Kristin Hannah is a superlative writer and I've enjoyed many of her books. This is no exception. The author knows how to spin a tale which completely sucks you in.

This might be a fictional tale but the author has written such a well-researched story that it feels like a true story.

I am still processing the story after having just turned the last page. I have cried and my heart aches - that's how beautifully written this emotional, heart-wrenching story is.

Words do not do justice to the book. One needs to read it to experience this poignant and stunning book.
Five solid stars to this book.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I just don’t know why I can’t get into a book by Kristin Hannah since The Nightingale. Sadly maybe Hannah is a one hit wonder for me. I can definitely understand some liking this book, but I couldn’t get into it. DNF at 20%. Maybe I should have given it longer, but I don’t want to force myself to read something and just grow to not like it more and more. I tried to read The Great Alone also and didn’t enjoy myself. So sadly I believe this is the end of the line for me reading Hannah’s books. I would still recommend for those interested in historical fiction books and wanting a good cry possibly! She definitely can make you feel sad!! Sorry, but thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing this advanced ebook.

I was blown away by Kristin Hannah's The Four Winds! I'm a longtime Hannah fan and have loved everything she's written but this may be my favorite! Hannah has outdone herself with this amazing piece dust bowl historical fiction set in Texas & California. This is an era I've not read much about, only one other book previously (I liked it!). This is a gripping story that kept me thinking about it when I wasn't reading, reading when I probably shouldn't have been, & always anxious to get back to the story! With amazing attention to detail and a knack for writing graphic descriptions, I learned so much and was blown away by what I was learning. The strength, tenacity, and fortitude of the characters in this book goes beyond measure. The story touched me deeply, disturbed me often (in a good and thoughtful way that made me appreciate what the people who went through this era dealt with), And we'll stay with me for a long time! I wish I could say it had a fairy tale ending and I won't give anything away but, I sobbed. I was literally crying. The ending was still beautiful and appropriate, coming full circle... But not in the way I had hoped or even expected. Which was actually perfect. Incredibly touching, beautifully told!

After her bout with rheumatic fever, Elsa Wolcott was seen as damaged goods by her family, who obviously favored her younger and more attractive sisters. Daring to leave the house one evening in a red silk dress, in the flapper style, she meets Rafe Martinelli and sleeps with him, but the unintended consequence of pregnancy shames her prominent family. Deposited at the Martinelli farm as though she were nothing, Elsa is determined to fit in with her new family, converting to Catholicism and learning how to help run a large wheat farm.

Rafe walks away from his family, leaving Elsa stunned and heartbroken, and her daughter Loreda is a typical teenager, blaming Elsa for everything wrong in her life, especially the absence of her father. Her son Anthony, only seven, is more adaptable, even after the dust storms hit the Texas panhandle and destroyed the dreams the Martinellis had for their family.

Wow. This powerful story of courage and strength is shown through Elsa’s journey to California with both children in a rattletrap truck, looking to escape the Dust Bowl and find work anywhere. I was amazed at the lengths the California government went to in order to keep the “Okies” out; being a native Californian, these were stories I had never heard. I absolutely loved The Four Winds and was in awe at Elsa’s decision to travel halfway across the country, to a place she had never seen, on only the hope of employment and a safe place to live.

Kristin Hannah's latest is a slow burn that takes the reader on a gut-wrenching journey from the Texas Panhandle to the California cotton fields. Fans of Hannah's past work will revel in her new book. For many readers, the story told in "Four Winds" is unfamiliar and new, as life in the Dust Bowl can seem far removed from our lives today. The book starts off a little slowly but by the halfway point I was unable to put it down.

Kirstin Hannah’s latest novel is an outstanding historical saga sparking memories of the classic John Steinbeck story, Grapes of Wrath. Based during the great depression, the hardships and demise of small farmers and the migration of people from the Dust Bowl states in America to the land of milk and honey - California. Except, California was where “I came west in search of a better life, but my American dream was turned into a nightmare by poverty and hardship and greed.” The Four Winds is an epic story that follows the life of Elsa Martinelli, mainly from 1934 to 1936, through the Great Depression and the most harrowing and traumatic years in American history.

