The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Title: The Four Winds
Author: Kristin Hannah
Release Date: 2.2.21
Publisher: St. Martin's Press


Publisher's Summary

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes an epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America’s most defining eras—the Great Depression.

Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance.

In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. 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.


My Review

I know that Kristin Hannah is a beloved author among the Bookstagram community but I tried reading The Nightingale so many times and just couldn't get into it. This put me off trying The Great Alone but I decided to give The Four Winds a shot when I saw the time period it covered. Living through The Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic causes me to more deeply reflect on previous periods of hardship, wondering how people lived day to day, especially how other mothers managed their families and households in such strained times. 

Set amidst two overlapping and devastating periods of American history, The Great Depression (August 1929 – March 1933) and The Dust Bowl (1930 - 1936), The Four Winds gave me great insight into a time period and American migrant experience (Midwest migrating to California) that I didn't know much about. Author Kristin Hannah also gave a bit of background into how these American migrants displaced Mexican migrants and expertly showed the grassroots organization of workers' rights groups. I am sure I learned about it in high school American history classes but despite being an "A" student, I don't think I retained a single fact from my history classes. However, as I get older, history becomes more relatable, tangible, and interesting. 

While reading The Four Winds I thought the eleven-day dust storms and descriptions of dust pneumonia were devastating but it was the detailed description of lack of jobs, fair wages, and adequate housing that was the most wretched. Sentences like "Not every day, but most days she worked twelve hours for fifty cents." are somehow both unsurprising and shocking. Hannah's previous novels may not have worked for me but the superb writing and storytelling in The Four Winds has made me a fan. 

Do you find that you understand history more clearly as you get older?