In this exhilarating and lyrical historical novel inspired by true events, a girl develops a profound bond with a freedom-loving horse marooned on Alaska’s remote Katmai Coast.

In 1956, a foundering barge caught in a violent storm strands a quarter-horse stallion named Takli on Alaska’s remote Katmai Coast. Resisting all rescue attempts, he lives eighteen years on his own in the wild: surviving marauding grizzly bears, the brutal elements, and even a tsunami that followed the great 1964 Alaska Earthquake. To locals, he’s a miracle and a legend. To Willow Mackenzie, Takli is more.

Every summer, the strong-willed young woman treks to Takli’s rugged home on the far-flung coastline. Raised on a backwoods ranch in Homer, studying music in Seattle, and striving for her own independence, Willow marvels at her beautiful friend’s resilience. It’s something she’ll need in the wake of a devastating tragedy that strikes Willow’s family and sends her spiraling into grief and guilt.

Over the years, Takli’s survival inspires Willow to bear her losses, navigate her own yearning for freedom, and understand the pull and the power of nature in the last frontier.

Neil Christian Johannsen grew up on a working ranch in Northern California. As a youth he delivered newspapers from horseback and learned to fly a bush plane out of a pasture. After earning a master’s in forestry/outdoor recreation, he worked as a park ranger, artist, writer, and skipper of offshore sailboats, building his own thirty-footer to sail wild Alaskan waters. He served as deputy director of California State Parks and, as the longest-serving director of Alaska State Parks, earned a commendation from the Alaska legislature for establishing fifty parks. He oversaw preservation of millions of acres of scenic and recreation areas and historic sites in Alaska, and later consulted on nationally protected lands in Europe, South America, and Russia. Neil has written for national magazines and coauthored a guide to exploring Prince William Sound. He and his wife, Hilary Hilscher, live with two cats on an island in the Pacific Northwest. For more information, visit www.nearthewildheart.com.