As a younger woman, Elsa was repeatedly told she was ugly, tall and gangly, often ill with a weak heart, starved of love from her parents, and side-lined by her more attractive sisters. She found most of her pleasure through books (love her for that). Just to be loved even for one night, meant so much to her, but unfortunately, it led to pregnancy. Then forced into a marriage with Rafe Martinelli, disowned by her own wealthy family, and living with her in-laws, initially as a burden and blamed for their own son’s shattered dreams, she understands shame, rejection and loneliness. Initially, I felt this was too much adversity to throw at one person, especially as her life proceeds on an unrelenting roller coaster ride between despair, joy and more despair, however, it becomes clear that it combines many issues and challenges into one person to give us a memorable focal point. On a personal level, it creates incredible sympathy for Elsa and completely draws you into the story.

Elsa has a deep unconditional love for her children, Loreda and Ant, influenced no doubt from the memories of her own childhood. Gradually her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Rose and Tony, recognise Elsa’s honest and vulnerable character and come to love her as a daughter, and in return, Elsa loves them as the parents she never truly had. When her husband can’t take the misery of lost dreams, drought, dust storms, ruined crops and poverty, he leaves his family, and Elsa is blamed by her teenage daughter for him running off without them.

“ ‘Life isn’t what makes my daddy sad.’ ‘Oh, really? Tell me, then, with all your worldly experience, what is it that makes your father unhappy?’ ‘You,’ Loreda said.”

A brutal cut that is driven deep into her soul and yet Elsa remains steadfast and devoted to her children. When their options run out for staying in Texas, Elsa packs her children and belongings and makes for California to find a better life. The hardship of travelling with no money, no food and the constant danger, is the life of a migrant and yet all that awaits them in California is more of the same. Forced to live in migrant camps where hardship is an everyday reality, where death is much more common-place due to sickness and poverty, and where employers on cotton plantations and fruit farms only offer the minimal, barely survivable, wage because there is always someone willing to work for less. The realisation that life isn’t getting better and rather is owned and exploited by greedy landowners, drives at the injustice and hopelessness. Yet amongst the greatest poverty, the smallest amount of kindness can seem so huge. Elsa focuses on survival with a resourceful disposition that she needs to keep fighting for her family.

“The four winds have blown us here, people from all across the country, to the very edge of this great land, and now, at last, we make our stand, fight for what we know to be right. We fight for our American dream, that it will be possible again.”

A sentiment that has a contemporary resonance with the pandemic and economic collapse ravaging us today, not to mention the rich getting richer while the unfortunate stand in food lines and face eviction.

The Four Winds is one of those books that elevate your faith in the power of literature to totally captivate and will stand out in 2021 as one of the top books of the year. I would highly recommend this book and I would like to thank St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in return for an honest review.

Intense, real and absorbing!

Not since The Grapes of Wrath have I been so realistically immersed in such a time of hardships as the Great Depression and droughts of the Dust Bowl areas of the 1930’s. Told from a woman’s point of view, I found Elsa Wolcott’s story inspirational.
The trials of an undervalued, unloved girl, who painfully finds life and purpose is only the beginning.
The introduction focuses on the loneliness of Elsa within her family, the role they’ve colluded to keep her in, unwittingly or not, leaving Elsa stunted by their unyielding perception of her.
Her one moment of fight for freedom, the making of a dress in rose silk, leads to something else. A small but devastatingly painful vignette. I must admit when I saw the silk dress reemerge in a different guise I was shocked. Nothing said stay in your alloted place as did that symbolic moment. Elsa was not allowed to be more. When she was shown attention, of course she gravitated towards it. She was thirsty. This in turn leads to being cast out from her family into a new one.
Set in Texas, Elsa now a Martinelli cleaves to her new family. Their joys are hers and when the continuous drought tuns the Texas panhandle into a dust bowl, she fights on.
Elsa’s story gives insights into the spirit of many of the women of the time despite the meanness of comfortable fearful and their lip service to Christian charity. Others are supportive, and nowhere more so than the women in the shanty camps of California
The dust bowl descriptions of the destructive dirt winds are harrowing. A manmade climate crisis that continues to haunt the past and mirror the future. Turning cows milk brown is just one. The threat of dust pneumonia another. Birds falling from the sky, animals and people painfully depleted.
When Elsa and her children leave for the promise of a golden Californian future, the bad had turned to worse.
Fear and greed is the Californian face. Elsa and her family make friends, meet with ridicule and hatred and become employment fodder for merciless cotton kings. Chewed up and spat out.
The influx of peoples referred to as the Okies was mammoth. Desperation and competition vied as government assistance was withdrawn. Any jobs the people did get were poorly paid and then wages were slashed for profit. The shameful practice of having pickers being economically beholden to the company, where the company charges rent and pays in chits that can only be redeemed in the company store, was rife. Families could never get out from under their debt. Children joined the picker lines. This was enforced labor. The Okies were economical slave labor. The choices were live or die.
Elsa is a warrior. Her trials in Texas were almost unbearable, and yet the California experience trumps even that. She is a woman with a fierce heart when it counts. Her meeting with a communist labor agitator is another turning point.
I was glued to every word. I was equally elated, appalled and devastated,
Hannah is a strong voice speaking into the past and the present. Four Winds has all the earmarks of a classic bringing alive those times for today’s readers, jogging us into reflection and introspection. One can’t help but see parallels between the then and now.
Her author’s note is a fitting finale.

