The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

 

The Four Winds 

“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.

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Book ID:

Title : The Four Winds

Author : Kristin Hannah

Publisher : St. Martin Press

Pages : 454

Genre : Historical Fiction

Release : February 2021

I like Kristin Hannah's book since Nightingale, to date, I still able to feel the intensity of Historical Fiction because of her writing. After that, whenever she writes a new book, I just can't resist my self to order the book and read it straight away. 

After Nightingale, her next book is Great Alone, though it is not historical fiction, the amount of research, detail of setting, and the plot is so vivid, that reading it, is one of a rollercoaster ride. 

Then come The Four Winds, released in February 2021, and she revived the historical fiction glory into the Great Depression era, in South Central United States, Texas.

In the 1930's, Elsa, the daughter of a successful businessman, living like a Rapunzel, trapped in her big mansion, feeling lonely under the supervision of her parents. She has beautiful sisters, but for herself, she doesn't like her face in the mirror. She's been sick in 14's, her parents give her 'rest-sentenced', will be forever alone in the house.

At twenty-five, Elsa wants to have an experience. Going to school, and experienced romance just like the book she read. But her parents strictly said no.

Until one day, she went out, found a beautiful boy in the barn, and made a mistake that changed her life forever.

She wed Rafe Martinelli, a beautiful and wild boy that she barely knew. The Martinelli is a migrant family from Italy that works very hard to send their only son to college, but Elsa ruined their dream.

Living a new life as a farmer, Elsa commits to giving everything to her new family. working very hard every morning and compromising the experience she always dream of. 

But life is not easy during that decade. After years of a successful harvest, those years, summer last very long, the rain has yet to come, and to the nightmare, dust storms or famous with the name of Black Sunday.

The dust bowl area including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and many places. That year, severe dust storms came to the area destroying the agricultural area and bring down the economy very badly. A land that supposedly heaven of farmer suddenly became a vast area of dust. Not only economically impacted, but people's health was also worsening, especially the children.

During that tough period, Elsa has become a mother with a daughter and son. The old and naive Elsa has long gone, the new Elsa is a woman that brings unhappiness to her daughter and husband simply because she's just too strong and independent.

After years of drought, Elsa made a choice to join many peoples to go to California, a land that promised gold and honey. But when the mass of persons has the same objectives, the result was a tiny chance to make living.

This book is a complex story about a mother and daughter relationship. How a woman has shaped into a very stong and independent mother and sacrificing everything for the safety of her children. On the other side, her daughter is just like young Elsa, dreaming about an adventure, idolizing his playful father, and resenting her serious mother. At some points, both woman finally understands their roles but...is it enough? is it not too late?

In terms of the immense of research, Kristin Hannah did a wonderful job creating The Four Winds. The detail and timeline are accurate and made me feel like watching a movie. As for someone that knows nothing about Texas, history about the Great Bowl, I learned and understood a lot of things from the book with no difficulty.

And then, Elsa. Elsa's character is well thought. From the young and naive girl who transforms into a fighter and independent woman. The motherhood part also well written. The complex emotions between daughter and mother are easily relatable. 

Reading from Kristin Hannah's book, I think she is specifically brilliant to build a strong woman and her relationship with other females, either sister, daughter, or best friend.

Most of all, the desperate period of the 1930s is resonating with the current global pandemic situation. When we are being helpless against the bigger circumstances. The waiting period, wanting to see the finish line of this wretched situation.

But...I have the same experience reading The Four Winds and other Kristin Hannah's books. Yes, it is emotional, especially the first half part. But in the climax, I felt it is being fast-forwarded several times. Like the part when Elsa encountered the robber or the revolutions in the last parts. I wish Kristin Hannah can go into detail about the crucial part (or maybe the action part?), so I will say it is a very perfect book.

Anyhow, it is once again a very beautiful and resourceful book that made Kristin Hannah definitely on the long list of the influential authors in this era.