I found this book a little bit slow to get into. However it soon picked up pace and then was difficult to put down. Definitely would recommend

First of all, I want to thank the people who said this book, which is set during the Great Depression, is depressing. I had a right laugh at that and it really cheered me up. Also, I should probably add that all Kristin Hannah's books are really quite miserable overall, especially their endings, so I wouldn't recommend them to anyone who is looking for something a bit more joyful or hopeful. That's not what Hanah does.

Anyway, as for my own thoughts on this book. I particularly want to talk about the setting, because it's not something I knew a lot about prior to reading this book. I had heard of the Great Depression and the stock market crash, but I didn't know how it all related, or what was happening in the American South, in the Dust Bowl, at the time. I didn't know the government encouraged its people to go to California to provide cheap labour and then punished them for it. So I learnt a lot, and I've since realised that this is something I would like to read more about because it's not a part of history that we learn about here in the UK.

I enjoyed how atmospheric The Four Winds was, particularly the parts that were set in Texas. The dust storms sounded atrocious, and I was getting quite uncomfortable reading about them. Of course, the whole book isn't set in Texas, and the characters make their way over to California, which is an entirely different setting. This part was atmospheric, but in a different way. I once again felt quite uncomfortable reading about how the characters were living in cramped and unhygenic conditions, and how they were constantly being judged and bullied and scrutinised.

The main character, Elsa, and her children are living in poverty for a good portion of the novel. Thankfully, I haven't experienced anything quite so extreme and we always had a house to live in, but I did grow up in poverty myself and the parts about benefits (or "relief") being cut and the characters having to try to find work in an employment desert really hit home with me.

I don't think these characters were Kristin Hannah's strongest, in fact I find them all a bit forgettable. However, I think the setting and the topics were very memorable, and they helped to keep the characters fresh in my mind.

I really enjoy how Kristin Hannah, at least in her last three books, is writing stories about women surviving and fighting. Her focus on female relationships, whether they're sisters, best friends, or mothers and daughters, is my favourite part of her novels. The characters are always in such difficult situations but their bonds always shine through, as do their own strengths when they're separated.

I really enjoyed The Four Winds, and while I don't think it's my favourite Kristin Hannah book (I'm actually having trouble deciding what is), it's still a strong one and I appreciate both the female relationships and how this introduced me to a period of US history that I knew next to nothing about.

The Four Winds is about one woman’s determination to keep her family safe in extremely difficult circumstances. It was a tough, emotional read - and I couldn’t put it down.
It’s a period of history that I know little about. I mean, I’ve watched films set in this period where people live on ramshackle farms, or in shanty-type towns, and I knew that it was something to do with the Great Depression. This book describes the side of the story of a family of farmers who lived in the Dust Bowl of Texas.
Elsa lives with her husband, children and his parents on a farm in Texas. Two children later and with the farm failing, Elsa’s husband leaves them to pursue a better life - on his own. Elsa struggles on with her in-laws and children, determined to give Loreda and Ant (her children) a home where they feel loved. But when Ant nearly dies from dust pneumonia, and the farm fails completely, they make plans to leave for California. Elsa reluctantly leaves her in-laws behind (they refuse to leave their farm), because it’s the only way to save Ant.
California isn’t the promised land of milk and honey. They arrive with little money, nowhere to stay, and Californians don’t want to help them. In fact they believe ‘Okeys’ are feckless, lazy, dirty; they refuse to house or employ them. Elsa’s only choice is to live in a tent in an encampment where poverty and typhoid are rife.
I admired Elsa’s tenacity - she works tirelessly for little money to feed her children. It’s a story of one woman’s survival and her need to protect her family.
I didn’t know anything about the Dust Bowl before I read this. I’d heard the term, but I didn’t know about the dust storms, animals dying after being filled up with dust, and people dying from dust pneumonia. This sounds like an exaggerated story, doesn’t it? But it’s not. None of this was unusual.
The Four Winds is a hard, yet compelling read. This is only the third Kristin Hannah book I’ve read, and it won’t be my last!
Many thanks to Macmillan for my e-copy.