A St. Martin's Press ARC via NetGalley

I went into this, my first Kristin Hannah book, expecting emotion.

I was not let down. This book is powerful. It's oddly timely. Who would have thought that so many things about The Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and inequality would ring true almost 100 years later? Ms. Hannah even reflects on the covid-19 pandemic world she's releasing this book into in her note at the end of the novel.

It's interesting how we can learn so much from historical fiction. I feel like I learn more from heartfelt historical fiction novels than I did out of a history textbook in school. Hannah brings to life her characters. The main characters are Elsa and her daughter, Loreda. Elsa grows up in a cold family. They have love, but none for her. All she seeks is acceptance and love and soon finds that in the arms of Rafe Martinelli. When her mother realizes that Elsa is showing signs of pregnancy, Elsa is to pack a bag and then essentially dumped at the Martinelli farm and succinctly cut off.

While her welcome isn't quite warm, it's still better than the distance and hostility of her own family. But it isn't until the day her daughter, Loreda, is born that Elsa's heart knows the full capacity of love. Even as Loreda grows up and pulls away from her mother, Elsa's true happiness comes from the success and happiness of Loreda and her son, Ant. Misfortune after misfortune pile up and soon Elsa, Loreda, and Ant are packed up and headed out for California in search of the promised jobs.

This book just lays bare the reality of the Great Depression. How hardships kept coming and laid family's flat. The goal was to survive and there was barely any chance for survival, let alone getting ahead or overcoming and thriving.

Both Loreda and Elsa are a pleasure to witness throughout this story. The growth and development of these characters by both age and harsh reality is an honor to witness. This is not a light-hearted, fun read. But it's a story that I know will stick with me. I'm too far removed from the Great Depression and the people in my family who may have been able to share their story with me have passed away. While the Martinelli family is fictional, they tell the story of so many Americans.

I'll recommend this book left and right and encourage people to hear the stories of the Great Depression and pray our nation never experiences that level of disaster again. A poignant reminder for love and generosity during this global pandemic.

I really enjoyed this book. It is not the kind of book I usually read. I am not sure what I was expecting but this was not it. It pulled me in from the beginning and held my interest until the last page. I would highly recommend it.

I could not put this book down. The lack of love in the formative years of the main character forges her determination to provide rivers of love and devotion to her new family. The story of love in intertwined with the grit and determination of those who sought to survive the Dust Bowl. Personally, I was not aware of the vast prejudice and bigotry faced by Okies and enjoyed discussing the many parallels to the anti-immigration views of today--a common thread in our history. The story also opens discussion about communism, socialism, and the labor movement. It's all very interesting and timely--our nation is also in a grave national crisis--how are we reacting? Are we reacting collectively with grit and determination? The labor movement seems to be making a comeback with Amazon workers in Alabama--what connections/parallels.

The Four Winds follows Elsa Wolcott through the stages of her life starting as a 25 year old girl living in Texas in the 1920s. Thought to be too old by society and unmarried Elsa's life is forever changed when she meets Rafe Martinelli and has no choice but to marry him after having ruined her reputation with him. Something that causes an 18 year old Rafe shelve his dreams to take care of Elsa on his family's farm. When The Great Depression hits causing the Martinelli farm to dry up Elsa must make the choice to stay in Texas or travel with her kids to California in hopes of making a living until the land returns to usable.

