Their daughter, Loreda, exacerbates their differences through her tenacious yet rebellious spirit. The second part, set in 1934, depicts family tensions as Elsa’s rootedness chafes against Rafe’s desire to leave the floundering farm. The spare writing in the 1921-set first section imparts the starkness of Elsa’s childhood and the barrenness of the landscape, like a Dorothea Lange photograph come alive. The story builds to epic proportions over its four distinct parts. Elsa finally realizes her big dream, becoming a warrior matriarch who fights for justice. What they find is devastation, not of the landscape but of human souls, ground down by mistreatment. But when Rafe abandons his family and dust storms begin to ravage the land, Elsa and her children journey to California in search of a better life. Soon Elsa becomes an indispensable member of the Martinelli farm. When she becomes pregnant by Rafe, Elsa is disowned by her parents, and Rafe’s family takes in the young couple. One night she sneaks away from the protective eyes of her family and thrills at the attention paid to her by Rafe Martinelli, a dashing Italian immigrant. In 1921, as a sickly, homebound teen, Elsa dreams big. Like a wise and imaginative teacher, Kristin Hannah imbues past events with relevance and significance in her novel The Four Winds.
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