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The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Pianos
In the far reaches of the Territory of the Arctic, the Spahr family lives on a fjord accessible only by kayak and float plane, in a landscape rapidly changing as glaciers melt and sea levels rise. Their home is Jubilation House, aptly they are a family of free spirit and full-hearted love, descendants of the homesteaders who came to this place in a reckless scheme to civilize the Glacial Front. They live off the grid in a converted fisherman's shack, selling pickled octopus and sea crops, barely scraping by. With every day, their livelihood seems ever more precarious.
Then one of their few neighbors dredges up a centuries-old piano, a vestige from the original homesteading expedition, when every family was required to haul a six-hundred-pound instrument as a sign of mannerly society—almost none made it to their final destination. Now, this intricately carved beauty has emerged, perfectly preserved from the frigid Arctic waters, and the antique treasure becomes a priceless collectors’ item. A new economic boom seizes the territory—piano hunting—and the Spahrs throw themselves into the quest with full-throated aplomb. But the costs of their possible salvation soon begin to mount.
The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Pianos travels through generations, backward to the Spahrs’ homesteader origins and forward to their descendants, eccentrics and optimists all. In a voice as buoyant and vibrant as the characters themselves, Kendra Langford Shaw gives us an unforgettable and inventive ode to the abiding love of family and pull of home, even as the home we love becomes ever more challenging to inhabit.
Then one of their few neighbors dredges up a centuries-old piano, a vestige from the original homesteading expedition, when every family was required to haul a six-hundred-pound instrument as a sign of mannerly society—almost none made it to their final destination. Now, this intricately carved beauty has emerged, perfectly preserved from the frigid Arctic waters, and the antique treasure becomes a priceless collectors’ item. A new economic boom seizes the territory—piano hunting—and the Spahrs throw themselves into the quest with full-throated aplomb. But the costs of their possible salvation soon begin to mount.
The Pillagers' Guide to Arctic Pianos travels through generations, backward to the Spahrs’ homesteader origins and forward to their descendants, eccentrics and optimists all. In a voice as buoyant and vibrant as the characters themselves, Kendra Langford Shaw gives us an unforgettable and inventive ode to the abiding love of family and pull of home, even as the home we love becomes ever more challenging to inhabit.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 150 reviews
May 20, 2026
Very quirky family saga type story, but way too slow & long. The setting was very cool!!
July 21, 2026
In Kendra Langford Shaw’s novel, The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos, readers meet the Spahrs, Viola and Fry,and their kids, Milda,Finley and Temperance.
Generations before them, their grandparents and other families, struck out on a grueling adventure to homestead in the Arctic Territory,with high hopes to establish a civilized community there.
These people were brave.
They all had hopes and dreams,and people who loved them.
“Once upon a time, there lived a family”.
To life, courage,and perseverance!
I recommend this book,and look forward to more from this author.
🌺 Read what you love! 🌺
Generations before them, their grandparents and other families, struck out on a grueling adventure to homestead in the Arctic Territory,with high hopes to establish a civilized community there.
These people were brave.
They all had hopes and dreams,and people who loved them.
“Once upon a time, there lived a family”.
To life, courage,and perseverance!
I recommend this book,and look forward to more from this author.
🌺 Read what you love! 🌺
October 12, 2025
I was drawn to this book because of the quirky concept of hunting pianos in the arctic. Usually I stray away from multi-generational novels but this one was an absolute delicacy. I loved the build-up of Arctic culture, as it reminded me a lot of Little House on the Prairie meets Hillbilly Elegy meets—obviously—the Arctic. Farming sea crops and raising octopus as livestock was an immersive experience. And of course, every character having semi-aquatic lifestyles was beautifully rendered across the page. Each character was created with such care, it was hard to let them go, especially when tragedy struck. I loved the pianofortes as a through line throughout each generation—from the founders who brought them to the descendants who hunted, restored, and sold them. I will be keeping an eye out for more from this author.
January 26, 2026
3.75 This was a charming read with a truly whimsical tone that I found very engaging. Getting to know each character was a highlight for me, as they felt well-developed and unique. While the first half pulled me in, the pacing slowed at parts in the latter half. There were also a few unexpected plot developments that didn't quite sit right with me; I found myself wishing for different outcomes as the story concluded. Overall, a solid 3.75-star experience and I wanted to spend more time in this world.
Want to Read
May 18, 2026A family that settles and lives in the Arctic Territory, the fjords that is accessible only by a float place or a kayak. A landscape that is rapidly changing, glaciers melting, sea levels rising...yet they remain afloat for generations. They are the homesteaders that came to civilize the Glacial Font. One day, a centuries old piano is dug up, well preserved from Arctic waters and fully intact, an economic boom seizes the territory. The family is just trying to stay afloat at the edge of a melting world, what has this piano brought down upon them?
Many thanks to NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor and the author, Kendra Langford Shaw for an ARC.
Publication date: May 12, 2026
Many thanks to NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor and the author, Kendra Langford Shaw for an ARC.
Publication date: May 12, 2026
October 22, 2025
ambitny pomysł – arktyczna saga o rodzinie, zatopionych fortepianach i topniejącym świecie, gdzie przeszłość dosłownie wynurza się spod lodu
momentami to działa: klimat, język, wszystkie szczegóły tej osobliwej codzienności. tylko że im dalej, tym bardziej wszystko się rozpada – fabuła tonie w melodramacie (zaczęło mocno zajeżdżać kristin hannah), logika w chaosie (to przyszłość? alternatywna rzeczywistość? czy prawa fizyki istnieją?), a świat w jakiejś dziwnej kolonialnej amnezji (kompletny brak świadomości, że „native settlers” to oksymoron, zwłaszcza w amerykańskim kontekście)
potencjał ogromny, ale potrzebny byłby konkretny i nieustraszony redaktor
momentami to działa: klimat, język, wszystkie szczegóły tej osobliwej codzienności. tylko że im dalej, tym bardziej wszystko się rozpada – fabuła tonie w melodramacie (zaczęło mocno zajeżdżać kristin hannah), logika w chaosie (to przyszłość? alternatywna rzeczywistość? czy prawa fizyki istnieją?), a świat w jakiejś dziwnej kolonialnej amnezji (kompletny brak świadomości, że „native settlers” to oksymoron, zwłaszcza w amerykańskim kontekście)
potencjał ogromny, ale potrzebny byłby konkretny i nieustraszony redaktor
June 7, 2026
I bought this book SOLELY because of the cover and then with a title like that, I was intrigued.
