“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” —The Shawshank Redemption
As a lover of historical fiction, I could hardly wait for the release of Kristin Hannah’s new book, The Four Winds. Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression in the drought-plagued region of Texas known as the Dust Bowl, the story follows Elsa Martinelli’s journey from her beloved homeland in Texas to the promise of a better life in the golden state of California. However, Elsa soon realizes that she’s traded one set of problems for another. In an effort to save her children from starvation and the respiratory illnesses associated with breathing in too much nasty dust, she heads west—only to find herself homeless. In addition to her living woes, Elsa quickly discovers that the state is overrun with impoverished people desperate for work and food at a time in history where minimum wage and labor regulations are non-existent. On top of it all, the migrant workers earn the lowest wages and are treated with indifference and cruelty by the farm bosses.
Elsa’s character is reminiscent of a Jane Austen heroine living in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath era. At one point, I felt like there was too much heartache and struggle woven within Hannah’s pages for me to love them. When I finished the book and thought about Elsa’s story, I realized that her tragic tale was really a story of love and hope. And hope is always a good thing.
*On a scale of 1 to The Nightingale, I’d give this new release at a definite 8, maybe higher.