A woman’s struggle in the harrowing 1930s Dust Bowl years underscores a people’s unrelenting spirit to survive in THE FOUR WINDS—my favorite read of the year thus far.

Kristin Hannah’s brilliant storytelling immerses you in a story, in a time, marked by post-war bounty when America felt like a shiny new penny of opportunity. But for Elsa Wolcott, who was deemed too tall, too skinny, too old to marry, the future felt bleak. One night of rebellion introduces her to Rafe Martinelli, who would irrevocably change the course of her life.

As the 1920s ushered in the 30s, drought devasted the Great Plains, laying the groundwork for what would become one of the greatest ecological disasters of our time. Caused by inexperienced farming, over-plowing, and persistent dry weather, high winds swept up eroded topsoil causing massive, continual dust storms. Now married to Rafe and a mother of two, Elsa helped worked the Martinelli land from sunup to sundown, struggling to keep their livelihood—and lives—from dying.

As the Great Depression took hold and dust storms wreaked devastation, people escaped the Plains in droves, heading west to California in hopes of a better life. As the situation worsened in the Martinelli farm, Elsa had to choose between fighting for a land which had finally given her a place and a people to belong, or risking everything for a better life out West.

Elsa’s journey recounts years of struggle, galvanizing an indomitable spirit which would carry their family through. As brutal as it was beautiful, THE FOUR WINDS imparts a story, like so many others untold, about courage, resilience, determination, friendship, love and maybe most of all, motherhood. It also felt eerily prescient, as we read about the struggles that once divided a nation, about the haves and have nots, about injustice and adversity.

I can’t recommend this book enough. So beautifully written and told, so sweeping and intimate all at once. I found myself so deeply affected by it and know I will always carry Elsa’s story with me. Absolutely extraordinary—read it.

Many went west to search for a better life but their American dreams became nightmares by poverty, hardship and greed.
The past few years have been a time for things lost: jobs, homes and food. A man has to fight out there to make a living and women of The Great Plains worked from sun up to sun down too.
When they close their eyes they can still taste the dust.

Millions are out of work and there is a drought. The water is drying up and the sun burns down on all the crops, especially the wheat.
They lose their crops. Dust threatens to bury them all. This is the dust bowl era which has arrived with a vengeance, one of the darkest periods of The Great Depression.

So Elsa Martinelli takes her children West to California where there is lots of work for everyone and a better life, the American Dream.

Every time I open up a Kristin Hannah book and start reading it, I get excited because her books are usually all five star books. I loved The Nightingale. If you love historical fiction, I think you will love her too.

I just loved this book. I fell in love with the characters. My heart went out to Elsa. She grew up feeling unloved and her parents gave her a self image that she was plain and forgotten. But she then meets a farmer and finds happiness with his family. When she moves to California she finds herself and her children in poverty and hunger. Everyone there is prejudiced and they don't welcome migrants there and they call them Okies. Elsa was such a strong female character.

If you aren't a historical fiction fan, I still think you will love it because it was such a great story and it is beautifully written.

I want to thank Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors, as she writes books about the human condition. The Four Winds is no exception, and when you read it, you are transported to the depression era in the US in the 1940’s. The main character, Elsa, struggles with her family and farm life in Oklahoma while facing destruction from the Dust Bowl.

Elsa is a resilient woman who faces adversity throughout her entire life, stemming from her place within her family as a child. Even as an adult, she struggles to believe she has worthwhile qualities, that she has value. Her beliefs are tested multiple times - whether by her parents, husband, her teen daughter, or later in the story, her employer. Elsa slowly finds her voice as her story progresses, and the reader absolutely roots for her to be successful.

There are also incredibly vivid descriptions and circumstances that were at times hard to read. I kept waiting for something bad to happen, but when it did, it was also appropriate for the story. This is not meant as a spoiler; rather, if like me you have some anxiety when you are reading, stay the course, as it is worth the adventure.