This was my second Kristin Hannah novel and as expected, it did not disappoint. I already know it will be in my top three (if not number one) of my favourite books read this year.

Living in a dust bowl during the Great Depression, Elsa is faced with the impossible choice; stay and hope that the rain will come, or take her children west in the hopes for a better life. Eventually left with no other option, the family make the journey to California, where they are treated as outcasts and forced to work for little pay. When the communists start fighting for fair wages, Elsa's daughter is desperate to join, fierce about change and making a stand. But it's dangerous, and all Elsa has ever wanted to do is protect her children. But with protection comes fear, and with fear comes risk. Elsa must use that fear to make a stand and fight for what matters; for children, her fellow Americans. and most importantly, for herself.

Despite this book's length, it was absolutely devourable. I was completely immersed in the dry dust-bowl setting, followed by the stench-ridden ditch camps and sweltering cotton fields. I longed for rain, for respite, for change. Elsa and her family felt so incredibly real to me, and their story touched me deep inside my soul. I expected heartache and received it by the bucket load.

I appreciated how well-researched this novel was and certainly gained an insight into the struggles and desperation faced by families trying to survive the incessant drought. I was appalled at the treatment from fellow American's and the disgusting way they had to live because greedy farmers refused to pay what they were worth. This really opened my eyes to in-country racism and social class ranking - something I didn't realise was so glaringly apparent in the late 30s.

One of my favourite parts of this book was the character development, particularly seeing Loreda grow from a stubborn, dream-filled teenager to a strong, fierce woman. Elsa also went through many transformations, but her unwavering love for her children remained, contrasting the lack of love her parents showed her throughout her life.

Kristin Hannah is one of the best modern authors when it comes to storytelling. The way she weaved these events together and explored both the dust-bowl and the California 'dream' was nothing short of exceptional. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

3.5 stars!!!

This is my second book by Kristin Hannah (first- The Firefly Lane). I wailed reading her book Firefly Lane and I knew this book would be another wonderful yet heartbreaking story from the reviews.

But perhaps because I expected to sob, I didn’t cry as much as I thought I would or I should (I am an easy cryer). The book is so well written, the characters I absolutely love and Elsa is just so adorable. What a brave warrior and mother she is. I liked how the book has a woman protagonist and how well Elsa accepts the challenges and overcomes them.
I loved the bond she has with Tony, Rose and Jean, herself as a daughter and then a single mother and daughter relationship with Loreda. Also Elsa’s son Ant is so cute!

I only cried reading the last chapter and mostly epilogue but the overall story is definitely heartbreaking. There were times I felt the story kept dragging on and some parts were repetitive. I don’t read much historical fictions but this book was surely educational for me. To learn and know how people in real lives have survived during such difficult times breaks my heart. Also, it makes me feel grateful for all the things now although living amidst pandemic compared to our ancestors who went through so much.

I have given a lower rating because I expected a bit more, I wanted something to happen and thought it would but it didn’t and it took forever that something finally happened and got kind of disappointed.

Thanks to the publishers for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book, and in many ways lived with Elsa throughout the story. I always had in my mind those wonderful photographs of people moving out of the dustbowl to California. They had the life beaten out of them by the disintegration of the land they had put all their hope in. So they found a new hope, of starting their lives anew in California. But it was not the land of milk and honey, so they had to adjust their expectations again. The country made it through the Depression and the Dust Bowl, and we can get through this pandemic.

The book starts with a simple word: Hope. And the story she tells is one of a woman beaten down by life and lack of love, but she finds a new family and is loved back to life. It is hard road she has to walk, and it is not easy to walk it with her. You will feel down hearted and even cry a little for her, but stick with it, and Elsa will find her way through. You will come out the other side with an admiration of the generation who survived the Depression and the Dust Bowl, and realise their grit and determination. Life may seem hard right now, but we will get through it, just like they did, with one word: Hope. And recognising our love for others, and accepting the love from others in our lives.