No one can make me cry like Kristin Hannah and The Four Winds was no exception. This book was gut retching knowing that many families died during the dust bowl and even more died trying to support their families by moving out west. I don't recall ever being taught in school the harsh reality of what these families went through. American has always had issues with how we've treated immigrants despite being a nation based on immigration but it like this for families that had been in the country sometimes for generations is eye opening.

Seeing Elsa sacrifice everything for her children and like most kids having them not realize everything she was doing for them and what she was giving up for them hurt a lot. Elsa's speech towards the end felt incredibly relevant even in today's world that women don't get near enough credit for everything they do and are supposed to do with a smile and not a single thank you.

A timely tale and it certainly reminded me to thank my mom more for all the things she does that I take for granted.

*Free arc provided by Netgalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.*

“The four winds have blown us here, people from all across the country, to the very end of this great land. And now, at last, we make our stand, fight for what we know to be right. We fight for our American dream, that it will be possible again.”

The Gist: A mother living in the Great Plains during the Great Depression must make the hard decision whether to migrate her family to California for a “better life.”

My Thoughts: Incredibly enough, this is actually my first Kristin Hannah book! And I definitely understand the appeal; her writing is absolutely stunning. But man was this story BLEAK. I enjoyed learning about a period of history I didn’t know much about - The Great Plains droughts during the Great Depression, and the migrant issues and worker strikes out in California - but it was definitely hard to read about the constant struggles that one family could endure during this time.

Luckily this is also a beautiful story about love, and motherhood, and how to protect what is most precious to you even when you’re left with nothing else. I was in awe of Elsa’s strength, as well as the burgeoning strength of her daughter. While bleak as hell, this book does end on a hopeful note, for which I was extremely grateful.

Brutal, raw, emotional and hopeful. I don't think I can put into words all the feelings this book put me through. I was so lost just like Elsa, and infuriated, just like Loreda! I wanted to scream so loudly.

Elsa comes from a family that didn't give her love because, in their opinion, she was ugly so not worthy. She takes the love or what looks like it, from the first boy that's willing to give it to her and who sees her more than her parents do. This leads to Elsa marrying into a immigrant italian family of farmers in Texas.

It stops raining and things start looking horribly for the family and Elsa is left by her husband and she has to make a hard decision when the awful sandstorms and just too hot weather risk taking one of her kids away.

Elsa, her daughter Loreda and Ant, the little son, embark on a journey to look for a better life. What they find isn't better; they get treated worse than animals, underpaid, exploited, denied basic human rights, and more.

What touches you about the story is not only the events, that still happen too often, but the courage of this woman, left alone, who will do anything to give her kids a better life and future. The strength of these two women, mother and daughter, will make you cheer for them and will take you to an emotional journey like not many others.

Hannah provides haunting, emotional portrait of life amid the Dust Bowl
By Sandy Mahaffey For The Free Lance–Star

There is no doubt in my mind that Kristin Hannah is a master at historical fiction. I was thrilled when I learned she had a new book coming out, but little did I know what was in store for me.

“The Four Winds” is a very emotional read; I learned a great deal about a heart-wrenching part of our country’s history; and for the first time in a very long time, a book brought me to tears.

It is 1934 Texas. Elsa grew up feeling weak, unworthy and unattractive, even though she was from a privileged family. But an unfortunate marriage brought her in-laws who loved and appreciated her and two wonderful children. Things were already tough because of the Great Depression and millions out of work, but they were managing on the family farm until nature took a nasty turn. The Great Plains turned into the Dust Bowl, with destructive winds and drought destroying everything in sight.

“The Four Winds” gives the reader a haunting picture of the reality of this time and of the love, courage and sacrifice of the families living there. The daily struggles were heartbreaking as they faced dying crops, livestock and starvation. Elsa makes a difficult decision to drive her two children across the desert to California, where they have been told are plenty of jobs, food, water and a better life, only to find hundreds of migrants living in tents struggling for work. The mistreatment of these workers is horrifying.



