The Four Winds
By Kristin Hannah
St. Martin’s Publishing Group
I read “The Women” last year and loved it. So when I saw this one from a few years back, I knew I had to give it a try. While I wasn’t as dazzled by this Depression-era novel as I was by the Vietnam war portrayed in “The Women,” with such strong writing I could feel the blowing gusts of soil and dust in Oklahoma; experience the extreme flooding and mud running through the Hooverville she and her family settle in when they reach California; experience the anger and heartbreak as the company that employs the fruit pickers in the Central Valley forces their reliance upon the company store while stealing their wages. In real life this was a story without a happy ending. “The Four Winds” pulled no punches about how hope can quickly turn to heartbreak, again and again.