What a great read! Couldn’t put it down- another great piece of work from Kristin Hannah! I really don’t want to spoil anything in this review, but just wow! So much emotion- my eyes are sore!

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
I cannot praise this book highly enough. I had somehow managed to miss other books by this author and my task now is to rectify this glaring error. The writing is spellbinding and evocative. I really feel as if I have been immersed in the 1930s Dust Bowl I was left almost gasping; as if I too was experiencing the drought.
It is a traumatic, tough and painful story of one of the darkest periods in American history. The tale of the desperate poverty, starvation and unemployment begins in the 1920s and takes us up to World War II. The research is impeccable and the period is viewed through the eyes of Elsinore or Elsa. She is from an affluent family but is made to feel as if she is not as valued as her sisters - never loved. So when she is given attention by a young man, Rafe Martinelli, she falls for his charm and becomes pregnant. Although he had been engaged to marry someone else he marries her.
They then face the agonising decision whether to remain in the Dust Bowl or make the journey to California. Elsa develops an inner strength as she fights for her family against almost crushing odds.
“A warrior believes in an end she can’t see and fights for it. A warrior never gives up. A warrior fights for those weaker than herself. It sounds like motherhood to me.”
We see a strong woman surviving almost impossible difficulties to raise her family with the support of her mother in law, Rosa.
I will be recommending this book to all my book groups. I would like to thank the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest and thanks also to Net Galley.

I absolutely love Kristen Hannah books and am always excited to see what she writes next. The Four Winds is a truly epic read about America’s Great Depression in the 1930’s which happened after the Great Drought. Elsa led a sheltered life after being sick as a teenager. Not allowed out much except for church and the library, she finds her solace and company in her books. After one act of rebellion she meets Raffaello Martini, and her life changes forever finally getting the love and family she only dreamed of. Farm life is hard, especially coming from a privilaged backgroung, and made harder by the drought of 1934 and the winds of dust. After her husband walks out Elsa has to find the courage to do what’s best for her children, leaving her beloved farm behind and taking the children California where they are promised the American Dream. But as reality hits, Elsa and her children have to show their strength in the face of adversity.

The Four Winds is an outstanding read, that takes you to the dark days of drought and America’s Depression years, when families were starving and working for nothing. Kristen Hannah is a writer who always gets to the heart of the matter, understanding the important details of the time period, getting into the psyche of her characters and bringing the period to life, and she has done that in abundance in this book. These were dark times in America’s history, where farmers lives were destroyed by the drought, ruining their crops and caught in dust winds that coated everything in dust. Flyers were posted that a better life awaited them in California but in reality they had to live in tents in large fields and hard work that paid literally nothing, more slave labour than fair pay, with the land owners and government the only ones making money from this. This was a hard and soul destroying life, with no clean water, electricity and not enough food.The desperation and dejection of these families just drips of the page, but so does their strength, tenacity and love for their families, and that is the astounding thing about this story.

Elsa was an amazing heroine of this book, described by her daughter, Loreda, as a warrior, which she was. The growth of Elsa through this book is amazing, from a privileged life with no love from her family, who told she wasn’t pretty, she was too tall to get married and too frail to enjoy a full life. Oh, how wrong they were, learning how to cook, work the land, clean the house and be a wife and mother gave Elsa a life she dreamed of:being part of a family, having the love and support of a husband and and her in-laws and becoming a mother. The Martinelli family give her the love she never received at home, and it’s this love of family that drives her to take her children to California. Elsa showed such strength and resilience, helping others whilst also struggling herself, and trying to protect her children, making sure they get an education. Elsa is determined to give Loreda and Ant a better life, to be anything they want to be, go to college and get a decent job. Not surprisingly her teenage daughter Loreda is a bit rebellious, hates the life they are living, and wants to change the world, her determination is admirable. The relationship between Elsa and Loreda, is typical of most parents and teenage daughters, there is conflict, blame, arguments and tension but ultimately there is the love underpinning all this. If there is one quote in this book that sums up Elsa and her love for her family it is this; “Love is what remains when everything else is gone”

