Ask a Bookseller: 'The Four Winds' imagines one mother’s story during the Dust Bowl

This week's book pick comes from Mary Miller, co-owner of Turtle Town Books and Gifts in Nisswa, Minn., who recommended the novel “The Four Winds” by Kristen Hannah.

"In some ways, it's kind of a retelling of 'The Grapes of Wrath,'" — the Pulitzer Prize-winning John Steinbeck novel set during the Dust Bowl. "However, of course, it's Kristin Hannah, so the female lead is very strong."

Kristin Hannah earned herself the coveted “No. 1 New York Times Bestselling author” moniker with her novel “The Nightingale,” which follows two sisters in occupied France during World War II.

This new novel follows Elsa Wolcott Martinelli through the 1920s and 30s in Texas.

"The book begins in 1921 in Texas. Elsa Wolcott is unloved by her family and yearning for any kind of attention," Miller said. "She strays one night and ends up disgracing her family, and is forced to live with the baby's father and his Italian parents, who are farmers.

"For a while, life is pretty good. And then the dust storms start to happen. One night Elsa's husband, who probably never really loved her anyway, runs away and leaves her with two children. So Elsa's journey starts as it does for millions of jobless workers. She's living in a migrant camp and desperate for food, and does anything she can to protect her two children.

"I know this sounds like a desperate story and one of despair," Miller said, "but over time, Elsa grows in strength and confidence. And eventually, I feel that the story is very enlightening."

• Ask a Bookseller: ‘North Woods’ by Daniel Mason
• ‘Meant to be’: Four years later, Black Garnet Books owner is selling, to a friend 
• Dr. Marty Makary on medicine's blind spots
• Percival Everett wins the National Book Award fiction prize