Sadly, this book fell short for me on multiple fronts. The pacing was SLOW and the storyline jumped everywhere. I think every single "chapter" (all of which were VERY long) was from a different person's POV except for the flashback ones from Moose. Which I think is why I enjoyed those portions of the book the most. I struggled to get through this book and was almost relived when it was over because I was having such a hard time with it. There was potential here for sure, and I don't think I would say this book is bad by any means--it just wasn't the right book for me.
Sadly, this book fell short for me on multiple fronts. The pacing was SLOW and the storyline jumped everywhere. I think every single "chapter" (all of which were VERY long) was from a different person's POV except for the flashback ones from Moose. Which I think is why I enjoyed those portions of the book the most. I struggled to get through this book and was almost relived when it was over because I was having such a hard time with it. There was potential here for sure, and I don't think I would say this book is bad by any means--it just wasn't the right book for me.
February 5, 2026
LOVE the concept of this book, didn't totally love the execution. It's set in the Arctic, and it follows the Spahr family, who live largely off the grid. Their son Finley is obsessed with hunting for lost pianos, which were brought to the Arctic by the land's original settlers because of a government incentive intended to promote art in the newly settled society. Since the pianos are artifacts of a bygone era, they can fetch a decent price from collectors/museums that are willing to buy them. When Finley and his sisters' mother dies, and they can no longer rely on the income from the charters she used to take tourists on in her plane, finding these pianos becomes even more crucial.
The timeline of the book jumps a bit all over the place - we follow the Spahrs when their mom is alive, and later in the future when she is no longer with them. We also jump back in time to learn about the Spahr's homesteading ancestor Moose, who was part of the original expeditions into the Arctic with the famous pianos.
Overall, I thought this was a cool concept, and the detailed imagery really created a vivid setting. Yet, I often felt that it was TOO detailed. I didn't know a lot of the words related to sailing and boats and planes and plants and animals, and sometimes I felt like basic actions were described in weirdly convoluted ways. I also felt that the focus on the setting really took away from the characters. There were multiple deaths in this book, and I hardly felt a thing when any of them occurred.
Maybe the "point" of the story wasn't about the characters. But if that's so, I'm not really sure what the alternative point was. So: great writing, somewhat mediocre story in my opinion. But a cool and unique concept! It might really work for others.
The timeline of the book jumps a bit all over the place - we follow the Spahrs when their mom is alive, and later in the future when she is no longer with them. We also jump back in time to learn about the Spahr's homesteading ancestor Moose, who was part of the original expeditions into the Arctic with the famous pianos.
Overall, I thought this was a cool concept, and the detailed imagery really created a vivid setting. Yet, I often felt that it was TOO detailed. I didn't know a lot of the words related to sailing and boats and planes and plants and animals, and sometimes I felt like basic actions were described in weirdly convoluted ways. I also felt that the focus on the setting really took away from the characters. There were multiple deaths in this book, and I hardly felt a thing when any of them occurred.
Maybe the "point" of the story wasn't about the characters. But if that's so, I'm not really sure what the alternative point was. So: great writing, somewhat mediocre story in my opinion. But a cool and unique concept! It might really work for others.
October 3, 2025
"Piano keys. The ivory spine of the Arctic."
Because I read so many Arctic expedition books, I'm uniquely interested in any book that references this area of the world. So imagine my surprise when I was halfheartedly browsing NetGalley and found a fiction book about a homesteading family in the Arctic making a living by selling piano parts, a quirky concept right my my wheelhouse. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into, especially since generational family dramas aren't usually my cup of tea, but I came away from this book incredibly impressed with what I read.
The Spahr family has been homesteading off the grid in the Arctic since their ancestor, Moose, was dragged there reluctantly by his father wanting a better (read: more independent) life for them. At the time, cheap, productive land was promised to anyone willing to make the journey to claim it--provided you're willing to lug an upright piano along. The thinking was a piano meant civility, creativity, a mark of worth, so any family wanting to make this journey to create what was envisioned as an artistic community of like-minded people needed to purchase one and bring it along. So part of this book covers Moose, his family, and the others in their caravan north, and his trials along the way. The other part of this book centers around Milda, Finlay, Temperance, and their parents, descendants of Moose, scratching out a living from Jubilation House, their shelter in the Arctic. While they make a meagre living from what they harvest (octopus, kelp, various plants), What really sets their family on its fateful trajectory is the discovery of a discarded piano. The bulk of this book covers the various family members and how they approach this new industry of the Arctic, the reclamation of piano parts.
I'm gonna save you a Google, because the concept of the book was just plausible enough to make me wonder if the lugging of a piano to the Arctic was an actual thing in history. It is not, as best I can tell.
I don't normally get fully into generational dramas, but something about the Spahr family really had me interested to see how the family ended up. This story is told through chapters involving Moose (the Spahrs' ancestor), and then chapters involving various POVs from the Spahrs and (later) other families that survived. Moose's story is told fragmentally, so you don't get his conclusion until the end of the book, but I appreciated seeing various "clues" along the way from later on.
I got really invested in Milda and Finlay specifically, because (mild character motivations here) . I liked Moose's POV as well, as we get to know the various families that play a part later in the book. I felt really bad for him, swept up as he was by a father who thought he knew best. I wasn't quite as in love with the later POVs, they felt not quite as established as the Spahrs, but I appreciated that they carried the story along to its end and had a purpose.
