The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

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.

Review

First of all I would like to thank the amazing publicity team at Pan Macmillan for their generosity in sending me a copy of this book to read and review. I absolutely love Kristen Hannah books and am always excited to see what she writes next. The Four Winds is a truly epic read about America’s Great Depression in the 1930’s which happened after the Great Drought. Elsa led a sheltered life after being sick as a teenager. Not allowed out much except for church and the library, she finds her solace and company in her books. After one act of rebellion she meets Raffaello Martini, and her life changes forever finally getting the love and family she only dreamed of. Farm life is hard, especially coming from a privilaged backgroung, and made harder by the drought of 1934 and the winds of dust. After her husband walks out Elsa has to find the courage to do what’s best for her children, leaving her beloved farm behind and taking the children California where they are promised the American Dream. But as reality hits, Elsa and her children have to show their strength in the face of adversity.

The Four Winds is an outstanding read, that takes you to the dark days of drought and America’s Depression years, when families were starving and working for nothing. Kristen Hannah is a writer who always gets to the heart of the matter, understanding the important details of the time period, getting into the psyche of her characters and bringing the period to life, and she has done that in abundance in this book. These were dark times in America’s history, where farmers lives were destroyed by the drought, ruining their crops and caught in dust winds that coated everything in dust. Flyers were posted that a better life awaited them in California but in reality they had to live in tents in large fields and hard work that paid literally nothing, more slave labour than fair pay, with the land owners and government the only ones making money from this. This was a hard and soul destroying life, with no clean water, electricity and not enough food.The desperation and dejection of these families just drips of the page, but so does their strength, tenacity and love for their families, and that is the astounding thing about this story.

Elsa was an amazing heroine of this book, described by her daughter, Loreda, as a warrior, which she was. The growth of Elsa through this book is amazing, from a privileged life with no love from her family, who told she wasn’t pretty, she was too tall to get married and too frail to enjoy a full life. Oh, how wrong they were, learning how to cook, work the land, clean the house and be a wife and mother gave Elsa a life she dreamed of:being part of a family, having the love and support of a husband and and her in-laws and becoming a mother. The Martinelli family give her the love she never received at home, and it’s this love of family that drives her to take her children to California. Elsa showed such strength and resilience, helping others whilst also struggling herself, and trying to protect her children, making sure they get an education. Elsa is determined to give Loreda and Ant a better life, to be anything they want to be, go to college and get a decent job. Not surprisingly her teenage daughter Loreda is a bit rebellious, hates the life they are living, and wants to change the world, her determination is admirable. The relationship between Elsa and Loreda, is typical of most parents and teenage daughters, there is conflict, blame, arguments and tension but ultimately there is the love underpinning all this. If there is one quote in this book that sums up Elsa and her love for her family it is this; “Love is what remains when everything else is gone”

I find it hard to describe just how much I enjoyed The Four Wind’s. This is a phenomenal novel from Kristen Hannah, capturing the dark and frightening atmosphere of 1930’s America and those families who were left with no food, home or money to feed their children and themselves. I did find it interesting that it has been released during a pandemic where there are plenty of people in that position today. What shines through though is the courage, determination and determination of Elsa, and those around her, to survive and hope for a better life. Truely magnificent I think this will be one of my top books of 2021, simply stunning.