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Tara Neilson reflects on a childhood spent in the wilderness, preparing for the apocalypse. * Literary Hub * Describes an upbringing in which the realities and challenges of subsistence living coincided with memorable adventures and natural wonder. * Library Journal * When 9 year-old Tara Neilson, parents, and 4 young siblings moved out to an abandoned cannery near Wrangell in 1980, they were resettling a piece of Alaska history. Canneries were the engines that drove the coastal economy for a good century, and when refrigeration allowed canneries to move into town, many, essentially whole little villages in the wilderness, were abandoned overnight. Tara's dad worked at a distant logging camp, boated home for weekends, Mom did what she could. But as Tara puts it, the kids turned feral. Lucky for us, young Tara kept a journal: of adventures, of new skills learned, some small: how to make Walkman batteries last longer. But some critical: how to safely drive a small boat full of siblings through rough waters, how to deal with bears on the trail home. But her book is also a reflection on place: the aura of the cannery that surrounded them, the children wondering about the immigrants from many countries who spent so much of their lives there. Neilson completes the circle by finding and sharing accounts of the lives of some of those workers. All in all Raised in Ruins is a rich look at unique Alaskan lives with a fascinating bit of history thrown in as well! * Joe Upton, author <i>Alaska Blues</i> *

Tara Neilson reflects on a childhood spent in the wilderness, preparing for the apocalypse. * Literary Hub * If anyone doubts that children are resilient, capable of handling a harsh environment and sometimes fragile family circumstances with their love for the outdoors and family intact, this book proves that they are - or at least can be. . . While Raised in Ruins is her first book, we can hope for much more from this attentive, compassionate, imaginative, resourceful and very skillful writer. * Raised in Ruins * Describes an upbringing in which the realities and challenges of subsistence living coincided with memorable adventures and natural wonder. * Library Journal * When 9 year-old Tara Neilson, parents, and 4 young siblings moved out to an abandoned cannery near Wrangell in 1980, they were resettling a piece of Alaska history. Canneries were the engines that drove the coastal economy for a good century, and when refrigeration allowed canneries to move into town, many, essentially whole little villages in the wilderness, were abandoned overnight. Tara's dad worked at a distant logging camp, boated home for weekends, Mom did what she could. But as Tara puts it, the kids turned feral. Lucky for us, young Tara kept a journal: of adventures, of new skills learned, some small: how to make Walkman batteries last longer. But some critical: how to safely drive a small boat full of siblings through rough waters, how to deal with bears on the trail home. But her book is also a reflection on place: the aura of the cannery that surrounded them, the children wondering about the immigrants from many countries who spent so much of their lives there. Neilson completes the circle by finding and sharing accounts of the lives of some of those workers. All in all Raised in Ruins is a rich look at unique Alaskan lives with a fascinating bit of history thrown in as well! * Joe Upton, author <i>Alaska Blues</i> *

When 9 year-old Tara Neilson, parents, and 4 young siblings moved out to an abandoned cannery near Wrangell in 1980, they were resettling a piece of Alaska history. Canneries were the engines that drove the coastal economy for a good century, and when refrigeration allowed canneries to move into town, many, essentially whole little villages in the wilderness, were abandoned overnight. Tara's dad worked at a distant logging camp, boated home for weekends, Mom did what she could. But as Tara puts it, the kids turned feral. Lucky for us, young Tara kept a journal: of adventures, of new skills learned, some small: how to make Walkman batteries last longer. But some critical: how to safely drive a small boat full of siblings through rough waters, how to deal with bears on the trail home. But her book is also a reflection on place: the aura of the cannery that surrounded them, the children wondering about the immigrants from many countries who spent so much of their lives there. Neilson completes the circle by finding and sharing accounts of the lives of some of those workers. All in all Raised in Ruins is a rich look at unique Alaskan lives with a fascinating bit of history thrown in as well! * Joe Upton, author <i>Alaska Blues</i> *

If anyone doubts that children are resilient, capable of handling a harsh environment and sometimes fragile family circumstances with their love for the outdoors and family intact, this book proves that they are - or at least can be. . . While Raised in Ruins is her first book, we can hope for much more from this attentive, compassionate, imaginative, resourceful and very skillful writer. * <b>Anchorage Daily News</b> * Tara Neilson reflects on a childhood spent in the wilderness, preparing for the apocalypse. * <b>Literary Hub</b> * Unique Childhood: A Memoir of Escape and Home. As a kid living the frontier life in the ruins of an old cannery in southeast Alaska with her family, Tara Neilson discovered the joys of roaming free, the hard work of homeschooling, and the challenges of existing outside of society's lines. Raised in Ruins takes readers on a journey only Neilson can tell, through adventures with siblings, her parents' relationships to work and wilderness, surviving bear encounters, and how the author formed her unique perception of time. Sprinkled throughout with bits of regional and cannery history, this memoir paints a picture of a time and place forever. * <b>Alaska Magazine</b> * When 9 year-old Tara Neilson, parents, and 4 young siblings moved out to an abandoned cannery near Wrangell in 1980, they were resettling a piece of Alaska history. Canneries were the engines that drove the coastal economy for a good century, and when refrigeration allowed canneries to move into town, many, essentially whole little villages in the wilderness, were abandoned overnight. Tara's dad worked at a distant logging camp, boated home for weekends, Mom did what she could. But as Tara puts it, the kids turned feral. Lucky for us, young Tara kept a journal: of adventures, of new skills learned, some small: how to make Walkman batteries last longer. But some critical: how to safely drive a small boat full of siblings through rough waters, how to deal with bears on the trail home. But her book is also a reflection on place: the aura of the cannery that surrounded them, the children wondering about the immigrants from many countries who spent so much of their lives there. Neilson completes the circle by finding and sharing accounts of the lives of some of those workers. All in all Raised in Ruins is a rich look at unique Alaskan lives with a fascinating bit of history thrown in as well! * <b>Joe Upton, author <i>Alaska Blues</i></b> * Describes an upbringing in which the realities and challenges of subsistence living coincided with memorable adventures and natural wonder. * <b>Library Journal</b> *

Author Information

Tara Neilson is a writer and editor best known for her popular blog Alaska For Real, which she created in response to the Alaska Bush People. A column based on her blog appeared in Capital City Weekly and the Juneau Empire. She was also a professional freelance book editor and has been published in Alaska Magazine, Writer’s Digest, Northwest Boat & Travel, and more. Tara lives off the grid in a floathouse in Alaska.

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