No Fences in Alaska - Overview

No Fences in Alaska by Glen Sobey is about a sixteen-year-old rebellious teenage girl named Harper whose life choices and actions alienates her from her immediate family and also culminates in an unplanned pregnancy. It’s an inspiring story of a brave young mom who manages to grow in grace and wisdom as the unexpected new life grows within her.  It is a coming of age novel overflowing with encouragement for any teenager going through or involved in a similar situation.

The story weaves together the lives of two individuals at opposite ends of life’s journey; young beautiful Harper is blossoming with new life while her grandfather, Cooper, is fading away in the winter of his existence.  Cooper is dealing with the first stages of dementia and his inevitable demise, while Harper is discovering what it means to bring forth new life into the world.

Since discovering her pregnancy, her previous carefree life has radically changed. Her new situation will be the impetus that moves her from a gated Texas community in San Antonio, a city of malls, fast food restaurants and one point five million residents to a small town in Alaska where one of her first impressions was seeing an older man and a teenage boy walking down the road with AK47’s slung over their shoulders. Harper was shocked to see people carrying guns in the open and finding out it was legal and common in this new land she was now a part of. To her amazement, her grandfather told her that the boy was given his AK47 as a birthday gift when he was just 13.

Cooper’s relation with his granddaughter is of great importance to him. He was a man who had lived a life focused on the creation of art, literature, and other endeavors involving the creative use of his mind. The fact that he might soon lose those abilities made his time spend with Harper that much more poignant. He wanted to be useful and not thought of as a burden. Also, suicide was festering away in his brain; it was his planned way to exit his time on earth.

There is a great deal of bonding between Harper and Cooper. She learns that granddad was a pot-smoking hippy in his youth and occasionally still partakes in smoking marijuana. In fact, they both share a joint between them on a very eventful hike into the Alaska wild. A journey where she comes face to face with a moose and comes to terms with her predicament.

A new love interest, named Gabriel, enters Harper’s life who unflinchingly embraces the darkest parts of her life and accepts that she is pregnant. Will he ultimately turn out to be like Zachary who treated her only as an object of lust and wanted her to abort the baby?

Sobey transforms Harper through her pregnancy from a rebellious teen to a young woman of beauty, grace, and compassion. He pens a gorgeously written novel on love, loss, family relationships, keeping secrets, and most of all, love. This dazzling novel dares us to understand the fragility of life, the intimate losses, the small battles, and the daily human triumphs that change us the most. “Masterful!”