Thoughts: I won’t lie, this wasn’t my favorite Kristin Hannah book. The story itself is of course beautifully written which is what I think made it hard to read for me. The story follows a family living through the dust bowl and their travels west to try to create a better life for themselves. The story is incredibly moving, especially the ending, but the middle part gets very dark and was hard for me to read more than chunks at a time. Focusing on the strong female impact during this time in our country was incredible to read though and important to highlight.
Summary: 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.