This is my second complete read by Kristin Hannah. I read The Great Alone and loved it. I also tried to read the Nightingale and couldn't finish it. The Four Winds was a good book. I loved the development of the characters and the accuracy of describing the Dust Bowl. I felt a kinship with this book because of what my grandparents experienced.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. I really love Kristin Hannah, but this was not my favorite book of hers by far. I thought the premise was interesting, and I enjoyed learning about the Dust Bowl and Depression from this angle, but I thought the pacing was really off. I felt like the crux of the story didn't even start until about 75% through the book. I really liked Elsa's character, but the others were not very well fleshed out. Also, it should be noted that this book is fairly depressing and didn't have as much hope sprinkled throughout as I would have liked. The author mentions in the end that she began researching this book a few years ago, but it does take more of a sinister turn when reading during a global pandemic.

This was a hard one to finish. I tried for months. Finally, I purchased the audiobook hoping that would push me to keep listening. I think I had a problem with the obviousness of the plot. Typical of a Kristin Hannah novel, there is conflict, hardship, and often no resolution between the main characters due to tragedy. These things do not make it difficult to read, nor does it prevent the reader from feeling emotion for the characters, it can simply make it hard to finish when you know what is going to happen. I did enjoy the book. The ability of Hannah to draw forth strong imagery and emotional pull with her words made reading (or listening rather) worth it. I could even look past the occasional historical inaccuracies, which is often something I have a difficult time doing in many works of historical fiction.
I would recommend this to a myriad of readers that enjoy a compelling story and can escape into the words and without getting bogged down in knowing what is going to happen before it happens.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher

After reading and loving Kristin Hannah's Nightingale and The Great Alone I could hardly wait to read The Four Winds.
The author's exceptional research into the Great Depression had me living in such a sad period of American History. Her development of a migrant village, the horrific dust storms and the desperation of all had many more moments of heartbreak than of joy.
I found myself desperately turning the pages to see if the characters I had come to love would find some level of happiness. I was sadly disappointed.
This is a story of survival, strength and testing the human spirit.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This was a sweeping saga of a personal view of what is was like to live in Texas during the Dust Bowl. I remember reading the Grapes of Wrath in High School and being swept up in the story of adventure, hardship and bravery and the story of Elsa and her family felt no different. I couldn't put this book down and always wondered how the characters were going to survive yet another hardship and what was going to happen next. All the while I am learning about the era and the politics and ecological matters of the time as well as generational relationships and how those impact us.

Elsa is an imperfect character and that's what makes her both frustrating, loveable and human. I just wanted to reach into the pages and shake her! Hannah always creates characters to remember like Elsa's daughter Lareda- who will stand out to me for a long time.

I wish this book never ended. I really enjoyed.

I really enjoyed this book and the look it gave me inside a time period that I knew very little about: the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. It was a slow, steady burn all the way through that took me longer to read, but I did fully enjoy the whole thing. The character development and evolution of all of the main characters was incredible, from Elsa and Loreda to Rose and Rafe. And in true Kristin Hannah form, it explored the complex relationship between mothers and daughters and also the strength of a mother to get her family through tough times. It didn't hit me as hard as The Nightingale, but I would 10/10 recommend this book—even to those who aren't big on historical fiction.

I love reading books that open my eyes to a time in history I hadn't yet learned about. Kristin Hannah is so great at not only pulling you in with her writing and characters, but also shedding light on both geographical areas and moments in history that were previously unknown to me. This book is not short on sadness and hardship, but is still a gripping tale of survival and family. We follow a family's journey and struggle to survive the Dust Bowl in the 1930's. Amid immense trial and loss, we see our protagonist Elsa persevere and grow as she leads her family west in search of safety and a new life.

I did not know much about the dust bowl, but am curious to read more about it now thanks to this book. The characters were believable, and Elsa Wolcott was transformed into a shy, self conscious plain young woman longing for love and acceptance to a strong woman and mother, who gave everything she had to the cause of the migrant farm worker in California. The relationship of Elsa and her daughter, Loreda, provide the tension in the book as the two try to understand each other and their choices in these trying times. Although the book was over 400 pages, it reads quickly - you want to keep going and find out what happens to this family. The characters will stay with me for a long time - Elsa, Loredo, Ant, Jack, Tony and Rose. The descriptions of the dust storms were so vivid - as were the scenes in the migrant camps in California - eye opening to see how many of the same problems are still present today.