Really enjoyed this book. Tugs at the heartstrings something terrible as it goes along (MAJOR PLOT SPOILER: ), well written, just a unique story I wasn't sure what to expect going in.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a free eBook in exchange for an honest review.
Because I read so many Arctic expedition books, I'm uniquely interested in any book that references this area of the world. So imagine my surprise when I was halfheartedly browsing NetGalley and found a fiction book about a homesteading family in the Arctic making a living by selling piano parts, a quirky concept right my my wheelhouse. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into, especially since generational family dramas aren't usually my cup of tea, but I came away from this book incredibly impressed with what I read.
The Spahr family has been homesteading off the grid in the Arctic since their ancestor, Moose, was dragged there reluctantly by his father wanting a better (read: more independent) life for them. At the time, cheap, productive land was promised to anyone willing to make the journey to claim it--provided you're willing to lug an upright piano along. The thinking was a piano meant civility, creativity, a mark of worth, so any family wanting to make this journey to create what was envisioned as an artistic community of like-minded people needed to purchase one and bring it along. So part of this book covers Moose, his family, and the others in their caravan north, and his trials along the way. The other part of this book centers around Milda, Finlay, Temperance, and their parents, descendants of Moose, scratching out a living from Jubilation House, their shelter in the Arctic. While they make a meagre living from what they harvest (octopus, kelp, various plants), What really sets their family on its fateful trajectory is the discovery of a discarded piano. The bulk of this book covers the various family members and how they approach this new industry of the Arctic, the reclamation of piano parts.
I'm gonna save you a Google, because the concept of the book was just plausible enough to make me wonder if the lugging of a piano to the Arctic was an actual thing in history. It is not, as best I can tell.
I don't normally get fully into generational dramas, but something about the Spahr family really had me interested to see how the family ended up. This story is told through chapters involving Moose (the Spahrs' ancestor), and then chapters involving various POVs from the Spahrs and (later) other families that survived. Moose's story is told fragmentally, so you don't get his conclusion until the end of the book, but I appreciated seeing various "clues" along the way from later on.
I got really invested in Milda and Finlay specifically, because (mild character motivations here) . I liked Moose's POV as well, as we get to know the various families that play a part later in the book. I felt really bad for him, swept up as he was by a father who thought he knew best. I wasn't quite as in love with the later POVs, they felt not quite as established as the Spahrs, but I appreciated that they carried the story along to its end and had a purpose.
Really enjoyed this book. Tugs at the heartstrings something terrible as it goes along (MAJOR PLOT SPOILER: ), well written, just a unique story I wasn't sure what to expect going in.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a free eBook in exchange for an honest review.
April 29, 2026
{3.5 stars}
Thanks to Pantheon Books for the gifted copy. All opinions below are my own.
This story follows multiple generations of a family in the Arctic as they struggle to find their place and survive in a harsh world. The modern story follows three siblings as they live in their stilted house in fjord accessible only by plane and kayak. They search the landscape for abandoned pianos worth big money based on their parts. Their ancestor Moose, came to this challenging place as a young child with his mother and stepfather hauling their piano. Pianos were required of family's claiming land to prove they were "civilized" so great lengths were taken to move the beheamoth's through the rough terrain ultimately leading to them being abandoned. We get those two timelines and a future one filled with quirky antics, atmospheric descriptions of arctic life and some very hard lessons about survival and grief.
I wanted to love this one more than I did. Once I was over the wonder of it all, it didn't have nearly enough plot for me. Also, I didn't really resonate with any of the characters. It might have been a me thing more than it being an unreadable book but it just felt really meandering at times.
Thanks to Pantheon Books for the gifted copy. All opinions below are my own.
This story follows multiple generations of a family in the Arctic as they struggle to find their place and survive in a harsh world. The modern story follows three siblings as they live in their stilted house in fjord accessible only by plane and kayak. They search the landscape for abandoned pianos worth big money based on their parts. Their ancestor Moose, came to this challenging place as a young child with his mother and stepfather hauling their piano. Pianos were required of family's claiming land to prove they were "civilized" so great lengths were taken to move the beheamoth's through the rough terrain ultimately leading to them being abandoned. We get those two timelines and a future one filled with quirky antics, atmospheric descriptions of arctic life and some very hard lessons about survival and grief.
I wanted to love this one more than I did. Once I was over the wonder of it all, it didn't have nearly enough plot for me. Also, I didn't really resonate with any of the characters. It might have been a me thing more than it being an unreadable book but it just felt really meandering at times.
June 14, 2026
I picked this book up at a bookstore in Park City because it had an incredible title and a beautiful cover. I told myself, “It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t have very many reviews on Goodreads, you’re not a slave.” Tragically, judging this book by its cover did not lead me to joy. It had a whimsical concept and interesting setting, but the story jumped around too much for me to care about any of the characters at all. The author tried to paint a picture of multiple generations of a family, and the second I would have an inkling of care for the story being told, the character would disappear never to return. I wanted to be compelled by the world that the author created, but outside of a few really profound paragraphs, I was mostly bored waiting for the story to finish.
January 6, 2026
my imagination feels stretched like a big balloon (complimentary)
the sheer inundation of characters and timelines dilutes the story a tad, but it’s beautiful
the sheer inundation of characters and timelines dilutes the story a tad, but it’s beautiful
May 13, 2026
“Homesteaders were not apt to favor logic over fancy—they were glittery idealists, philosophers, dreamers. If they paused to consider the folly of their dreams they would probably never have left home.”
I picked up “The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos” because of the title alone. Well, that and the stunning cover of course. I finished it because Kendra Langford Shaw turned out to be exactly the kind of writer who could live up to it.
The story follows various members of the Spahr family, spread across generations, and their iconic homestead: Jubilation House. A family of eccentrics and optimists, they spend their days creating a life on an Arctic fjord and hunting for centuries-old pianos on the sea floor. The tale is told in multi-POV across timelines and I was enchanted by both the intricacies of the Spahr’s modern homespun life and the adventure their ancestors embarked on to settle the untamed Arctic wilds. This is a stunning debut from an author I hope to see much more of in the future.
