Published: 2, February 2021
Author: Kristin Hannah
Genres: Women's, Historical, Fiction, Mothers & Children, Family, Domestic Life, Coming of Age
I found this book compelling and informative, it is about a woman trying to raise two children on a Texas farm as the fields dry out and unrelenting dust storms ruin everything in sight. People are packing up and leaving for greener pastures and jobs out in the West and all around them, but what awaits them there is uncertain as well.
The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah's previous novel, was about a family taming the harsh Alaskan wilderness. This book is another survival story but this time it is about a family in the Great Plains battling poverty and famine during the Dust Bowl in the years following the Great Depression. Both books are great but I felt “The Four Winds” is better than the previous book “The Great Alone”.
Start of this book kind of felt like a drag but gets better with every page. The author breaks you, then she is going to move you and make you ponder but by the end, she is going to heal you. What powerful writing and you can feel the research behind this masterpiece. For me, it was all about the original American dream of freedom because while the characters faced challenges they never gave up hope, they were full of willpower, tenacity, pioneering spirit, and above all, the love for family. This book is surely going to make many readers cry at the end and feel proud and brave.
The relationship between the main characters is going to remind you of your own life and relationships. I love a story that teaches you something important about life and sometimes it can actually influence the reader to change in a good way.
This is kind of an easy read but not for everyone because not everyone likes historical fiction but surely fans of author Kristin Hannah and historical fiction are going to love it. I am not a fan of these books but even I loved the book and story.
The story is sad and depressing but uplifting at the same time. Some parts may seem cruel or bad to some readers because of the treatment of women but understand, in that period lots of these things were considered normal. Like marrying a total stranger but that is how life was back then.
One more thing, some political issues may make some readers hate this book but my advice is to read it as a fictional book and not someone’s personal thoughts on politics.
Synopsis:
“From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them.
“My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.”
Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.
By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.
In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa―like so many of her neighbors―must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.
The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it―the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.”
Rating: 95/100
Recommended: 100/100 Yes.
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