July 24th, 2025, Dreamland Staff Pick by Jessica Peck

A few months ago, I went to the library to pick up some books I had placed on hold (side note: don’t libraries rule?!), and there was a short story collection in the stack that, try as I might to remember, I have no idea how it ended up on my holds list. The book was a collection by author Leigh Newman called “Nobody Gets Out Alive.” I’m not one to question bookish magic or serendipity, so I started reading the first story when I got home and was completely surprised to realize it was set in Alaska. 

In Nobody Gets Out Alive, each story centers on a different woman living, and sometimes just surviving, in Alaska. The stories span from as far back as 1915 to contemporary Alaska, with stops in the 1970s and ’80s along the way. They touch on everything from single motherhood to climate change. These aren’t tales of survival in the traditional wilderness sense, although there are moose, bears, and snowmachines. They are stories about heartbreak, strange and wonderful found families, money troubles, trauma, longing, and finding a way forward when life has knocked you sideways. 

One story takes place in a 1915 railroad camp, where an heiress puts on an entire theatrical production in an attempt to seduce the wife of her husband’s boss. Another follows a woman trying to sell her rundown lake house, complete with a “wolf room” and expired caribou meat in the freezer. One story is told through a series of voices as they drive along the ALCAN. Some characters appear across multiple stories, while others stand on their own, but they are all shaped by the place they live. That place happens to be one I love, which made the random arrival of this book feel even more like bookish magic. 

It was a joy to read about Alaska in a way that didn’t feel like it was trying to explain the state to someone who had never been here. In fact, I felt like I had found a kindred spirit in Newman. Her writing reminded me of something I sometimes forget, especially in the middle of long winters. It is such a rare and wild thing to live in Alaska. Life is happening here just like anywhere else — people fall in love, fall apart, pay bills, raise kids, chase joy, grieve, mess up, try again. But all of that unfolds against a backdrop that still feels like a fairytale to me. The mountains. The ocean. Baby moose in the yard. Daylight that can’t make up its mind whether it wants to stay with us forever or disappear completely. Newman understood that, and she put it into words in a way that… well, it felt like magic. And yes, I know I keep saying that. Maybe sorcery? No, too scary. It was pure bookish magic. 

We just got copies of “Nobody Gets Out Alive” at Dreamland, and if you want to read it, too, I’d be so happy to press one into your hands. I’ll probably hand you a few other short story collections I’ve loved this year while I’m at it. They’re strange and beautiful in their own ways, and honestly, a little bit magical, too. 

Happy reading, 

Jess