The first thing that hits you about this book is the voice: unmitigated, fresh, fully committed whimsy. With characters named Moose and Maple, places like Disillusionment Bay and Resurrection Mountains, and a sea lion that goes by Abraham Lincoln, it’s immediately clear that this is a wildly imaginative novel. Yet, just when you settle into its buoyancy, Shaw drops a simple sentence of devastating truth that stops you in your tracks. It’s an elegant contrast: lyrical and playful prose punctuated by moments of stark profundity. The novel’s whimsy earns its weight. I was surprised by how much this stylistic approach got under my skin, but weeks after completion, I still can’t stop thinking about this book.
Jubilation House functions as a character in its own right: shaped by time, by weather, by the warming Arctic waters that are simultaneously the family’s salvation and their slow undoing. The setting is lush and vivid: a house on stilts, an octopus herd penned in old submarines, travel by float plane and kayak. There’s a clear climate change underpinning; glacial warming serves as both plot engine and atmospheric context, though I found myself more moved by the conversations about family than the environmental commentary. Over time, place and legacy intertwine, with Jubilation House reflecting the way a changing landscape can shape a family’s identity across generations.
At its heart, “The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos” is a story about what families pass down across generations—not just pianos, pickled octopus, and fjord-front property, but stubbornness, hope, and the peculiar magic of inherited dreams. The multi-timeline structure serves as the novel’s emotional backbone: traveling simultaneously through the past, present, and future of one family. The story refuses to tie everything up neatly. Families are messy; legacy is messy. But ultimately, the family inheritance is love for each other and hope for a better tomorrow.
My one minor critique is also the inevitable cost of such an ambitious undertaking: with so many characters spanning generations and timelines, it can be difficult to keep everyone straight, particularly when family surnames repeat across centuries. While the settings are richly detailed, many characters are left undescribed entirely. Though occasionally disorienting, this is an expected pitfall for a novel this expansive, and did not take away from the overall magic of the story for me.
There are many books these days that are so formulaic as to lose all impact; “The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos” is not one of those books. Joyful, strange, and devastating in turn, this is a debut written by someone who clearly loves language, family, the Earth, and the near-comically stubborn human insistence on building home in impossible places. This story is for readers who love sprawling family sagas and who try to incorporate as much whimsy into their lives as possible. Shaw has crafted an ode to the abiding, irrational, magnificent love we carry for family and place, and insists that even as the world changes around us, the things we build together are worth preserving.
Thank you to Pantheon via NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinions.
I picked up “The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos” because of the title alone. Well, that and the stunning cover of course. I finished it because Kendra Langford Shaw turned out to be exactly the kind of writer who could live up to it.
The story follows various members of the Spahr family, spread across generations, and their iconic homestead: Jubilation House. A family of eccentrics and optimists, they spend their days creating a life on an Arctic fjord and hunting for centuries-old pianos on the sea floor. The tale is told in multi-POV across timelines and I was enchanted by both the intricacies of the Spahr’s modern homespun life and the adventure their ancestors embarked on to settle the untamed Arctic wilds. This is a stunning debut from an author I hope to see much more of in the future.
The first thing that hits you about this book is the voice: unmitigated, fresh, fully committed whimsy. With characters named Moose and Maple, places like Disillusionment Bay and Resurrection Mountains, and a sea lion that goes by Abraham Lincoln, it’s immediately clear that this is a wildly imaginative novel. Yet, just when you settle into its buoyancy, Shaw drops a simple sentence of devastating truth that stops you in your tracks. It’s an elegant contrast: lyrical and playful prose punctuated by moments of stark profundity. The novel’s whimsy earns its weight. I was surprised by how much this stylistic approach got under my skin, but weeks after completion, I still can’t stop thinking about this book.
Jubilation House functions as a character in its own right: shaped by time, by weather, by the warming Arctic waters that are simultaneously the family’s salvation and their slow undoing. The setting is lush and vivid: a house on stilts, an octopus herd penned in old submarines, travel by float plane and kayak. There’s a clear climate change underpinning; glacial warming serves as both plot engine and atmospheric context, though I found myself more moved by the conversations about family than the environmental commentary. Over time, place and legacy intertwine, with Jubilation House reflecting the way a changing landscape can shape a family’s identity across generations.
At its heart, “The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos” is a story about what families pass down across generations—not just pianos, pickled octopus, and fjord-front property, but stubbornness, hope, and the peculiar magic of inherited dreams. The multi-timeline structure serves as the novel’s emotional backbone: traveling simultaneously through the past, present, and future of one family. The story refuses to tie everything up neatly. Families are messy; legacy is messy. But ultimately, the family inheritance is love for each other and hope for a better tomorrow.
My one minor critique is also the inevitable cost of such an ambitious undertaking: with so many characters spanning generations and timelines, it can be difficult to keep everyone straight, particularly when family surnames repeat across centuries. While the settings are richly detailed, many characters are left undescribed entirely. Though occasionally disorienting, this is an expected pitfall for a novel this expansive, and did not take away from the overall magic of the story for me.
There are many books these days that are so formulaic as to lose all impact; “The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos” is not one of those books. Joyful, strange, and devastating in turn, this is a debut written by someone who clearly loves language, family, the Earth, and the near-comically stubborn human insistence on building home in impossible places. This story is for readers who love sprawling family sagas and who try to incorporate as much whimsy into their lives as possible. Shaw has crafted an ode to the abiding, irrational, magnificent love we carry for family and place, and insists that even as the world changes around us, the things we build together are worth preserving.
Thank you to Pantheon via NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinions.
August 3, 2026
“If there were an instrument more delicately strung than the human family she had yet to encounter it. Webbed together by a complicated series of levers and spools, they were each constantly exerting and releasing tension. Forever torquing against one another in both miserable and nonmiserable ways.”