I find it hard to describe just how much I enjoyed The Four Wind’s. This is a phenomenal novel from Kristen Hannah, capturing the dark and frightening atmosphere of 1930’s America and those families who were left with no food, home or money to feed their children and themselves. I did find it interesting that it has been released during a pandemic where there are plenty of people in that position today. What shines through though is the courage, determination and determination of Elsa, and those around her, to survive and hope for a better life. Truely magnificent I think this will be one of my top books of 2021, simply stunning.

I really, really enjoyed this title! The book itself was absolutely captivating, the characters were well thought out and very relatable! Absolutely wonderful read!

What an utterly captivating, heart-wrenching story this was! It’s been a while since I devoured a big book in a couple of sittings, totally neglecting reality because I felt transported into the world of my fictional characters.

Ever since reading Steinbeck’s THE GRAPES OF WRATH, I have been fascinated with the era of the Great Depression in fiction. There is something about people overcoming hardship and adversity that always speaks to me as a reader and inspires me, and this could not come at a better time than during a global pandemic. It is also a reality check, because compared to Elsa Martinelli’s problems, mine appear miniscule in comparison!

Elsa Martinelli is the kind of strong female character who drives a story. Battling her whole life with adversity, she is yet determined to overcome all odds through sheer hard work and courage. Strangely, Elsa does not think of herself as courageous, even as she slaves away day and night through drought conditions and dust storms to keep her kids fed and clothes. Or when her husband up and leaves the family, abandoning Elsa to fend for herself and her children. Or when she has to uproot her family to travel to the other side of the country in search of a better future and to save her son’s life – a woman on her own in a time when women were only viewed as fit to care for the household, not make heroic journeys in dangerous conditions in the hope for a better future. Elsa is representative of all the tough women of the depression era, keeping their kids fed and clothed and putting on a brave face - an inspiration to anyone who has ever doubted their own resilience. And even when I wanted to yell at her at times and tell her to just think of her own needs for once and see her own worth, she was always the constant force driving the book towards its finale. The best thing was to watch Elsa grow as a woman – from a young girls with little confidence and self-worth, to wife and mother still striving to be loved, to fierce mumma lion when her kids’ lives were at stake.

If you feel slightly intimidated by the book’s whopping 464 pages, let me assure you that I would happily have read 464 more to keep following the Martinelli family on their journey. As inspiring as the fictional characters were, as valuable was the rest of the story as a history lesson. From the terrible fate of the farmers in the dust bowl during the lean years of the 1930s, to the way the “land of milk and honey” treated the migrants flocking west for a better life. History repeats itself, and there are many parallels to be drawn to present times, which make the story even more compelling.

As the story progressed, I went through a whole palette of emotions: I laughed, I cried, I was livid with outrage. At the end, I was an emotional wreck, and yet did not want the book to end. The only thing I usually find a bit over the top with KH books is the melodrama towards the end of her novels, and if you read this one you will know it when you get there. It didn’t take away my overall reading pleasure though, and I guess it did allow the story to end where it did.


All in all, THE FOUR WINDS was the type of historical fiction I love, with an atmospheric setting and true to life characters that allowed for time travel to another era. It was a story I got totally lost in, and I loved the journey even though it ripped my heart out and ground it into the dirt until I was an emotional wreck. Lovers of historical fiction or books with courageous, compelling female characters should definitely not miss this one!

