The Four Winds is the fourth book of Kristin Hannah’s I have read. They are all very good and mostly based in a particular time period but with fictitious characters, living their lives through the historical period. I love them all but this is the best!
It is set in 1934 and Elsa has discovered the life she wants to lead with her family on their farm in the Dust Bowl of the Great Plain. However, an awful drought threatens all she loves and cares for in her life.
California beckons and she decides to leave her home and parents; she takes her family and tries to reach the land of ‘milk and honey’, California!
However, it isn’t all as easy as it sounds. The journey is difficult, with 1934 cars and roads and little money to pay for food and accommodation on the way. Many would have given up, but not Elsa. However, California prevents them from entering. What now?!
I learnt so much history and frequently became very angry about what was happening to these human beings.
It is an incredible journey that the reader follows. Ups and downs, anger and joy. Like all her books, it is about real lives and real times. The strengths and resilience of caring women. The value of the relationships, especially between women. But also, the unbreakable bonds between family, especially between mothers and daughters.
This is a book that you cannot put down. It will stay with you for many years.
Once you’ve read this one, have a good rest and collect yourself. Then read another! She has written at least 23 other books, of which I have only read five but I will read the rest.
If you want, try to read my next favourite, The Nightingale, based on the Nazi invasion of France. The heroine helps many people escape the Nazis and perilously risks her life many times. You won’t be able to put that one down easily, either.
Andy Northcote-Smith