Review will be posted on 2/23/21
The year is 1921 and Hannah brings us to Dalhart, Texas. We meet Elsa Wolcott, your average young woman living for the time period, except her family shuns her for various reasons. She isn't pretty enough, she is too tall, she's too lanky, and too sickly due to her bout with a fever as a child. Her parents really keep her to room and limit her activities due to her weak heart, but Elsa is just bursting at the seams to break free. After making herself a scandalous homemade outfit, she goes out one night without her parents knowing and meets Rafe. After spending the night with him, she finds herself pregnant and her parents force her to marry him and join his family. His family is a bunch of Italian immigrant farmers (cue the horror!) and Elsa's family looks down upon them. However, Rafe's family takes her under their wings and she finds herself happily working at the family's farm. She learns the ins and outs of not only farming, but about love, family, and loyalty. It's here that Elsa finally feels accepted and can start repairing her wounds from childhood. However, Rafe and Elsa didn't exactly share a real love, so their marriage is strained at times. Rafe always dreamed of going away to college, but marrying Elsa changed that and now he is stuck on his parents' farm where is constantly brooding. Once 1930 comes, disaster strikes. Farmers are really put to the test because not only do they have to deal with The Great Depression, there's also the debilitating Dust Bowl, which changes their lives forever. Kristin Hannah's The Four Winds tugged on my heartstrings and is actually a very timely novel about the powers of motherhood and the strength of women during difficult times.

Elsa was a character that my heart immediately went out to as her parents treated her like garbage. She was so very sheltered and just so desperate for love that she put herself in a compromising situation. However, this night with Rafe set her life down a different path and not necessarily a bad one as she finally finds acceptance with her new family. She forms a bond with Rafe's mother, Rose, whom never had a daughter of her own. Through Rose, Elsa learns about love, Italian culture, family, loyalty, teamwork, how to cook, grit, and more. Meanwhile, Rafe is a bit of a downer. He can't let go of the fact that he is now stuck at home on the farm and is miserable. Even once they have children, he still only cares about his dreams; whereas, everything Elsa did was for her kids. I kept hoping Rafe would see the amazing person he has in front of him, but in the end, he was too self-absorbed.

Hannah describes the time period of the Depression and the Dust Bowl very well; she makes it so very memorable and haunting in The Four Winds. I felt like I was living the nightmare right alongside Elsa and quite honestly, it made the pandemic we are currently living through feel like child's play. The dust storms, the starvation, the lack of water, the lack of government assistance, and the desperation all really moved me. I read an amazing novel about the Dust Bowl before (Hesse's Out of the Dust), and The Four Winds was just as moving. It really makes you appreciate the little things in your life and to be grateful for fresh water and food on your table. I was somewhat familiar with the migrant situation and the amount of people traveling to California to find work and escape the dust; however, The Four Winds really brought it to life for me. I had no idea the conditions were as bad as Hannah depicted and the way that the big business treated fellow American is disgraceful. Even though this book takes place many years ago, I felt that the themes are still strangely relevant to some of today's issues.

While a few moments in the novel were a bit melodramatic and cliched, I didn't let that stop me from enjoying The Four Winds. I think Hannah's fans won't be disappointed and Elsa isn't a character I will easily forget. With that said, The Four Winds will definitely end up on my "Best of 2021" list at the end of this year. Just remember if you pick up a copy of the book make sure you have tissues handy!

Are you a fan of Kristin Hannah? Did you read The Four Winds yet or is it on your TBR pile? Let me know in the comments below.

This is my second attempt at a Kristin Hannah book, and I was really looking forward to trying her again since so many people adore this author.

Spoiler Alert


The Good - enjoyed reading about this time in history, because I don't think I've learned anything about it since reading Grapes of Wrath in high school.

The Bad - everything else. First, our leading woman, Elsa, has ZERO going for her. She has the worst life, in all ways, nothing goes her way, and for some extra meanness, the author also likes to point out frequently how ugly and unattractive she is. Was this even necessary in a life where you have no joy? You get to be ugly too? I think there are better ways to make someone unloved, then blaming it all on appearance. Hard to believe this was written by a woman.