Oh this book!! Just beautiful! I loved every minute of it!
The Four Winds tells the story of Elsa. Living with her husband, in laws and children in Texas during the Great Depression. Her family farm is hit hard by drought and dust storms. Elsa heads to California where her and her family are promised a better life. But the reality doesn’t live up to that.
It’s just beautiful. A story of family, love and friendship. I adored it

Elsa knows that she shouldn’t ask for much: as a child, she was gripped by a fever that left her frail, and now that she’s older, she is considered plain and unremarkable. Her family have sheltered her away from the day-to-day life that she wants to lead, and while her sisters go out to find husbands, Elsa stays home with her books, trying to make sure she never over-exerts herself. Until one day, Elsa meets Rafe Martinelli, and her whole life changes.

Elsa marries Rafe and joins a family of hard-working wheat farmers in the heart of Texas. Her life is everything she could wish for it to be. Then in 1929, the stock market crashes. In 1931, the rains stop. And from 1932 onwards, the Martinellis are just another farming family caught in the relentless grip of poverty brought on by never-ending drought. All the dreams that Elsa had for her life start to go up in smoke, and as the drought continues and America falls into the clutches of the Great Depression, the only option left seems to be abandoning the family farm and venturing out to California – the land of milk and honey – in search of work. But in a crumbling economy, with famine and poverty coursing through the land like plague, Elsa soon comes to realise that the promise of riches and a better life are not all they seem.

This is the first of Kristin Hannah’s novels that I have read, although it is not the first of her books that I have eyes out and wanted to read.I am very glad that I have eventually read one of Hannah’s books. What struck me immediately was the ease with which I was drawn into the story, both through the easy prose and the engaging way that Hannah weaves a plot together. The writing is at once atmospheric and easy to follow, and the story moves along at a good pace. Within a chapter or two, I knew that I was likely to enjoy this book, and that I would want to investigate more of Hannah’s writing.

As the book continued to develop, it became more and more ambitious in scope, while still retaining the nuclear focus on Elsa and her family. Tackling issues such as classism during the Great Depression, and worker’s rights, this book is full of things that get you thinking more about the history of America in the 1930s. We hear about the Golden Age of America often enough, but at times, the darker, harder aspects of this time in history are hidden away. Given the current world context, a book about facing and overcoming adversity is a glimmer of hope that we sorely need now.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, although there were times when I felt the story drag. I think these drags were designed specifically to highlight the feeling of the book and to make the reader feel drawn into the overarching atmosphere that Hannah created. I can say that it worked, but that I did think there were times where the book could have perhaps been shortened slightly, or where certain events could have been condensed. This didn’t detract from my overall experience of the book in any significant way, but I did feel that the book needn’t have been quite as long as it was … even though I understand what purpose the drawing out of the plot served.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by the book. The plot was, for the most part, well-paced and the characters were compelling. The ending of the book felt real and true to the story, and the novel as a whole delivered a tale of hope and strength during times of adversity – a moral that we can all understand the poignancy of right now. On the whole, I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to picking up more of Kristin Hannah’s books in the future – particularly with the number of adaptations that have been and are being made!

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I am a huge Kristin Hannah fan and i was delighted to get the opportunity to review her newest book The Four Winds. I enjoyed the first half of the book but unfortunately I found that the plot seemed to unravel in latter half. I didn't enjoy the ending and overall I was disappointed in the book.

An emotional read, heartbreaking and somewhat depressing in places but ultimately an amazing testament to the human spirit, motherhood, family and love.

The book is set in the Great Depression and focuses on Elsa Martinelli who, faced with an increasingly grim life on a failing farm in Texas in the grip of the Dust Bowl, and an uncertain future, makes the decision to go west with her two children to seek a better life. Sadly California does not prove to be all that they had hoped, but Elsa is determined to fight for herself and her family.

Hannah has a real ability to draw you in and immerse you in a setting - I didn't know a great deal about the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression prior to reading this, but I felt I learnt so much about the incredible hardship endured thanks to Hannah's meticulous research and skilled storytelling. And in Elsa she has created an incredible lead character, who endures so much in her life but shows a tenacity and willingness to support her family and those she loves the best she can despite everything.

This is the second book I have read by Hannah, the other being The Nightingale, and both have blown me away - she has made me remember how much I love historical fiction and she has now become a must read author for me.

This is a fictional account of life in the American agricultural west following the First World War through one family. Elsinore (Elsa) is one of three daughters. She comes from a “comfortable” commercial family, but as a tall gawky girl interested in books she is not expected to marry unlike her two sisters. But then she sneaks out one evening and she meets Rafe a slightly younger man – from a poorer farming family but interested in books too. He is intended to be the first of his family to go away to College. But an unexpected pregnancy results in Elsa being thrown out of her family and in a shotgun wedding married to Rafe who gives up his educational expectations.
Elsa, under the tutelage of her mother in law settles to a farmer’s wife with its multiple skills and duties to supply a farming family with little actual cash. She finds this life satisfactory, but Rafe becomes increasingly disgruntled and then bitter. But in the post war depression farm living is not lucrative even with care. By 1930 a serious drought has developed causing massive problems across the whole area as crops, incomes, and farms, fail. Many people will move away to life off the land, others will try and sit the drought out. By 1934, after four years, the situation for those who remain is dire – and harshened by great dust blows that bury crops and gardens and cause serious ill-health. The issue of whether to stay or go is now critical but extremely hard to make, as money to leave is short. Some few might have friends with promised jobs in the industrial parts of the country; others will walk west to the promised agricultural lands of the west coast. Rafe leaves without saying goodbye one night and will not be seen again. Elsa will finally decide she has to head west too, but her in-laws will stay and try and hold the farm.
The trip west as a lone woman with children is dangerous, even with kind advice from some. Once on the west coast Elsa and family will have to live in their parked truck in a rough, and growing, transit camp. She will learn the hard way of how “immigrants” are treated, when sympathy is fading. Benefits are reduced and then removed. Families start on a spiral of deadly decline of income and even the most basic belongings. “Privileged” incoming labour might be offered poverty wages tied to long term contracts in which even the children must work, but contacts that require tied housing costs, salary paid in shop tokens and that do not guarantee work over many weeks. Piece rates that start to fall mean perpetual servitude. By 1936 Labour unions will appear and things will get violent and dangerous for those who oppose the owners and their hired thugs. Hannah shows all this through the story of Elsa and her daughter and son.
As this is fiction this has to have a reasonably happy ending. Although Elsa will die as a result of the campaign, she will be taken “home” to be buried. The children will eventually return to the family farm and the in-laws who have also suffered staggering poverty and want as they survive on their hard work and sparse government grants dependant on them re-configuring their actual farm landscape, to replant grassland (not arable fields) and fight the wind blows. By 1940 we have daughter Loreda planning to go to College – the first of her family – to lead to what is expected to be a successful professional life. The supposed moral of this story is that “Hard Times Won’t Last – Land and Family Do”. So it is important to stick together regardless, even if some do not agree with this all the time, it will work out OK in the end.
But this is a clear rebuttal of the “great American dream”. It shows the harsh poverty that underlay so many promises and still is denied in pretty myths that conveniently forget how many Americans are from immigrant families. It is a reflective indictment on how immigrants travelling from poverty elsewhere can so easily be seen as “other” and treated both unkindly, but also monstrously and unnecessarily harshly. Nothing really changes. But a picture such as this might make readers think awhile on their casual attitudes and behaviour.

The year is 1921, and bookworm Elsa feels like an outsider in her small town. After getting pregnant, she’s forced to marry a virtual stranger and move onto his family’s farm.

The Four Winds is an epic read that follows Elsa as she flees the dust storms of Depression-era Texas to seek work in California with kids in tow.