Do you ever pick up a book because the title totally charms you? That was the case with this one for me! With a premise revolving around people hunting pianos in the arctic, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book. But I surely didn’t expect to both laugh and cry while reading the multigenerational stories presented here. The book begins with a family living in a house stilted on a fjord, farming sea creatures and hunting drowned pianofortes to make a living. Once we grow invested in this family, we are taken back in time to get to know their intrepid ancestors, the ones who originally made the perilous trek north; and forward to the next generation.
As we go back and forth between timelines, we learn the importance of the pianos as well as observing the many highs and lows the characters experience while trying to survive in an unforgiving landscape and quickly changing climate. There are moments of majesty and others of terror as they encounter Mother Nature in all of her wildness, and there are consequences (both positive and heartbreaking) that come with living in this wild place.
Note that this book doesn’t shy away from some of the more brutal moments that might be associated with living in such a stark and remote environment, and there are graphic scenes that involve death of humans and/or animals, childbirth, and miscarriage.
While it did take me a while to become invested in one of the storylines, once I got there, I was all in as far as reading each generation’s sections. I do wish there was one more generation’s story to link the past and present, but mostly because I was so interested in the family and their quirky fjord house. I really enjoyed the book and am glad I picked it up after seeing its catchy title!
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the advanced ebook!
May 14, 2026
This has got to be one of the most unique books I have ever read. The storyline and worldbuilding are utterly charming. It makes me want to go out and hunt for pianos in the wild arctic and farm octopi and gnaw on sundried seaweed while gazing at moose. I didn't expect it to break my heart, but it did.
Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Pantheon and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Pantheon and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
June 30, 2026
I am so unfamiliar with Arctic living that I had to keep rereading passages until I had the firm picture, and the writing is lyrical in many spots. I had to look up whether the pianos are real (afaik, they’re not). What a celebration and also a feeling of grief for this way of life. There was one particular scene that I had to walk away from because it felt too gruesome, even with all its metaphor.
September 11, 2026
🎧
quirkyyyyyy
quirkyyyyyy
November 29, 2025
The publisher’s description of this book states that it is for fans of Karen Russell. Since I have read and enjoyed two of Russell’s books, I decided to give it a try. Kendra Langford Shaw does indeed treat the human condition similarly to the way Russel does. The storyline and preposterous situations also remind me of Russel. The novel begins with the introduction of a contemporary family living off the grid in the remote Territory of the Arctic. Finley, nine-year-old son of Viola and Frye Spahr, almost drowns while trying to retrieve a piano from Disillusionment Bay. Early in the novel, Viola, the pilot of the floatplane that provides income for the family, dies and leaves her husband and three children, Finley, Milda, and Temperance, to care for each other as well as their sinking home and their octopuses, sea lions, and other local resources used for food and trade.
Little makes sense until we learn that the first settlers of the area, who came with promises of land guaranteed by the Homestead Act, traveled with their valuable pianos. The piano represents the cultural refinement that homesteaders had hoped to bring to their new homes. Pianos can also represent the range of human emotions: joy, sorrow, hope, and more, with a variety of dynamics, tempos, pitches, and intensities. The pianos also served as storage areas and beds, and they survived for years in the frigid waters of the Arctic. Shaw is great at combining historical events, such as the Homestead Act, with creative situations, like transporting pianos as they blaze paths across arctic lands. Her story covers multiple generations of families who have hopes and aspirations for a better life while navigating changing landscapes, past, present, and future.
Besides the prominent storylines, which include the perspectives of the early settlers, Shaw masterfully invites the reader to examine human nature and the motivations behind the basic hunter-gatherer disposition, possibly the very fabric of humanity. There is a line in the book that supposes that Old Testament scribes were perhaps the earliest homesteaders. One storyline focuses more on the first settlers and their primal search for the promised land. The reader can sympathize with the pain of a boy named Moose as he trudges along, trying to meet the expectations of the men on the journey, as they face increasingly treacherous terrain. There are plenty of religious allusions, and a significant element of the narrative centers on a family building a church, preaching, and then welcoming back a prodigal brother. And of course, the contemporary family and its descendants are choosing to hunt abalone, kelp, and octopuses for nourishment.
Shaw employs much symbolism in the names she gives to the characters, the land, and, of course, the pianos. Two of the fortepianos (pianos made before 1830) were named Napoleon and Ahab—names after two extraordinarily ambitious characters, one real and one fictional, whose hubris leads to tragedy. There is a Mayflower family choir in the religious storyline, as well as the Resurrection Mountains and Jubilation House. The music metaphors are also sprinkled throughout the text. Music would elevate the land to a homeland worth having, and there was a melody of routine and a symphony of life. Of course, all of this aligns with the overarching message of climate change, rising tides, and rapid environmental change. The multiple generations of family members are painfully aware that the earth is changing before their eyes, and they react differently to the values of nature, family, and subsistence.
See my reviews at
https://quipsandquotes.net/2025/11/29...
Little makes sense until we learn that the first settlers of the area, who came with promises of land guaranteed by the Homestead Act, traveled with their valuable pianos. The piano represents the cultural refinement that homesteaders had hoped to bring to their new homes. Pianos can also represent the range of human emotions: joy, sorrow, hope, and more, with a variety of dynamics, tempos, pitches, and intensities. The pianos also served as storage areas and beds, and they survived for years in the frigid waters of the Arctic. Shaw is great at combining historical events, such as the Homestead Act, with creative situations, like transporting pianos as they blaze paths across arctic lands. Her story covers multiple generations of families who have hopes and aspirations for a better life while navigating changing landscapes, past, present, and future.
