finished reading

I think this would be a great book group book.  Elsa, the main character is compelling and complex.  And the exploration of the American Dream really made me think.  How is the American Dream evolving in today's world?  The themes and elements of this book stood out for me in the context of the isolation from Covid-19 (and fear of the spread of it), and the focus on immigration and migration, and of feminism, and environmentalism--wow!  I will admit there were sections that dragged on a bit.  But overall this is a book that will stick with me.

From the publisher:

Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a 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. 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.