Off the Shelf: Kristin Hannah - The Four Winds - with Joe Donahue

860 Southern Vermont Arts Center Drive,Manchester VT 05255

26 March, 2023

Description

Kristin Hannah the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone will present The Four Winds--"the bestselling hardcover novel of 2021(PW)" now in paperback, a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them--in an Off the Shelf conversation with WAMC Northeast Public Radio's Joe Donahue a Southern Vermont Arts Center. Tickets Required. "This beautifully written novel is set in Texas during the Great Depression. Water is drying up, the crops are failing, and more and more farmers are struggling with the fact that the government can't help them. Following others who gave up their land, Elsa Martineli migrates with her young family to California for a new start only to find no work, deplorable living, and discrimination. This story depicts Elsa as a fighter who never gives up and sacrifices everything to make a life for her and her family. Gritty and haunting this book grabs you from the first pages and never lets you go." — Reviewed by Suzanne Rice The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it—the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation. “My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.” Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive. In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family. KRISTIN HANNAH is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including The Nightingale, The Great Alone, and The Four Winds. A former lawyer turned writer, she lives with her husband in the Pacific Northwest. Book of the Month Club's Best Book of 2021 "Through one woman’s survival during the harsh and haunting Dust Bowl, master storyteller, Kristin Hannah, reminds us that the human heart and our Earth are as tough, yet as fragile, as a change in the wind. This mother’s soul, suffering the same drought as the land, attempts to cross deserts and beat starvation to save her children with a fierce inner strength called motherhood. A timely novel highlighting the worth and delicate nature of Nature itself." —Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing "A powerful, stirring, wind-swept tale set in Depression-era America that makes your heart break and soar in equal measure. An escape into the past with timely echoes to the present. Kristin Hannah is a classic storyteller and The Four Winds sees her at the top of her game.” -- Matt Haig, New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library