Besides the prominent storylines, which include the perspectives of the early settlers, Shaw masterfully invites the reader to examine human nature and the motivations behind the basic hunter-gatherer disposition, possibly the very fabric of humanity. There is a line in the book that supposes that Old Testament scribes were perhaps the earliest homesteaders. One storyline focuses more on the first settlers and their primal search for the promised land. The reader can sympathize with the pain of a boy named Moose as he trudges along, trying to meet the expectations of the men on the journey, as they face increasingly treacherous terrain. There are plenty of religious allusions, and a significant element of the narrative centers on a family building a church, preaching, and then welcoming back a prodigal brother. And of course, the contemporary family and its descendants are choosing to hunt abalone, kelp, and octopuses for nourishment.
Shaw employs much symbolism in the names she gives to the characters, the land, and, of course, the pianos. Two of the fortepianos (pianos made before 1830) were named Napoleon and Ahab—names after two extraordinarily ambitious characters, one real and one fictional, whose hubris leads to tragedy. There is a Mayflower family choir in the religious storyline, as well as the Resurrection Mountains and Jubilation House. The music metaphors are also sprinkled throughout the text. Music would elevate the land to a homeland worth having, and there was a melody of routine and a symphony of life. Of course, all of this aligns with the overarching message of climate change, rising tides, and rapid environmental change. The multiple generations of family members are painfully aware that the earth is changing before their eyes, and they react differently to the values of nature, family, and subsistence.
See my reviews at
https://quipsandquotes.net/2025/11/29...
February 2, 2026
This book kept confounding my expectations, pulling me deeper and deeper into the overlapping stories.
It opens with Milda, a 12-year-old girl who has hopes of leaving the Arctic for life on "the continent." Ah, I thought, I know what this book will be about: a coming of age story that is set against the sweep of the frozen North. Nope, or not exactly.
Well, perhaps it is the story of idealistic homesteaders who brave the elements to carve out lives against the backdrop of extraordinary grandeur, nope or not exactly.
What this is is a story of the intricate connectedness of relationships and how individual decisions and actions affect families both in the generation we are born into and in the generations to come.
The setting is the Arctic – not quite the Alaska of our time and our world, but a distillation of the north. The level of detail, made up of the piling up of day-to-day life, builds the world of each character, whether that world is in the past or the future. It is the daily routines and rituals that make the setting eternal, even as rising waters will change it forever.
Just as the setting is not quite our world, time shifts back-and-forth, internally defined, without any external context. “Four years after they found the letter” or "200 years after the great flood" (neither of these are quotes, just examples), without reference to the outside world. The people shift and change, the physical world shifts and changes, what is constant is the connections between people, between their stories, between their memories and between their loss.
The narrative tone is dispassionate. Terrible things happen, but there’s an undercurrent of moving onto the next thing. The language is descriptive, not florid. I found that appropriate to the overall story as without that stoicism, the difficulties of daily survival would be devastating. There are two first person POVs that bracket the story. The rest of the narration is close third person omniscient, not narration by a named character.
The characters' names reinforce the sense that this is like our world, but is not quite our world: Hullulla, Unamelia, Milda are unusual, if not invented by the author. The last names are as well: Huntmoon, Bloomer, Mayflower.
I did find it odd that daily tides were not discussed. I live near a northern coast with large tides. The constant movement of water is the background to life. The water is always changing level. I did find it odd that in this book, which is so constrained by water, 'tide' and 'tides' refer not to the twice daily highs and lows with which I’m familiar, but storm tides or rising water overall only. There’s a background thrum to tidal motion that I didn’t feel while reading this book. Instead, there’s the rising water that threatens life in the fjords, there’s the open water of the ocean and there’s the rushing water of storm-driven rivers, but there is not the sense of things revealed by a 20 or 30 foot daily tide
Overall extremely well done, immersive, and full of the mysteries of daily life. I particularly liked how things that had importance in the past were found in the future, stripped of their previous context, but given new importance by the finder. I was a little disappointed that while Moose's "homesteader journals" are mentioned, there’s no mention of what they are like, of what information they contain. But, in a world where the links between past generations and present are mute relics, perhaps that's just another mystery.
Thank you to NetGalley, which provided an ARC of this book.
It opens with Milda, a 12-year-old girl who has hopes of leaving the Arctic for life on "the continent." Ah, I thought, I know what this book will be about: a coming of age story that is set against the sweep of the frozen North. Nope, or not exactly.
Well, perhaps it is the story of idealistic homesteaders who brave the elements to carve out lives against the backdrop of extraordinary grandeur, nope or not exactly.
What this is is a story of the intricate connectedness of relationships and how individual decisions and actions affect families both in the generation we are born into and in the generations to come.
The setting is the Arctic – not quite the Alaska of our time and our world, but a distillation of the north. The level of detail, made up of the piling up of day-to-day life, builds the world of each character, whether that world is in the past or the future. It is the daily routines and rituals that make the setting eternal, even as rising waters will change it forever.
Just as the setting is not quite our world, time shifts back-and-forth, internally defined, without any external context. “Four years after they found the letter” or "200 years after the great flood" (neither of these are quotes, just examples), without reference to the outside world. The people shift and change, the physical world shifts and changes, what is constant is the connections between people, between their stories, between their memories and between their loss.
The narrative tone is dispassionate. Terrible things happen, but there’s an undercurrent of moving onto the next thing. The language is descriptive, not florid. I found that appropriate to the overall story as without that stoicism, the difficulties of daily survival would be devastating. There are two first person POVs that bracket the story. The rest of the narration is close third person omniscient, not narration by a named character.
The characters' names reinforce the sense that this is like our world, but is not quite our world: Hullulla, Unamelia, Milda are unusual, if not invented by the author. The last names are as well: Huntmoon, Bloomer, Mayflower.
I did find it odd that daily tides were not discussed. I live near a northern coast with large tides. The constant movement of water is the background to life. The water is always changing level. I did find it odd that in this book, which is so constrained by water, 'tide' and 'tides' refer not to the twice daily highs and lows with which I’m familiar, but storm tides or rising water overall only. There’s a background thrum to tidal motion that I didn’t feel while reading this book. Instead, there’s the rising water that threatens life in the fjords, there’s the open water of the ocean and there’s the rushing water of storm-driven rivers, but there is not the sense of things revealed by a 20 or 30 foot daily tide
Overall extremely well done, immersive, and full of the mysteries of daily life. I particularly liked how things that had importance in the past were found in the future, stripped of their previous context, but given new importance by the finder. I was a little disappointed that while Moose's "homesteader journals" are mentioned, there’s no mention of what they are like, of what information they contain. But, in a world where the links between past generations and present are mute relics, perhaps that's just another mystery.