Elsa’s inner perseverance, fortitude and courage are remarkable, and I am certain there were many real “Elsa’s” facing the same conditions.

The strength she has to find within herself is formidable. She is the perfect example of a mother’s drive to protect her children. The weak, unattractive woman learns she is a strong, beautiful, beloved human with a great capacity for love.

“The Four Winds” is by no means an easy read, but it is a compelling one. Hannah reveals not only the strength of women and their friendships, but also the greed and cruelty of some people and the delicate state of nature, a lesson we are still learning. The characters will stay with me for a very long time. I may even still shed a few tears when I think about it.

In the author’s notes, Hannah writes:

“We’ve gone through bad times before and survived, even thrived. History has shown us the strength and durability of the human spirit. In the end, it is our idealism and our courage and our commitment to one another—what we have in common—that will save us. Now, in these dark days, we can look to history, to the legacy of the greatest generation and the story of our own past, and take strength from it.”

Powerful words.

Sandy Mahaffey is former Books editor for The Free Lance–Star.

This books takes place during the Great Depression/Dust Bowl era of American History. Sadly, many of the themes in the book mirror the current state of the country--high unemployment, food and financial insecurity. The people who migrated from the Midwest to California during the early 1930s were treated as vagrants, "others." "We don't want your kind here," one woman said to Elsa in the book as she tried to get a job cleaning house so she could feed her children. The woman paid Elsa forty cents for ten hours of hard labor.
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Elsa is so fierce and determined..a warrior. Her love for her children drives her to find something better for them. I rooted for her through the entire story. As with one of my favorite Kristin Hannah books, The Nightingale, I found myself completely immersed in the characters and their lives. I could feel the desperation, their hunger. I could feel the fear when the dust storms came.
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So much of The Four Winds was just incredibly sad and horribly awful for the characters.. What people had to endure during that time was much more than I could almost bear to read. But I'm so glad I did read this book and I want to thank St. Martin's Press for my copy.
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I highly recommend this book to historical fiction readers and especially if you're a fan of Kristin Hannah's previous books. The Four Winds is not to be missed.

Beautifully written, powerful, disturbing story of one courageous woman and her struggles to keep her family together during the Great Depression. A must-read.

Some authors rip the soul right out of you with their portrayal of human life and their narrative sucks you dry. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah has done just that. I have cried, and suffered with Elsa Martinelli as she fought for a life for her children and herself. Working until her fingers bled. Fighting for food, dignity and for hope.

Elsa Martinelli was born unloved and unrecognized until she was forced to marry, a man she thought she loved. What she found was a family who loved her and peace and hope with the farm as they worked from dawn to dusk. Then the Great Depression and the dust storms started. People were starving to death and the dust got into the lungs and caused pneumonia among other things. Elsa's life became more difficult as she and the children left for the “promise land” of California. What they found was not promises, but hard work, scraping by, and the inhumanity of greed, but she found her voice.

The book tore my heart right out of my chest. I felt the winds blow me around, I felt the sun baking down on me and the sneers of the townspeople for the Okies. It is a special author that can bring you into the novel and make you feel like you are a part of it. Kristin Hannah’s newest book, The Four Winds is an awesome read.

Love all of KH books....this one was a bit slow for me. Maybe for me is was about the year it took place. Well written

What an emotional read. I always bawl my eyes out reading Kristin Hannah's books and this one is no different. I didn't like the first half of this book. I found it slow and I didn't care much about Elsa. I will say you do have to go through the first half to really understand and appreciate the second half of the book. I think during this time in our lives with the pandemic you can understand and sympathize more with what happened during the Dust Bowl. It was quite sad to see how people treated each other back than when some compassion would go a long way.

Kristin Hannah is beloved, and she builds atmosphere like no-one's business, but I found the book quite monotonous. I was very intrigued because the Dust Bowl era in the States is not something I've read much about. And I'm fine with depressing books. But this was a depressing book where it seemed like nothing happened. The write-up I read referenced an event that happened maybe 2/3 of the way through as it was the main point of the book, but it took so long to get there, and then more nothing happened, until nearly the end of the book. On top of that, there were very few characters, so it was tightly focused on the lead character, who was very reactive and felt like she never made any decisions of her own until very near the end.