The whole book is depressing. Every single bad thing that can happen to one person during that time period happens to Elsa. Wait, there's a one hour period where she is allowed happiness, she sleeps with a virtual stranger. The stranger that she was only with because she was with him and was knocked out because of the secret meeting he held. So he drags her back to his place, she wakes up, has sex with him. She assumes the this is what love is. Again, is this really written by a woman? Then the next day he encourages her to speak up and this gets her shot. So, this woman who has lived through hell, meets a guy. and in return is clubbed upside the head, then shot and killed, all within days. But wait, after she is shot she wakes up in the hospital surrounded by her loved ones the reader is given a moment of hope, but then, alas, she's. told her heart is too weak and she's going. to die anyway. So glad she woke up for that ten minutes of misery. The heart that was too weak after getting shot in the abdomen, yet this woman birthed two children, lived on the bare ground all year, and worked insanely long hours picking cotton in horrific heat.

This is a bad book.

‘The Four Winds’ by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Press, $28.99)

Kristin Hannah’s “The Four Winds” is one of the most beautifully book-ended stories you’ll read.

“Hope is a coin I carry: an American penny, given to me by a man I came to love,” the novel opens, in 1924.

“Hope is a coin I carry: an American penny, given to me by a man I came to love,” the novel ends, a lifetime later, following the end of the Great Depression.

In between, beauty is far and between in this novel centered on the Texas Panhandle. The Dust Bowl and the Depression — events that marry to help decimate the nation’s economy during the 1930s — certainly offer no allure, and as a young lady, Elsa Wolcott is told by her wealthy parents she is not beautiful, and never will be. At 25 years old, she is considered a spinster; the survivor of a cold and unloving childhood. Her escape is into novels, identifying with the likes of Jane Eyre, and Elsa counts books as her truest friends.

When she falls for Rafe Martinelli, the son of Italian immigrants, a shotgun wedding ensues. Elsa moves into the Martinelli’s farming household, and after she is accepted into the family and accepts them in return, she comes to love the land as much as her in-laws do, making a living from the earth while raising her children.

The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl threaten this brief happiness, and as dust storms increasingly envelope the Panhandle — Hannah’s prose is at its height when she describes the land and the ever-amassing dust; you’ll taste the dirt as it infiltrates every crevice of life — Elsa must choose between the unyielding land and the lure of the West. The West wins, but as Elsa journeys to California, she finds life no easier, picking crops for below-sustenance wages, dealing with overt bigotry and descending into the downward spiral of Depression-era America.

Coming to closely identify with the plight of the laborers, a group in which she finds both friends and enemies, Elsa joins their protests against the economic engines that work to treat people no better than cattle. “The Four Winds” moves, then, into a sweeping novel, cinematic in its scope with a made-for-movie, too-convenient, union-rousing speech near the end. This is perhaps the novel’s largest flaw, but despite the denouement, Hannah’s story sings.

“The Four Winds” is a powerful novel, highlighting the resilience of those little noted in this period of history: Women of a time and place who unceasingly dusted themselves off to carve a home from the land they came to love.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this wonderful story. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah absolutely took my breath away. Kristin Hannah masterfully weaves the story of three generations of women , (grandmother, mother, and daughter) who all struggled to survive during The Great Depression. While this book is definitely not a book for everyone, as it does led to some triggering topics, I would highly recommend this book for book clubs as the storylines allow for different opinions and interpretations.

I've never read any of Kristin Hannah's books before, but after reading The Four Winds I will put the rest of her books at the top of my tbr pile.

After thinking about if for a few days, I've landed at 4.5 out of 5 depressing stars for this one. The Four Winds is a beautifully written story about a dark and miserable time in our country. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted/needed it, there is little to no hope throughout these pages. The anguish and despair is constantly ongoing and will take over you while reading. And honestly, Hannah's writing is so powerful and descriptive that I felt ridiculously weighed down and sad and angry for the few days it took me to read it. So if you're looking for a light and happy read, this isn't it!

Our country is filled with strong and tenacious and courageous and resilient people. But why, oh why, do we continue to make the same mistakes in our treatment toward each other over and over again? It is heartbreaking beyond belief!

I join the millions who loved The Four Winds. Kristin Hannah has done it again - so well researched. I learned so much about the dustbowl and depression era USA.

This story was beautiful, sad, inspiring, and powerful. It takes place during the Great Depression and follows the life of Elsa as she attempts to take care of her family during unbelievable trials. Elsa is a such a brave, inspirational character and your heart just break for all that she has to endure as she goes West to find economic stability and hopefully a better life. This book is a heavy read and will have you crying at so many points for so many reasons. I have been thinking about it since I closed the book after the last page and I imagine that I will be reflecting on it for a long time going forward.

Thanks to Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book "The Four Winds" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. How can this be my first book by this author? This book was amazing! Although I would have rather had a different ending with Elsa, I enjoyed the whole book. I loved the characters and their resilience. A story of the American Dream in the 1930s, of survival. So many hardships that I really never knew about. A great historical fiction read. The book was detailed but not so much that you were bored by it. The details made you feel like you were actually there! Tissues anyone?