Thank you to NetGalley, which provided an ARC of this book.
May 17, 2026
The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos was a book I was hugely curious about based on the title and premise alone. I love a debut novel and this one was ten years in the making. Its filled with incredible depth of the world-building.
The story takes place in a strange Arctic world where glaciers melt and sea levels rise. Families like Viola and Fry battle the elements, living in houses on stilts with pet sea lions, yet yearning for modern conveniences like sanitation and dental work. The plot is fascinating: homesteaders must haul 600-lb pianos into the wilderness to secure acreage. These instruments become "white whales," preserved in watery graves and highly valuable to collectors.
I found the book incredibly immersive, particularly the "piling up" of daily rituals that make the setting feel eternal. I loved the quirky touch of finding ivory keys in the bellies of trout and seeing how objects from the past are given new importance in the future. However, while there is some humor, there is also a great deal of grief and sudden death. While the persistence of humans in inhospitable places is a wonder.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the opportunity to read and enjoy this book. It is a hauntingly beautiful testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
The story takes place in a strange Arctic world where glaciers melt and sea levels rise. Families like Viola and Fry battle the elements, living in houses on stilts with pet sea lions, yet yearning for modern conveniences like sanitation and dental work. The plot is fascinating: homesteaders must haul 600-lb pianos into the wilderness to secure acreage. These instruments become "white whales," preserved in watery graves and highly valuable to collectors.
I found the book incredibly immersive, particularly the "piling up" of daily rituals that make the setting feel eternal. I loved the quirky touch of finding ivory keys in the bellies of trout and seeing how objects from the past are given new importance in the future. However, while there is some humor, there is also a great deal of grief and sudden death. While the persistence of humans in inhospitable places is a wonder.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the opportunity to read and enjoy this book. It is a hauntingly beautiful testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
September 4, 2026
*Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC of this book*
There were a lot of things about this book that I enjoyed, however, large sections of it also dragged and it took me a while to read this as it was easy for me to put down and not pick up again.
I liked that a lot of the chapters followed interrelated characters rather than the same POV characters every time, and I enjoyed the timeline shifts between past and present as well as into the future. I also enjoyed that the story had stakes and actions had consequences, I felt this really captured the precarity of the world the characters existed in. The absurdity of homesteaders hauling pianos into uninhabited areas also helped to point out the audacity of those individuals who would undertake this type of life.
I enjoyed this book while I was reading, however, I did not have any emotional connections to the characters, and this meant that nothing was pulling me into the book when I stopped reading it.
The writing style was beautiful, and I would recommend this title to anyone interested in it as it is a unique take on climate fiction with a unique narrative style.
There were a lot of things about this book that I enjoyed, however, large sections of it also dragged and it took me a while to read this as it was easy for me to put down and not pick up again.
I liked that a lot of the chapters followed interrelated characters rather than the same POV characters every time, and I enjoyed the timeline shifts between past and present as well as into the future. I also enjoyed that the story had stakes and actions had consequences, I felt this really captured the precarity of the world the characters existed in. The absurdity of homesteaders hauling pianos into uninhabited areas also helped to point out the audacity of those individuals who would undertake this type of life.
I enjoyed this book while I was reading, however, I did not have any emotional connections to the characters, and this meant that nothing was pulling me into the book when I stopped reading it.
The writing style was beautiful, and I would recommend this title to anyone interested in it as it is a unique take on climate fiction with a unique narrative style.
May 16, 2026
I expected The Pillager's Guide to Arctic Pianos by Kendra Langford Shaw to be a wonderfully quirky read, and it definitely didn't let me down in that department! It just turned out to be a bit too quirky for my personal reading tastes.
A lot of the story centers around a frontier-living style, which just isn't usually my thing. But even though the setting wasn't my favorite, I have to give credit where it's due: the characters were really well-developed and the plot was nice and consistent. It's very easy to see the author's talent shining through the writing.
I was easily able to finish it, and even though it wasn't a personal favorite, I know there is an audience out there that is going to absolutely love this unique story. I’m definitely curious to see what the author does next—I'd love to see her keep all that great originality, just maybe in a different setting next time!
Huge thanks to the author Kendra Langford Shaw, publisher Pantheon, and NetGalley for the advanced gifted copy of the book! All opinions are my own.
A lot of the story centers around a frontier-living style, which just isn't usually my thing. But even though the setting wasn't my favorite, I have to give credit where it's due: the characters were really well-developed and the plot was nice and consistent. It's very easy to see the author's talent shining through the writing.
I was easily able to finish it, and even though it wasn't a personal favorite, I know there is an audience out there that is going to absolutely love this unique story. I’m definitely curious to see what the author does next—I'd love to see her keep all that great originality, just maybe in a different setting next time!
Huge thanks to the author Kendra Langford Shaw, publisher Pantheon, and NetGalley for the advanced gifted copy of the book! All opinions are my own.
May 21, 2026
This is not my usual genre, but I ended up really enjoying this book. The setting and the vivid details woven throughout the story were what stood out the most to me. The Arctic landscape felt immersive and atmospheric, almost becoming its own character. The descriptions of the fjords, melting glaciers, off-grid living, and harsh beauty of the environment were incredibly well done and gave the story such a unique feel.
One of my favorite aspects was how imaginative and original the premise was. The idea of centuries-old pianos preserved beneath Arctic waters and the sudden “piano hunting” boom was unlike anything I’ve read before. It managed to feel quirky, whimsical, and thoughtful all at the same time. I also appreciated how the story explored themes of family, survival, home, climate change, and generational resilience without losing its sense of warmth and humor.
