"It wasn't the fear that mattered in life. It was the choices made when you were afraid. You were brave because of your fear, not in spite of it."
The Four Winds may be set during the Great Depression / Dust Bowl era, but Kristin Hannah effortlessly weaves in commentary regarding the modern parallels. Then and now we grapple with labor politics, climate science, and human resilience and empathy in times of mass crisis. As a group we had some complicated feelings about this read: while we loved the arc of the narrative and the social discourse, some of the dialogue and characters felt a bit shallow.