Great book! I'm still thinking about it. Mother/daughter relationships at their best (and worst). It's the dirty 30's and the great depression is hitting everyone very hard. After trying to make it in Texas, Elsa packs up her family and moves them to California only to find they are not wanted there. Interesting history of the Dust Bowl. Highly recommend this book.

HJ Top Pick!

In The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, Elsa Wolcott grew up in Texas with a family who might have had a beautiful home and modern amenities, but she never knew love--aside from her beloved grandpa. He taught her that to be brave was to look past your fear. Something Elsa learns firsthand when, after a night of following her heart instead of her head, she finds herself in a predicament where the only solution is marriage. Something she never dreamed would happen. But with Elsa's family all but disowning her, she is brought into her husband Rafe Martinelli's humble home and begins to learn how to live the simple--but difficult--life on a farm.

The 1920s were prosperous for the Martinelli farm. It's when the 1930s hit that it all changed. With no rain for months, their crops die along with their farm animals, and with no relief from the town or government, it leaves Elsa to wonder if her husband's dream of heading west to California is the right idea. Taking her two children, Loreda and Ant, away from the only home they've ever known is a risk. One with no guarantee of finding jobs or housing. But as the Texas landscape becomes nothing but a dust bowl with windstorms blowing through daily, is there really any other option? Elsa's hard work and determination has seen her through years of hardship already. Surely it will see her and her family through the Great Depression and into the future.

There are still tears running down my face as I write this review. Dramatic, I know. But true. If you've read any of Kristin Hannah's work (The Nightingale comes to mind) then you know exactly what I mean. The Four Winds was not an easy book to read given the subject matter--the Great Depression--although it was an *important* story to tell. Particularly with the world currently in the midst of a pandemic and with all of the unrest and fear out there. I feel like I should also warn that this didn't have a happy ending, but there was a small yet significant glimpse of hope at the end, done in a way only Kristin Hannah can manage with her incredible novels.

I won't rehash the storyline as it is way too intricate and with too many events that snowballed to be able to do it any justice without spoilers. But I will say that this was a tale of strength, courage through adversity, and endurance. Unbelievable endurance. It showed how not only the men in the bleak 1930s had to rise up and fight for their farms and their way of life but how women and even children worked their fingers to the bone day after day to survive--most of it in deplorable conditions.

Told through our heroine Elsa's POV as well as that of her daughter Loreda, what they both experienced will certainly have readers appreciating all they have in their modern lives. Everything, big and small. Because although this was a work of fiction, it was based on the actual living conditions and events that occurred during the Great Depression. It was incredibly difficult to read certain passages and I will be honest that I had to put the book down a few times to gather my thoughts and shake off the gloom over what Elsa and her family had to live through on a daily basis. Heartbreaking is putting it mildly. But their indomitable spirit, a term Hannah used so fittingly, was also inspiring in many ways. And I think that is what truly shines in Hannah's books. She always finds that glimmer of hope and shows us the strength that carried people through heart-rending situations.

There aren't enough adjectives in the world to describe the depth of emotion The Four Winds brought out in this reader. There was sorrow and despair, certainly. But as with all of Kristin Hannah's novels, it left me with a better understanding of those who have come before us and of the hardships they endured. Most of all it left me with the knowledge that there is always something we can do--as individuals and as a group--to strive for what is right...and how beautiful the human spirit truly is.

4.5 stars Kristin Hannah writes another story that will stick with you long after you read the last page. It does start out a little slow but quickly picks up in the second half of the book as we follow Elsa and the tough choice she has to make to stay in Texas during the Dust Bowl or head to California with promises of a better life for her children. I do wish there had been some final interactions between some of the characters, the story works perfectly well without it, but selfishly I just wanted those.

