The Echo Wife
"The Bestselling Hardcover Novel of the Year."--Publishers Weekly
From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them. "My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family." Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman's only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa's tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive. In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa--like so many of her neighbors--must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family. The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it--the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, 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.BUY THE BOOK
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Community Reviews
"From that moment, I was the only one who knew what I truly was. I was the only one who knew what I had done.
To be alone with that knowledge was the most dreadful thing I had ever felt."
I finally read THE ECHO WIFE because it was voted as the October pick for the Wine & Crime Book Club. It had been on my Want to Read list ever since I first saw it reviewed by Angela on the Literature Science Alliance YouTube channel.
This domestic thriller is about Evelyn Caldwell - we meet her as she is receiving a crowning achievement for the work she'd accomplished in the field of genetic engineering in regards to clones. The moment where Evelyn should be riding the waves of accolades - she's instead drowning in despair. Her life had recently become a shambles in the wake of discovering her husband had been cheating on her. What's worse is that her husband, Nathan, was cheating on her with an illegally made clone of Evelyn. What's even more worse - Nathan ends up dead and now it's up to Evelyn and her clone to handle the dilemma that his death presents.
I have a confession to make. Clones, the idea of them - what they could do or be capable of - scares the stuffing out of me. My imagination just takes off. I had so many questions that I was hoping would be answered in some form by the end of the novel, but sadly were left open. I was interested in seeing what the author would come up with, but alas! I loved the constant fear that the clone, Martine, would be discovered and really wanted to know how Evelyn would handle the situation. So while I loved the idea behind the story, I felt a little let down in the execution of it - I wanted more involving the questions raised in regards to the clone research.
The main characters we spend time with: Nathan, Martine, Evelyn and Seyed - I did empathize with Martine and her situation she found herself in as she had no say, but Seyed I was neutral on and the other two turkeys I downright did NOT like. Maybe that was the intent here. My personal opinion is this book was the a fictional representation of the long term effects of abuse, in the case of Evelyn Caldwell, child abuse. It sounds as though it was left untreated and while she functioned, she was never able to really form any type of meaningful relationships.
I did enjoy the story, it's worth the read but not one that I could see myself rereading.
Haunting domestic, scientific thriller. Much of the tension in the book is centered around the debate (however internal sometimes) whether cloning humans is ethical. This highly creative has a scientist and the clone her husband made to replace her teaming up to solve problems and deal with trauma. I was shocked at a twist toward the end of the book that changed everything and still I enjoyed the ride and the contemplation of cloning's ethical issues.
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