Senior Book Club Recap
June 2022 Selection
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, 2021
Summary: Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work, and drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods. The crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. 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.
For more information about the dust bowl and the great depression, see this excellent documentary about the dust bowl by Ken Burns:
Read-Alike Authors:
- Barbara Delinsky
- Luanne Rice
- Jennifer Chiaverini
- Jodi Picoult
Other Books by Krisitin Hannah
- The Magic Hour, 2006
- Between Sisters, 2010
- The Nightingale, 2017
- The Great Alone, 2019
Read-Alikes by Title:
| The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck, John, 1902-1968 Reason: Although the classic Grapes of Wrath is a bit bleaker in tone than The Four Winds, both limn the Dust Bowl Era and subsequent American migration with lyrical language and sympathetic characters. — Autumn Winters |
| Promise Gwin, Minrose Reason: Family bonds are doubly tested by horrific natural disasters occurring during the Great Depression in these lyrical and engaging works of historical fiction. — Malia Jackson |
| The Victory Garden Bowen, Rhys Reason: Readers seeking richly detailed historical fiction will appreciate these tales of determined women struggling to survive on farms during the especially challenging times of the Dust Bowl (The Four Winds) and the First World War (The Victory Garden). — Malia Jackson |
| I will send rain Meadows, Rae Reason: Tenacious women fight to survive the harsh conditions of Dust Bowl-era Oklahoma (Send Rain) and Texas (Four Winds) and keep their families together in these richly detailed historical novels. — Halle Carlson |
Join the discussion!
Every second Tuesday of the month at 3pm, we will meet and talk about our latest pick at Luther Crest in Allentown. Residents and non-residents are welcome!
All programming is sponsored by The Friends of the Parkland Community Library.
Learn more about The Friends on their webpage.
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