There are several books I love by this author, her writing is intriguing and usually sucks me in. The first quarter of the book I was completely immersed. By the mid-point I was no longer invested in the characters. The characters are going through the Great Depression and the main character continues to emphasize how ugly and insecure she is. At this point, it should be more important to find food and water. The daughter has to be one of the worst characters I have ever read. The main problem I had was how there was never one single good day for this family- ever! The ending felt a bit rushed and an easy attempt to gut the reader. It just was not my favorite KH book. The storyline had its moments, but fell flat.

wonderful book with plenty of drama but a feeling of hope throughout
#stmartinspress #netgalley #kristanhannah

Kristin Hannah’s historical fiction novels have become a “must read” for me as they come out. I was very excited to read The Four Winds as part of the Brenda Novak Book Club – 2021 Reading Challenge. She had a wonderful interview with Kristin Hannah last Thursday the 25th that is available on Facebook. It provides great insight into Hannah’s writing process and how she came up with the Four Winds. I loved it!

Elsa is a plain, unhappy, unloved, and unmarried daughter of a prosperous family in Texas in the 1920s. One day she makes herself a red flapper dress, bobs her hair, and meets her husband. Handsome Rafe has many dreams but settles down to raise a family with Elsa. As the depression and then the Dust Bowl hit, the Martinelli family is hit with many difficult choices. What will they do to survive?

I loved the vivid portrait that Hannah painted of the Dust Bowl and the depression. The very hard choices that people had to make for their family survival were devastating. The ecological destruction wrought by the Dust Bowl helped to bring in new conservation practices that are still used to this day. The travel from the shattered plains to California to then be treated like dirt was also heartbreaking. People that proudly had their own farms or owned their own businesses were treated like trash and forced to live in tent cities. The novel really humanized the situation.

I LOVED the characters in this novel. Elsa is a woman who had difficulty in self-confidence, but through the love of her children, she was able to work her hardest to survive. I in particular loved her relationship with her in-laws and how they became her real parents. I also loved the often-angry relationship she had with her 13-year-old daughter Loreda. It rang as a true mother daughter relationship. I loved that Elsa was doing her best, even when Loreda didn’t see it.

I don’t want to ruin this book experience for others so I will not get further into the plot. Like Hannah’s past few novels, I flew through this one and couldn’t put it down. Tears were shed and emotions were felt. I loved this novel.

Favorite Quotes:
“Hope is a coin I carry: an American penny, given to me by a man I came to love.”

“Passion is a thunderstorm, there and gone.”

“Elsa hadn’t known until right then how much difference a friend could make. How one person could lift your spirit just enough to keep you upright.”

“Poverty was a soul-crushing thing. A cave that tightened around you, its pinprick of light closing a little more at the end of each desperate, unchanged day.”

“Life went on, even in the hardest of times.”

Overall, The Four Winds is a gripping story that vividly paints the devastation caused by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.

After a year of so much loss and isolation, and The Four Winds was just what I needed to read. The book starts in Texas in 1921-- just after the Great War when times are good, for everyone except Elsa Wolcott. The sickly daughter of a wealthy family, she was hidden away with only her books for comfort, until one night she sneaks out and meets Rafe Martinelli, the son of Italian immigrants. Soon, Elsa is a wife and a mother and times have changed. The Great Depression, dust storms, and droughts have taken over the Great Plains and soon Elsa must make the choice to stay and tough it out in Texas or make the trip west to California, where the promise of prosperity may not be all that it seems. This is the story of a woman who's lost it all. And in her loss, she discovers her true strength.

If you have not read Kristin Hannah before, The Four Winds is a great place to start. if you have this is one of her best in my humble opinion. This is Historical Fiction that follows the life of else and her family. Born and raised in the Texas Panhandle just before the turn of the 20th century and coming of age during the roaring twenties then hitting headlong into the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. This is a family story and full of heart. So much so it will both tear at your heart and shed a few tears. Hannah writes emotion so well. Else and the young family's journey is one that touches you and holds you. This is a novel I could just not put down. Hands down the best read on 2021 to date.

Thanks to #NetGalley, #KristenHannah, and #StMartinsPress for the opportunity to read this wonderful story

While I have always been a fan of Kristin Hannah, none of her novels has impacted me the way THE NIGHTINGALE did...until now. Wow! THE FOUR WINDS is enthralling, beautifully-written and such a compelling read. I had no idea what to expect, but I will be thinking about this story for a long time to come. Highly recommend, even for those who do not consider themselves fans of historical fiction.