The Spahr family was eccentric in the best way, and even when the story became chaotic, there was still an underlying sense of heart and hopefulness that kept me invested. While some parts were a little outside my normal reading preferences, the creativity of the world and the rich storytelling made this a memorable read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Pantheon for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
One of my favorite aspects was how imaginative and original the premise was. The idea of centuries-old pianos preserved beneath Arctic waters and the sudden “piano hunting” boom was unlike anything I’ve read before. It managed to feel quirky, whimsical, and thoughtful all at the same time. I also appreciated how the story explored themes of family, survival, home, climate change, and generational resilience without losing its sense of warmth and humor.
The Spahr family was eccentric in the best way, and even when the story became chaotic, there was still an underlying sense of heart and hopefulness that kept me invested. While some parts were a little outside my normal reading preferences, the creativity of the world and the rich storytelling made this a memorable read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Pantheon for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
July 27, 2026
I was drawn to this book by the cover and the title. Turns out the outside does a great job representing what’s within…this is a quirky and amusing story with colorful bright energy that actually is about pillaging for pianos in the arctic 😅
Beyond that it’s a sweeping generational family saga, spanning from the first known settlers in this arctic region to their present day descendants who come to rely on their ancestor’s artifacts to survive. The world building is vivid and the characters are delightfully whimsical - think muttonchops, octopus farming, and pet sea lions named after US presidents. Within the whimsy there are some heavy themes like poverty, death and grief, colonization, climate change.
The uniqueness of this story definitely earns bonus points from me, cause gosh isn’t it wonderful to find there’s still something new out there under the sun? Untamed literary territory, if you will. And no one is making us drag a heavy piano along on our journey to explore it 🤭🎹🧊
Many thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the digital copy.
Beyond that it’s a sweeping generational family saga, spanning from the first known settlers in this arctic region to their present day descendants who come to rely on their ancestor’s artifacts to survive. The world building is vivid and the characters are delightfully whimsical - think muttonchops, octopus farming, and pet sea lions named after US presidents. Within the whimsy there are some heavy themes like poverty, death and grief, colonization, climate change.
The uniqueness of this story definitely earns bonus points from me, cause gosh isn’t it wonderful to find there’s still something new out there under the sun? Untamed literary territory, if you will. And no one is making us drag a heavy piano along on our journey to explore it 🤭🎹🧊
Many thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the digital copy.
June 10, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A family in the rural Arctic on a fjord only accessible by kayak & float plane. They make their money by selling pickled octopus & various sea life they find in the sea. However, climate change is also changing their home & their livelihood due to rising seas. They don’t know how long their way of life can continue.
Then a piano is found deep in the frigid Arctic Sea, perfectly preserved, and a new industry booms - the hunting, finding & selling of the abandoned pianos.
The story follows multiple generations of the family, from the early homesteaders to the modern day climate change experiencing Spahrs. The story is poetic at times, beautifully written with such reverence for the ocean & their way of life, while being utterly odd at many others. I couldn’t have guessed the how & why of this story & yet somehow it works. If you’re looking for a fanciful and heartfelt story of survival & fortitude, you’ll love this one.
A family in the rural Arctic on a fjord only accessible by kayak & float plane. They make their money by selling pickled octopus & various sea life they find in the sea. However, climate change is also changing their home & their livelihood due to rising seas. They don’t know how long their way of life can continue.
Then a piano is found deep in the frigid Arctic Sea, perfectly preserved, and a new industry booms - the hunting, finding & selling of the abandoned pianos.
The story follows multiple generations of the family, from the early homesteaders to the modern day climate change experiencing Spahrs. The story is poetic at times, beautifully written with such reverence for the ocean & their way of life, while being utterly odd at many others. I couldn’t have guessed the how & why of this story & yet somehow it works. If you’re looking for a fanciful and heartfelt story of survival & fortitude, you’ll love this one.
May 13, 2026
The setting and premise 🅳🅰🆉🆉🅻🅴, but for me when that novelty wore off there wasn’t enough plot or character depth left to sign the check.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos. Absolutely loved the concepts here, wasn’t fully connected to any of our characters. I think maybe the overall scope of the interconnected generations and the setting itself were meant to be more impactful than the individual characters.. but I can only speak to what I found lacking in my own personal experience.
https://www.blue-house-books.com/item...
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos. Absolutely loved the concepts here, wasn’t fully connected to any of our characters. I think maybe the overall scope of the interconnected generations and the setting itself were meant to be more impactful than the individual characters.. but I can only speak to what I found lacking in my own personal experience.
https://www.blue-house-books.com/item...
May 13, 2026
I really struggled with this piece. The story felt very choppy, The setting was intriguing for sure, but man I really wanted to connect with the characters and couldn't for whatever reason, I'm hoping to reread it another day and try again to see if it was just the season I'm in.
June 7, 2026
3.5. This book had a lot going for it, most of the setting and the descriptions of life in the Arctic territories. But it was bogged down by too many characters who, despite having intersecting storylines, were never given enough space to make me care about them, with the exception of Moose. It was more depressing than I expected given the whimsical title.
It was also overwritten in places - like it was trying too hard to be dazzling. But I liked it, and would recommend it to anyone interested in Arctic stories, climate fiction, and/or historical fiction.
It was also overwritten in places - like it was trying too hard to be dazzling. But I liked it, and would recommend it to anyone interested in Arctic stories, climate fiction, and/or historical fiction.
May 23, 2026
Loved the imagery, but too disjointed for me. at times hard to know where / when I was with returning characters, and I think overall there were too many characters. I didn’t get a chance to connect with any of them
August 23, 2026
Here’s the thing about people who don’t read- they’re missing out on being immersed in a culture so different from their own, yet with the same loves, heartaches, yearnings, tragedies, and hopes. That’s what this book is. It’s a family history so different from my own, yet so very similar it’s heart wrenching.
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