#bookreview The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah published by Pan Books

Synopsis:

She will discover the best of herself in the worst of times . . .

Texas, 1934. Elsa Martinelli had finally found the life she’d yearned for. A family, a home and a livelihood on a farm on the Great Plains. But when drought threatens all she and her community hold dear, Elsa’s world is shattered to the winds.

Fearful of the future, when Elsa wakes to find her husband has fled, she is forced to make the most agonizing decision of her life. Fight for the land she loves or take her beloved children, Loreda and Ant, west to California in search of a better life. Will it be the land of milk and honey? Or will their experience challenge every ounce of strength they possess?

From the overriding love of a mother for her child, the value of female friendship and the ability to love again – against all odds – Elsa’s incredible journey is a story of survival, hope and what we do for the ones we love.

My reading experience:

This book has changed me. We don’t often get to say that. Once in maybe 50-70 books read does one come to you that unravels you. I just would not have expected a book set in the Great Depression in America to be it.

Elsa has been bullied for as long as she can remember, and the main culprits are her own family. Eventually she unwittingly gives them a reason to abandon her, and through her one moment of independence, she is given a husband and a new family. When her daughter is born, a primal love is borne within her for the first time in her life. Family life on this farm makes Elsa the woman she’d hoped to be. And then the winds come. The Texas Plains become a dust bowl and along with thousands of others who have hope, Elsa takes her children to California.

This story begins in the late 1920s and ends in 1940, and although the setting is the Great Depression, the story is about a courageous woman who grows into a fierce warrior. It is about pain, loss, grief, homesickness, hunger, starvation and survival. It is also about mother/daughter relationships, female friendships, intrepid, indomitable women and most of all it is about love.

Compelling, heart-wrenching, powerful, tragic, glorious land mist of all, dazzling. Go ahead, read this story. Be changed. I highly recommend it.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah.