The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (Adult Historical Fiction Book Review)

 

The Four Winds
by Kristin Hannah
Published by St. Martin's Press
on February 2, 2021
Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction
Length: 464 pages

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Synopsis:
Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance.

In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli--like so many of her neighbors--must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. 

My Thoughts:

Elsa is a tall and plain young woman that is deprived of love from her family but finds the love of a new family when she marries the young and handsome Rafael Martinelli. She learns to love the land and raises their children with the hopes that they would live there forever, but the Great Depression and the incessant storms of the Dust Bowl change their lives forever, making Elsa choose between staying at the dying wheat farm she has grown to love or moving on to greener pastures where her children might have a chance to survive.   

This is my third Kristin Hannah novel and I've enjoyed all three and noticed a theme of strong, independent women trying to make it in tough times, situations, and locations. The Four Winds follows these themes as well and I fell in love with Elsa for her found strength and reserve as she stepped up and did what was needed for her family's survival.

There is a big focus on family dynamics in this novel with the mother-daughter relationship being the most prominent. Elsa raises a spirited daughter named Loreda who takes after her dreamer father and cares little for her mother. But after everything that happens, Loreda comes to see her mother--and the world--in a different light. 

Kristin Hannah has woven a brilliant and emotionally evocative tale that takes us back to 'hard times' during the Great Depression and gives us a glimpse into the hardships and politics of that time. 

I do think the end seemed rather rushed and was a little off-par with the rest of the book but the overall story was worth the read! 

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Cilka's Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz #2) by Heather Morris (Adult Fiction Book Review)

Cilka's Journey
(The Tattooist of Auschwitz #2)
by Heather Morris
Published by St. Martin's Press
on October 1, 2019
Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction, WW2
Length: 352 pages

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Synopsis:
In this follow-up to The Tattooist ofAuschwitz, the author tells the story, based on a true one, of a woman who survives Auschwitz, only to find herself locked away again. Cilka Klein is 18 years old when Auschwitz-Birkenau is liberated by Soviet soldiers. But Cilka is one of the many women who is sentenced to a labor camp on charges of having helped the Nazis--with no consideration of the circumstances Cilka and women like her found themselves in as they struggle to survive. Once at the Vorkuta gulag in Siberia, where she is to serve her 15-year sentence, Cilka uses her wits, charm, and beauty to survive.

My Thoughts:

Cilka's Journey begins as Auschwitz is liberated but her freedom is still far out of reach. The role she played in The Tattooist of Auschwitz labels her as a spy and she is shipped off to fifteen years in prison in Krakow and then Siberia. There, she is awarded small luxuries compared to what her fellow people received in Auschwitz and her good luck wins out when she is awarded a job that gives her opportunities to help her fellow prisoners.

"She is just surviving... There is no one way to do it."

I read (and reviewed) The Tattooist of Auschwitz a few months ago and enjoyed the hopeful story despite the horrors of the Holocaust. Cilka's Journey had a very similar theme of hope, love, and looking forward to the future but also covered the many hardships that women suffered throughout Auschwitz and in prison.

My only complaint is the similarities between the main characters. Each is randomly given an important job that sets them apart and gives them purpose, privilege, and a little more to share amongst the other prisoners. Both Lale's and Cilka's stories are supposed to be based in fact but the similar 'lucky streaks' make it seem a bit disingenuous.

I would recommend this duology to readers of historical fiction that would prefer to read Holocaust fiction without crying their eyes out. Both have endings that readers will enjoy.

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The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (Adult Historical Fiction Book Review)

The Great Alone

by Kristin Hannah

Published by St. Martin's Press
on January 30, 2018

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction

Length: 448 pages

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Synopsis:

Alaska, 1974
Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed. For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival. 

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska--a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wilderness that lives in both man and nature. 

My Thoughts:
Content Warning for physical abuse and violence, child abuse, alcohol abuse, PTSD, and a few others that may be spoilers.

Ernt and Cora Allbright move their daughter, Lenora, to the Alaskan wilderness to escape Ernt's demons acquired in the Vietnam War. They think this is a new start; one that will quell the nightmares and give them the lives they always dreamed of. While Alaska is new and beautiful and a definite change for them all, Leni soon learns that her father hasn't changed at all. In fact, he's gotten worse, and Leni and her mother must do whatever it takes to survive.

This was a difficult and devastating read.
It was hard to see how Leni and her mother tiptoed around Ernt in fear of provoking or angering him. What they sacrificed for a man that only wanted to control them. What people will do and endure for love and family. It's harder to see all of this from Leni's pov. 

But there were a lot of hopeful things about it as well. The Alaskans that were willing to put in the time and effort to help out complete strangers just because they know how woefully unprepared people could be for Alaskan winters. How different women took up the mantle of teaching the children if the out of town teacher couldn't make it due to inclement weather. How they'd gather the entire town if someone went missing. The community was amazing and the ending was quite hopeful as well. 

I read The Nightingale a few months ago and was blown away by it. Such an amazing read! I knew I needed more from this author, and then I remember I'd checked this book out previously and hadn't had a chance to read it. I've only read these two books so far but Kristin Hannah has already made it on my favorite author's list.
I love how her books center around women who learn and grow and become stronger as we progress through their stories.

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