Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness

“𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝.”—Robert SpechtTisha is the true story of a young schoolteacher, Anne Hobbs, in the 1920s, who ventures into the Alaskan wilderness, to the small town of Chicken, to run a school. It illustrates the hardships she faced both in the unforgivable environment, and with the people themselves. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking. Mostly, it was eye-opening and instructive. Anne was threatened, mistreated, and scorned for doing what was right, for allowing Indian school children into her school house, and for falling in love with a half white/half Inuit man, yet, she prevailed and continued fighting.I loved this book; it was my second time reading it. I read it back in high school, and it was impactful then, but it was more impactful now. Anne is nineteen when she leaves the states in search of adventure. She’s called to teach in the Alaskan wilderness, during a time of monumental change in Alaska. It’s very much America’s final frontier, and there’s a huge gold rush boom. What Anne discovers is the brutal life led by both the immigrants and natives, and the deep prejudices harbored.I loved Anne’s pure heart. She doesn’t care about a child’s skin color; everyone has a right to an education. She opens her schoolroom for native Inuit children and she’s punished for it. The people of Chicken don’t agree with her, and they don’t want their white children in the same room as “savages.” Seeing how deep these prejudices were, was often very hard to read. The Alaskan wilderness is unforgivable, and losing the support of her small town became a life or death situation, in a place where temperatures drop to 50 below. Yet, Anne never compromises on what is right.“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬--𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝. 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩.” —Robert SpechtThere was a heavy sense of helplessness throughout the story. Anne is a petite, nineteen year old woman facing off against some really mean people who could seriously harm her. She’s mistreated for doing what’s right. And when she begins to fall in love with a half white/half inuit man, she’s threatened, even shunned. This was often difficult to read.But, there are some extremely heart warming events in this book, too. Especially between Anne and her school children. Those moments made the book easier to stomach.It claims to be a “love story” and while there is a love story present, it’s not the center of Anne’s story. There’s so much more to it than that. This book gives a real look at the harsh aspects of frontier life. The way people “survived” and how hard they had to be. It also illustrated the consequences of the white man on the Indian people, and how destructive the white man was to their culture:“𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤. 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧’𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤. 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫, 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫, 𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐬—𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭.” —Robert SpechtI don’t normally go for memoirs/biographies. This is written really well, reads like a genuine novel, and transports you to a different time, a different world, a different way of life. Highly recommend for people of all ages, even if you don’t normally enjoy biographies (I sure don’t, normally!)

This book tells the many stories of a young first time teacher in the many challenges of the Alaska bush country … before the time of modern conveniences. The stories of overcoming prejudices and persevering when you have faith you are doing the right thing are just amazing. This was a fabulous story!! I wish there was a part 2!

I love to read true stories about people and their lives. An extra plus is learning about a new place. I had not read much about Alaska at all. Learning about the people there was very interesting. Set long ago it was neat to learn of another time. I just loved reading this and it was always something I couldn’t wait to get back to.

This was such a great book! Her strength and maturity were incredible, especially for the era she moved to Alaska. It did move a little bit slow in a few places, thus four instead of five stars. So worth the time I spent reading this book!

The goodness of one person's heart helped soften biases and change people's lives, especially the children she adopted.Good explanation of differing culture views of the world.

There was nothing to dislike...I bought this book secondhand as we had lived in Alaska plus the comments were all excellent. It takes someone who has really lived to tell a story repeated to someone else, that someone else is Robert Specht the author, a superb story teller who can and does relate to his subject and her life in Alaska Nineteen-year-old teacher, Ann Hobbs, the protagonist. Hang on as Specht sails into our lives with her story.I can't recall ever in my 80+ years, of reading a book with such a temporal subject and adventure having such an effect on me. Our daughter who is wife, mother, teacher and successful actress felt the same as I and other commenters do.Find a copy of Tisha by Robert Specht to read, you’ll be glad you did.JM Stephens

From the beginning I found myself engaged in this true story. It’s an easy and interesting read. And the story gets better and better as it goes along until it’s so riveting I just had to finish the book before I could put it down. By the end, I felt like I had lived in this tiny village.

Wonderful writing; unique history.

It was very hard for me to finish this book. The story is kind of repetitive and you need a lot of effort to hold your attention

Thank you for your great delivery of this great book. I ordered a second-hand hard-backed copy and it is in great condition and impressed it was formerly a library book complete with ticket holder inside. The price is very good too and as I got this for a present my friend is really impressed too.

I liked this book but I would have liked to know what happened to people in the book...ie..baby Patricia and her mother....

I love this book, I first got a paperback copy in the late 1970s. I read it so much I wore my first copy out and had to buy another! I've read it at least once a year, it's one of those stories that takes you through a whole raft of emotions and is set against a fascinating backdrop. I love all the characters even the ones that make you want to scream at their injustice and prejudice. I was delighted to find Tisha was now available on kindle and having just read it for the first time in that format know that I will be revisiting it again many times in the future.

Excellent biography. Truly enjoyed this story of whites and Indians and the bigotry that existed. Outstanding woman. Truly courageous, how blessed her children were