The Four Winds

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4.3(1,244,015)

Texas, 1934. Elsa Martinelli has built a life on her husband’s family farm, but prolonged drought, failed crops and dust storms make survival increasingly impossible. When her husband leaves, Elsa must choose between remaining on land the family loves and taking her children, Loreda and Ant, west in response to promises of agricultural work in California.

The journey leads not to security but to overcrowded camps, exploitative wages, prejudice against migrants and conflict between growers and labour organisers. Elsa’s effort to protect her children develops into a broader understanding of dignity and collective action. Through one displaced family, the novel depicts the Dust Bowl migration and the unequal conditions confronting migrant workers during the Great Depression.