The Four Winds

In her book The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah has written another heartbreaking historical fiction novel that educates as well as entertains. The story of Elsa Martinelli's journey from unloved daughter to underappreciated wife and mother to brave warrior standing up for justice is beautifully told. While the story is difficult to read at times, it is worth it.

Elsa Martinelli and her children can no longer survive in the dust storms of Texas, so she packs them up and heads west in the hopes of finding work and a home in California. What she finds instead is discrimination, unfair wages, unlivable conditions, and back-breaking labor. Add to all this an angry daughter who challenges her constantly, and you end up with a woman almost completely beaten by life. However, Elsa finds the strength to keep working in an attempt to provide for her children.

This book is hard to read, not because it is poorly written or boring but because it is so incredibly sad. It contains one sorrowful event after another. Injustice is followed by more injustice. After surviving hardship in Texas, the characters face worse hardships in California. While reading, I kept hoping to see something good for these characters, but instead there was just more sadness. Honestly, I almost stopped reading it because it was depressing me. I kept reading, though, because I was invested in the characters.

Kristin Hannah is talented at developing characters. Each main character in this book (Elsa, Loreda, Jack) is vividly depicted. Elsa and Loreda's emotions are believable and understandable in their circumstances. The reader develops real sympathy for them.

This story is one of survival, bravery, and love. The characters persevere through the worst of circumstances, and they do so without losing sight of who they are. They stumble at times and almost give up or stop believing in themselves, but they fight their way back and find a way to keep going. Love is the one constant that helps them through it all. As Elsa states in her journal, “Love is what remains when everything else is gone.” Love for her children is what makes Elsa a warrior in this book, fighting for a better life for them. She “believes in an end she can't see and fights for it.”

I did not love every second of this read because of the sadness, but in the end I recognize the beauty of this book. This tale is well-crafted and teaches some valuable lessons. It also educates the reader about a very grim time in history. I would recommend this book to all Kristin Hannah fans and any historical fiction reader that appreciates a well-researched and well-constructed story. Just be prepared to be emotionally impacted.