

A cautionary tale of human fragility, of love and loss, The Bear is a stunning tribute to the beauty of nature's dominion.

Andrew Krivak is the author of two previous novels: The Signal Flame, a Chautauqua Prize finalist, and The Sojourn, a National Book Award finalist and winner of both the Chautauqua Prize and Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He lives with his wife and three children in Somerville, Massachusetts, and Jaffrey, New Hampshire, in the shadow of Mount Monadnock, which inspired much of the landscape in The Bear.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1942658702
• ISBN13: 9781942658702
• Release Date: February 2020
• Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.9" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

The story was such a surprise as I didn’t know the premise when I picked it up. Truly a lovely story

I loved how gentle it was. Sweet and real.

This is a story to keep you reading it, then to make you think about it

In a future world, only one man and his young daughter survive. They have a cabin somewhere in the mountains. They manage fairly well, hunting and foraging as needed, and having a very few tools left from before. Eventually they need to leave, traveling through a wilderness and encountering various animals. A tragic event casts a major challenge for the girl's survival. . . . The writing is a bit spare but manages to be really informative. I found The Bear quite interesting and worthwhile. (I don't want to scare you away, but it was educational, too.)

Such a good read

Beautiful, moving, thoughtful and simple in the best of ways. Such a good read.