The Four Winds

 

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2021. 464 pages. ****

Texas 1921. Twenty-five-year-old Elsa Wolcott spends her time reading and daydreaming about adventures of her own. She feels like an outsider and thought ugly by her family. Elsa resents being considered a spinster, so she cuts her hair and sews a red silk dress. One rebellious night, she meets Raffaello Martinelli, and her life is changed forever. Considered ruined, her family wants nothing to do with her and marriage seems to be the only answer. Working on a farm is hard work, made more difficult by the disapproving looks from her mother-in-law. 

1934. People are out of work and a drought has settled in the Great Plains. Dust storms are relentless, crops are dead, water is drying up and store shelves are empty, Elsa makes the unfathomable decision to follow others and take her children and head towards California. Elsa's bravery is tested when those traveling are considered “Okies" and employers take advantage of them.

Receiving mixed reviews (socialism, political), I am perplexed by these reviews. I enjoyed this book and learned so much about the The Great Plains and the dust storms. "Roughly 2.5 million people left the Dust Bowl states—Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma—during the 1930s." I had no idea. Hannah writes a compelling story about a horrific time in our history. It is not a happy story; however, it is one that must be told. Heartbreaking, yet hopeful. This will be a good Book Club choice and will provide many points of discussion. I recommend you read it and decide for yourself. 

Information on the Dust Bowl:

https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/dust-bowl

The Dust Bowl, a film by Ken Burns

Kristin Hannah is an award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels including the international blockbuster, The Nightingale, Winter Garden, Night Road, and Firefly Lane.

Kristin is a former-lawyer-turned writer who lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Her novel, Firefly Lane, became a runaway bestseller in 2009, a touchstone novel that brought women together, and The Nightingale, in 2015 was voted a best book of the year by Amazon, Buzzfeed, iTunes, Library Journal, Paste, The Wall Street Journal and The Week.  Additionally, the novel won the coveted Goodreads and People’s Choice Awards. The audiobook of The Nightingale won the Audiobook of the Year Award in the fiction category. For more information on Kristin Hannah and her books, https://kristinhannah.com

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