Before the Dust Bowl in the Dirty Thirties, farmers and their families thrived; their crops and cattle grew healthy. Set in Dalhart, Texas in 1931, 24 year old Elsa Wolcott lived on the margins of her parents good graces. Her father, the owner of the town’s only tractor supply business, prospered. Sick as a young child, Elsa had been forever sheltered from life, easing her world with books and sewing; allowed to attend church and community functions within the dictates of her parents beliefs. She saw her sisters blossom. She did not. On her 25th birthday, and without knowing it, she changed the direction of her life.
Rafe Martinelli, only 18 years old, met Elsa. Their secret dalliance led to pregnancy. When her parents were told, her father drove her to Rafe’s home where he lived with his parents, Rose and Joe Martinelli, on their farm outside of Lonesome Tree towards the Oklahoma border. She was abandoned by her own family. Life with her parents had been the easy, but stunted, part of Elsa’s life. In a new family, a new marriage in an unfamiliar setting, she was forced to grow. When the rain stopped, the sun grew hotter and the winds were cruel, the life of this land dried up. The life in Rafe also dried up. Forever a dreamer, he walked away one night, never to be heard or seen again. The westward migration started as people lost their lands and their hope. Promises of jobs and a ‘land of milk and honey’ began this migration. Still, Elsa and her two children Loreda and Antony, Rafe’s parents Rose and Joe Martinelli stayed fighting the dust and the winds. It was finally her son’s lung sickness from the windblown topsoil that convinced her pack up her children and leave for California.
When I first began reading this novel, I questioned whether I should continue reading. I was tired, in a bad mood but because this book was for Book Club, I continued. A wise choice. I have now read it twice. Elsa came away from her own family with little belief in herself. She met the challenges thrown her way, sometimes with great difficulty, but with the help of the other strong and loving women in her small circle, she kept on. One of those strong women was her young daughter, Loreda, who had learned from her father’s dreaming and her mother’s actions.
Kristin Hannah has written a powerful story. 'Hard times’ that are real and intense. Love that is real and intense. Rascism, stigma, and the goodness of people despite the cruelty of others. An excellent read.
“That was the first time he had leaned down and whispered,
‘Be brave’ into her ear. And then ‘or pretend to be.’ It’s all the same.”
~ Elsa’s grandfather, The Four Winds
Title: The Four Winds
Author: Kristin Hannah
Copyright: 2021
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
Type: Novel
Format: Hard copy
ISBN - 9781250178602 (hardcover)
ISBN - 9781250178626 (ebook)
LCCN - 2020040176
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov./2020040176
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