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Kristin Hannah has become a go-to author for me in relativity few books. When this ARC came up, I crossed my fingers and hoped it would come my way even before I read what it was about. It didn’t matter the topic because no matter what the story is about, KH will tell it in the best possible way and that’s exactly what she did with this story.

Truth be told, I knew very little about the Dust Bowl and the flight of people to California in the 30s and if it wasn’t for KH writing this story, I probably would have passed it by. But before long, I was wrapped up in Elsa’s story and I had this in my hands at any idle moment. As someone who reads to fall asleep, i read in small sessions that usually end with the ereader falling on my chest but with this novel, I was reading for hours at a stretch and having to force myself to set it aside in order to get some sleep.

I think this novel wins with it’s subtly. It’s not flashy or punctuated with huge dramas. This story, like Elsa herself, is determined and compelling without trying to draw too much attention to itself.

Once again, a great read from Kristin Hannah.

I've read and loved The Nightingale and The Great Alone. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that The Four Winds had the same magic and beauty to them as her previous books. While it's a quick read, it felt too long and like there wasn't a lot going on in many parts. I didn't connect with the characters and found them to be dry and the weakest link in the book. The story was definitely interesting and reminiscent of The Grapes of Wrath though.

Hannah is a master of developing characters and the stories of history. I appreciated her writing. There is an element of the book touching on topics today, including , socialism, communism, etc. That seemed to be a major focus of the second half of the novel. Initially, I thought Hannah was encouraging the utopia of communism, but I ultimately think overall, the communist ideas and actions did not bode well for the main characters of the book.

Overall, I would say I appreciated her bringing to life the incredibly hard times of the Dust Bowl. I think it's beneficial to learn and know history, to study and remember it, lest we repeat it.

During a pandemic is probably not the best time to read a book about the depression and the dust bowl. The author even mentions it in her afterword. However, it does show that we’ve made it through tough times before and we will make it through these times.

This is the story of Elsa Martinelli. Elsa grows being told she is not pretty and doesn’t really have much to offer anyone. After becoming pregnant and marrying someone she probably shouldn’t have married, she moves on to his family’s farm.

There in the hard working environment of a Texas farm, Else finds her strength. When the dust bowl happens and the wheat crops fail, she is left no choice, but to head off towards California like everyone else, with her two children in tow.

There she finds others just like her, they are called “Okies” whether they came from Oklahoma or not. California does not welcome them and they are forced to live in tent cities and work picking crops at farms for barely enough money to feed one person, much less a family.

This was a period of history that I didn’t know much about and it was heart wrenching. I didn’t really know about communism and how it impacted the formation of unions.

It’s a story of how much the human spirit can handle, what we do for love and our family, what we do to survive.

Amazing! Well written and researched. A mother's Grapes of Wrath. I've heard nothing but praise for Kristin Hannah and now realize it is well earned! I look forward to reading more from this author.

The Four Winds starts as a story about a young woman desperate for love and worth and evolves into a story of strength, bravery, struggle, and hardships for migrant workers escaping the Dustbowl during the great depression. The writing is so emotive. It is heartbreaking and infuriating. A wonderful use of fiction to teach history as something that not just happened, but that was lived by real people, that shaped a generation. It encourages readers to put things into perspective in present day by remembering where we've been.

On a narrower scale, this story perfectly captures motherhood. The unconditional love, the fear, the pride, the sacrifice.

This book is so moving that readers will be thinking about and feeling this book for days after they close the book after reading the last page. Kristin Hannah's evolution as an author is something to be admired. Her writing is beautiful and prolific.

In her latest novel, Kristin Hannah weaves a tale of resilience during the Great Depression. “The Four Winds” is told from the perspectives of Elsa and her daughter, Loreda, as they struggle to survive on their Texas farm during the Dust Bowl.

When Elsa’s husband abandons his family, Loreda blames her mother and offers her the special cruelty only a teenager can fling at her mother. Elsa is doggedly hopeful that life at the farm can turn around, while Loreda thinks the family should leave their barren and battered farmland behind.

When the family realizes staying in Texas is no longer an option, they travel to California in hope of finding work, only to find that the locals hate their poor neighbors and the large farms are more than willing to exploit their labor.

“The Four Winds” is not a happy story, but it is a beautifully written novel about poverty and hardship that forces people to reexamine how they perceive poverty and gain an understanding of just how dire the struggle to survive was for people during the Great Depression.

