KAREN’S BOOK REVIEW

by Karen Bertsch | photo by Meghan Rickard

Author: Kristin Hannah

The Four Winds, written by Kristin Hannah, begins as our country enters the Great Depression. The mid-west dustbowl crippled a whole generation of small farmers; and families were tragically affected as starvation lingered and loss of property loomed. Most left the mid-west, lured to the promised land, - the land of milk and honey: California!

Hannah takes her book off in several different directions that aren’t typically found in books about this time in America’s history. She starts out by presenting a one-sided love story, then detours, taking her characters in new directions. In fact, the reader never quite knows where the book will go. Hannah’s writing is absorbing and easy to read, but at times it will have you scratching your head. I found it hard to put down. In fact, I read it over a weekend!

The unconventional stories Hannah fictionalizes probably actually did take place in some form or another, and present interesting scenarios and characters the reader might not have imagined as existing in this timeline: union activists, inequitable labor practices, women’s rights, government intervention in long-held farming methods and traditions, intolerance, immigrants…whew! Some things never change!

Ultimately, this is a love story, and the story of family: birth family, and family of choice.

Author: Camilla Lackberg

One review of The Golden Cage describes Lackberg’s writing saying it: “…grips you by the throat.”

Lackberg propels the reader through a maze of treachery, deception, and duplicity.

The main character is no angel--an antiheroine, actually, but one you will sympathize with, sort of, at least some of the time. This was another book I could not put down. If you are a reader who likes to read the last page first, don’t do it with this book. You’ll thank me!

Primarily a story of dysfunctional families and their destructive paths, it’s also a story of revenge with a capital “R.” (Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.) It’s also a story of patience, family, and loyalty, and finding the things in life that are truly important.

Lackberg is an internationally acclaimed, best-selling and prolific author. It seems to me that in the past few years we have seen more and more books by Swedish authors. Those long winter days must be good for creativity!

Karen is a long-time Tri-Cities resident with a passion for books and sharing great literature with fellow bookworms.