I loved The Nightingale and The Great Alone and couldn’t wait to get stuck into this. Like The Nightingale, it’s full of meticulous historical detail that draws you in. From the red-brown skies of the drought-stricken Great Plains to the cotton-picking strikes in California, there’s always an amazing sense of place. Hannah also shines a light on women’s experiences that might be absent from history books, such as the realities of finding work as a single mother.

I confess to knowing little about the Dust Bowl beforehand, and this was fascinating. The dark days of that period of history - with its man-made natural disaster and economic problems - feel very relevant now.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC.

Don’t worry about dying - worry about not living.

The four winds is a heart-wrecking and gravely moving story of an indomitable woman Elsa, whose life, filled with hardships and grief, exceptionally shows resilience in the face of adversity.

Mostly set in Texas,1934, the town is hit by the Great Depression, Dust storms, and droughts forcing the farmer's community to flee to the West. Elsa needs to make an agonizing choice to stay and fight for the land or to travel west for a better life for her children.

I am at a loss of words on where to start with this book as it is one kind of story that tears your heart. The author transports you into the story, where you witness how life can be at its worse in the middle of a Great Depression with no rains and drylands and living with a hope that life will get better.

It's my first book by Kristin Hannah, and I have fallen in love with the storytelling and the character development of Elsa from a timid girl to a mother and to a strong woman who never gives up her courage and hope. Hannah has beautifully portrayed the unconditional love and bond between mother and kids.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. Thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for sharing the eArc in exchange to a honest review.

Absolutely amazing! Once you start you’ll not want to put it down. Such a captivating story. One which will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions... I don’t to give spoilers! The characters will stay with you for a while! It’s one where you will want to read again it’s a beautiful piece of writing!
I feel this is one of my favourite books of the year so far!

This brutal and yet stunning story is set in Texas, “The Dust Bowl”, in the 1930’s, during The Great Depression era. America was on its knees and people were literally starving and fighting to keep their homes as a result of failed wheat crops. The female lead is Elsa Martinelli who is in a situation no woman would ever choose. However, Elsa is beyond brave and determined to survive and make the best out of her new life. Since childhood she’s played second fiddle to her older more classically beautiful sisters but now she’s free to make her own life. Having come from a very privileged background in terms of material things she’s now working her fingers to the bone for her new family. She may not have money but she suddenly has a sense of belonging she’s longed for all her life.

“It was only possible to live without love when you’d never known it.”
The first part of the book focuses on Elsa establishing herself in her new life and Hannah does a great job showing the reader how she grows into a strong formidable character. It was very easy to love Elsa. She has the most unwavering loyalty to the people close to her, an enormous capacity for love which given she lacked as a child made my heart smile. At times I thought her naïve but Elsa soon learns her lesson in the most painful of ways. The second half is Elsa using what she’s learnt to save her family. Reluctantly, but given very little choice, she travels west with her family to California to start afresh searching for the promised ‘milk and honey’. The trials she and her family endures were at times beyond comprehension and just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does but Elsa keeps going and never gives up protecting and providing for her loved ones.

“Don’t worry about dying, Elsa. Worry about living. Be brave.”

This story is ultimately about survival and hope. The friendships Elsa makes on her journey are probably my favourite parts. She endured, she loved and she lost. Hannah took me a very heart-breaking but extraordinary ride and gave me insights into aspects of this period in American history I didn’t know. In an era that was pretty much male dominated she made this story about the strength and power of women. At times some scenes were incredibly hard to read and I often found my eyes full of tears because even though I knew I was reading about fictional characters it was clear to see these situations were endured by millions of displaced Americans. The writing is sharp and written with such compassion and grace and it’s clear the author has done her homework. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it’s one that I will remember for years to come and maybe when my heart has healed I’ll read it again.

“But life is more than what happens to us, Elsa. We have choices to make.”
“I’m not a brave woman.”
“And yet here you are, standing at the edge of battle.”