Hannah explores how the Dust Bowl migrants were otherized by their wealthier peers simply for having the tenacity to build a life for their families.

This otherization feels particularly poignant when we look at how divided and polarized society has become today, with tensions increasing throughout the pandemic. When times are hard, people often try to push the blame on those they deem different from themselves.

While socioeconomic divisions are prominent in “The Four Winds,” the complex relationship between a mother and daughter is at the heart of Hannah’s novel. Elsa and Loreda each display incredible bravery throughout the novel in different ways.

Elsa’s bravery comes across through her dogged efforts to keep her family fed, while Loreda expresses hers through a fiery need for action.

I have been on a Kristin Hannah marathon lately between Firefly Lane, Fly Away, and now The Four Winds ! Set in the 1920s-1930s, during the Depression Era in Texas, which eventually becomes part of the Dust Bowl, the main character, Elsa, just can't catch a break. The book details Elsa's hardships and poverty as she struggles to provide for her family during the worst of the worst conditions. I learned a lot about the migrant worker crisis and how the Dust Bowl made Americans refugees in their own country. Compelling read and the book is a tribute to the strength and ferocity of mothers.

The Four Winds was the first book I’ve read from Kristin Hannah, but I can say it definitely won’t be my last. There is no denying that this book will rip your heart out, but it is so beautifully written that it is definitely worth it. ⁣
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When I first started reading books, I typically only read the cute romcom’s that made me smile. After the hundreds that I have read now, the books I appreciate the most are the ones that change the way I think. I had never even heard of the dust bowls before I started this book and wow did I learn so much. To think of everything that these poor people went through is beyond belief. I then think of where we are today and how quickly it is to turn our heads to those suffering, yet we don’t know what they have been through. You just never know when it could be you that loses everything and this book really opens your eyes to that. ⁣
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I truly can’t recommend this book enough and hope that everyone gets a chance to read it! 5 💫’s.⁣

The Four Winds tells the story of Elsa Wolcott, a young woman from the Texas Panhandle in the early 1920's, through the hardship thrust upon her by nature and her family. The lack of affection at home leads Elsa to seek love elsewhere, which ends up changing the course of her life.

Author Kristin Hannah tells a similar story to The Grapes of Wrath, though from a woman's perspective. The book spans a number of years, from the Dust Bowl, through the Great Depression, migration to California, and the inception of worker's rights. The historical aspects of this novel are spot on, however unpleasant and, at times, unbelievable it may be.

The land was ravaged by farmers who did not know any better, with countless animals and people dying as a result. The pilgrimage out West was partly due to systemic greed and partly an attempt to grab a real chance at life. The mistreatment of the migrants happened, on large part by the landowners, but also the native Californians who were not willing to share any of their good fortune with outsiders.

Elsa's suffering and struggles along the way were realistically based, but some of her story did not ring true. Women of her upbringing were proper and, despite her feelings of abandonment by her family, Elsa's real life contemporary would not have likely reacted in the same way. The other thing that really bothered me was Loreda, as her bratty teenage ways seemed more modern than historical.

Overall, Kristin Hannah is a great storyteller, with richly developed characters set in a historically accurate setting. Although this is not my favorite of her novels, as that distinction belongs to The Nightingale, The Four Winds is a book that I would recommend to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Four Winds by NetGalley and the publisher, St. Martin's Press. The choice to review this book was entirely my own.

I've been a fan of Krisitin Hannah's going back to her earlier books and was very excited to read her newest, The Four Winds. It takes place during the 1930's Dust Bowl, starting out in the Texas Panhandle where our main character, Elsa Martinelli has to survive with her two children after her husband abandons them when times get hard. After years of no crops, no money, and a son who needs fresh air, she takes off for California.
The writing is beautiful and the characters become your friends, that may be why you will need your box of tissues nearby. Anything and everything that could happen to Elsa, happens. I was rooting for her to have a happy ever after, but this is Kristin Hannah and you can't count on that. Elsa is an extremely strong, BRAVE woman in a terrible time just trying to raise and love her children the best she can.
I could only give it 4 stars because I cried so much.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

Kristin Hannah has delivered a story of courage and resistance set amongst the despair of The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl. Elsa, unloved by her parents, abandoned by her husband, must leave Texas to save her children. In California, while away from the ever-present dust, she fights for the rights of migrant workers becoming a warrior while learning of friendship, finding companionship, and discovering the power of a mother’s love. Hannah provided insights of this difficult time in our nation’s history and the art of survival; several resemble the struggles of today. This epic novel was heartbreaking but inspiring; tears were shed over the last few chapters.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley.