The Four Winds - Opinion and Review

To say I've been waiting for this book to come out for a while would be an understatement. As mentioned in a previous post, Kristin Hannah is my all-time favorite author, and the moment I saw her interview on the Facebook group, FRIENDS AND FICTION back in June, I preordered The Four Winds and started counting down the days. 224 short days later...it finally arrived and I devoured it!

***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***

Set in the times of The Great Depression, Elsa is an ordinary girl, and was never told she was anything special. She was ordinary, and according to her parents, had no chance to ever be happy and in love. This all changes one night when she meets Rafe Martinelli. She becomes pregnant, and is immediately disowned by her family, and made to move in with Rafe and his parents, Tony and Rose, farmers in Texas. While there, she gives birth to her beautiful baby girl, Loreda. She's also starting to learn what to be in a loving family truly means, as Rafe's parents have taken her in and shown her unconditional love. During this time as a new mother, she also gives birth to her son, Anthony (Ant) and sadly, a baby who would never take a breath, Lorenzo.

They are a truly loving, happy family, but then disaster strikes. Drought has taken over the land, as well as vast joblessness and poverty. Rafe decides he's had enough, and leaves his family in the middle of the night, leaving Elsa to care for their two children with the help of her in-laws. Dust storms begin to happen quite frequently, and their home is no longer a safe place to live and raise a family. Elsa makes the difficult decision to move out to California, a land where opportunities are promised, where she might have the chance to provide a life for her children. Rose and Tony stay behind to try to save their farm, and send Elsa, Loreda, and Ant out on their own.

Their arrival in California wasn't very friendly, as they are forced to live in a tent with a bunch of other "Oakies" who are clearly not welcomed in the state. Elsa works very hard to try to keep her family above water, until one night, the water literally washes away everything they have, despite how little it actually was. It wasn't until Jack arrived in their lives where hope started. He was a member of the Communist Party in America at the time, and has a very vocal platform to demand rights for all California residents, regardless of their background. He is able to successfully get Elsa and her children adequate housing.

All was not well though, as the place her family was living was determined to keep their residents in constant debt, always working, and living on credit for their overpriced stores and housing. Finally, Elsa finds her voice, and gets her family out of the hell they had been stuck in for so long. However, that didn't come without a price--but this price, I will not speak of, because you MUST read this book to find out for yourself. The Four Winds ended on both such a heartbreak and uplifting note, leaving me feeling both broken and filled with hope. And then, to be reading this book during a global pandemic took on a whole different meaning.

You all know how much I love Kristin Hannah, and this book didn't change a thing about my feelings for her. I hope one day to meet her, and thank her for everything she's done for me. She's brought me to emotions I never knew I was capable of feeling, and I will forever be in debt to her for this. The Four Winds gets a very well deserved 5 out of 5 stars!

Dates read: February 2, 2021 - February 6, 2021