In the Distance

Published in 2017, Hernan Diaz’s In the Distance is an adult historical fiction/Western adventure novel. Håkan Söderström, a young Swedish immigrant, travels across the American frontier during the 19th century in search of his brother. Along the way, he faces a myriad of challenges, both natural and human-made, while becoming an unwilling legend known as “the Hawk.” In the Distance explores themes of isolation, myths, and transformation. The novel was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the William Saroyan International Prize, the Cabell Award, the Prix Page America, and the New American Voices Award.

Citations in this study guide refer to the e-book edition released by Coffee House Press in 2017.

Content Warning: The source material contains depictions of violence, sexual abuse, and substance abuse. Additionally, the source material uses outdated terms for Indigenous people throughout, which is replicated in this guide only in direct quotes of the source material.

Plot Summary

When the novel opens, Håkan Söderström is already an old man and a living legend. He recounts the story of his life to his fellow passengers aboard an icebound schooner headed for Alaska. Håkan is born to an impoverished family of Swedish farmers. When he is a teenager, his father scrapes together enough money to send him and his older brother, Linus, to New York. However, the two become separated in a busy port city, and Håkan ends up in San Francisco. Håkan resolves to find his brother even if he must walk across the continent alone. He joins a family of Irish immigrants on a prospecting expedition. The father, James Brennan, strikes gold and becomes increasingly cruel and suspicious. A woman from the nearby town of Clangston threatens the Brennans’ children and forcibly buys the mine. Håkan is left behind at the insistence of the amber-haired woman, who holds him captive in an inn and sexually abuses him. After a year of this confinement, one of the woman’s former employees frees Håkan.

Håkan escapes into the desert, where he collapses after days of walking. He is rescued by a kindly Scottish naturalist named John Lorimer who is on a scientific quest to prove that humans evolved from ancient aquatic organisms. Håkan, Lorimer, and the scientist’s convoy nearly perish on the barren salt flats, and Lorimer develops heatstroke. After the convoy returns to the plains, Håkan nurses Lorimer back to health, and they come across an Indigenous American village that has been attacked by white men. Lorimer and Håkan decide to stay and treat the wounded, most of whom survive. One of the patients offers to take Lorimer back to the salt flats, and Håkan continues his journey eastward with his friend’s blessing.

During his trek across the desert, his pony falls ill, and Håkan puts the animal out of its misery. The sand gives way to grasslands, and he finds a trail used by immigrants. A man named Jarvis Pickett persuades Håkan to be his bodyguard by promising him a horse. Jarvis is the leader of a wagon train, and some of the families following him suspect that he is trying to swindle them. After Jarvis persuades the travelers to leave the trail, they are attacked by raiders who call themselves the Soldiers of Jehu. A woman named Helen, whom Håkan has feelings for, is among those murdered. Despairing, Håkan kills many of the raiders, forcing the rest to retreat. After burying Helen, Håkan takes one of the dead raiders’ horses and leaves the wagon train.

Stricken by guilt and grief, Håkan wanders aimlessly for weeks. When he returns to the trail to purchase supplies, some of the pioneers recognize him from the stories about the Hawk. The idea that strangers know of the lives he’s taken fills him with burning shame, but some of the pioneers see him as a hero and give him supplies as well as their thanks. Håkan spends the winter alone, fashioning a coat from a mountain lion pelt and other skins to protect him from the cold. In the spring, he comes across a cheerful village, but the thought of having to speak to another person causes him to flee in terror. He feels as though he can never face his brother and abandons his journey. In the summer, a near-death experience caused by a venomous snake bite makes Håkan realize he wants to live, and he resumes his quest to find Linus.

The next winter, Håkan enters a city and has his first human interactions in several seasons. A cruel and greedy sheriff arrests him, claiming that he is responsible for all of the deaths in the attack on the wagon train. The sheriff intends to take Håkan to Illinois for trial and execution, but one of his deputies, a man named Asa, knows that Håkan is innocent and helps him escape. Håkan slowly falls in love with the kind and gentle Asa as they travel westward. One day, Asa tumbles down a cliff and breaks his leg. As he tends to the injured man, Håkan realizes that Asa has replaced Linus as his source of comfort and safety. The men try to evade their pursuers by hiding in a canyon, but Asa is discovered by a group of riders and killed.

After Asa’s death, Håkan spends many years living alone in an earthen maze of his own construction. One day, a group of men, including former Union and Confederate soldiers, discover his burrow and try to recruit the living legend for their gang. When he refuses, they threaten to turn him in for the bounty on his head. Håkan uses a sedative to render the men unconscious and flees.

Filled with a new sense of purpose, he decides to head west, dig up Brennan’s hidden gold, make his way to San Francisco, and sail to New York. However, Clangston has turned into an enormous, bustling city, and Brennan’s trove has been lost in the development of the sprawling mines. Håkan meets a wealthy Finnish captain who offers him passage to Alaska on one of his ships. After recounting his life story to some of his fellow passengers, he climbs over the side of the ship and begins to walk across the ice in the direction of Sweden.