As always, Kristen Hannah’s writing is as flawless as her storytelling. Elsa and Loreda were such rich and real characters.

I’m not even sure I know how to properly review The Four Winds. Every single page and moment was perfect.

I have to admit this is my very first Kristin Hannah book. I am truly ashamed to admit that but it will not be my last. There are so many and each sounds so good. I even own a couple. How's that for crazy.

This book is so good. It made me laugh, cry, get angry, yell and cry some more. It will give you so many emotions. That is what makes a book great in my opinion.

Elsa had a hard life. From the time she was fourteen years old she was told she had a weak heart and was kept from doing anything that she truly wanted to do. Not because her parents really loved her enough to protect her but because they were somewhat ashamed of her. She was not like her two sisters. She was not like all the other girls. She was so much more though. You will get to know the true Elsa and how incredibly strong she really is. You will love her too. Or at least I did. I think she is probably one of the strongest females in any book I have ever read. She's a daughter, mother, wife, friend. She's a hard working woman who has given so much to others. Her life is hard but she is not one to give up. She fights for her children. She works so hard for them. She's all they have and they are all she has.

This book is based on an awful time in America's history. When crops died and there was no rain. No rain. Can you imagine that? Absolutely no rain for so long. Things go from bad to worse when the dust storms hit too. This is a deep historical fiction book based on real life in the early to mid thirties. What families went through. What they did to just survive. How cruel some people could be. It's a book that will keep you turning pages until the very end. Then you have to read the Author's Notes.. I'm so very sorry for the loss of you and your husband's friend Ms Hannah. I've lost a few too and it hurts.

This book makes you feel the desperation that the people in this era went through. The hopelessness they felt. The need they felt. You will feel Elsa's pain in different places. When she is alone and thinks it's all her fault. When she feels love and finally knows she is worthy. When she feels so much pride for her children. When her daughter finally looks at her as if she is a human being. You know teenagers. They are always the same....

This is a great book. A very deeply touching book. One that will stick with you. It's just a great all around story of hope, loss, love and forgiveness. Of seeing your hard work pay off.

Thank you #NetGalley, #KristinHannah, #StMartin'sPress for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.

5/5 stars and the highest recommendation to you all. Grab this book as soon as possible and read it.

I was provided with a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kristin Hannah has such a wonderful way with words. Feeling swept up in each of her novels is now something I have come to expect. She carefully weaves intricate stories with character development and powerful emotions.

The Four Winds is told in a dual narrative with perspectives from both Elsa (the mother) and Loreda (her daughter). While I went into this book expecting a story of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, but it felt like so much more than that. It brought humanity to a part of history that is told with sepia tones and sadness.

In those moments of sadness, it can be easy to forget the little happiness or the strength of those who lived it and how they endured.

This book reads almost as an epic with a sweeping history and challenges at different turns.

I will wholeheartedly be recommending this book!

Thank you to @netgalley for the early copy of Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds, coming out in 2021. I really enjoyed The Great Alone and was ready to devour this new one based on reviews - but it wasn’t a winner for me. The premise was promising: I love historical fiction, women protagonists, and heavy subject matter. It just didn’t click for me though. The first 15%, at least, I was aggressively frowning at the poorly written dialogue and rushed yet boring storyline. It read like not-that-great YA to me. The writing improves somewhat a little more than halfway through the book, but I almost feel like she should have finished the book and then gone back and rewritten the first third of it. I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters, and it may just be the state our country today but my anxiety was SKY HIGH while reading about all the horrific filth & near starvation of living in the Dust Bowl of Texas in the 1930’s - over & over. I was looking for a cathartic read but I was unable to emotionally connect to this book at all. 2.75/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

"...she knew how dangerous escape could be. Survival took grit and courage and effort."

The Four Winds is actually the first book that I have read by Kristin Hannah even though I have heard, time and time again, how great many of her previous works are. Even with all the hype, I was still very impressed by her writing style, captive storytelling, and engaging characters that the reader truly gets to know and love. At times, I felt I was living Elsa's life, personally feeling her despair, hopelessness, and strength. I had never thought much about the daily lives of the struggling American farmers and workers during the Great Depression, so this book was eye-opening and informative. It gave me a deep appreciation for the courage they displayed in the fight for their lives and livelihoods. I think it's about time I finally get around to reading The Nightingale, as well.

Disclaimer: The quoted text is from an advanced reader copy I received from St. Martins Press and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book is about the courageous folks that fought hard to stay alive during the Great Depression. I have only read one other Kristin Hannah book and I feel she is going to be one of my favorite authors. She wrote an author's note and I couldn't agree more where she states " Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the Great Depression would become so relevant in our modern lives..." She had my emotions all twisted up. Do not get intimidated by the page count of this book. It reads quickly. I didn't want to put it down once I picked it up.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for the eARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent, moving, emotional. Kristin Hannah does it again!! I absolutely loved this book. even though it made me cry.

The Four Winds is nothing short of SPECTACULAR!! I would expect nothing less from this author. The story lines up with everything I’ve learned from my Grandparents and sadly is relevant to today. This story is deeply moving and makes you think. I love the characters in Kristin’s other books but I feel for and want to protect Elsa. You are missing out if you don’t read this book. It was an A++ for me

The Four Winds is the newest release from this American author whose many previous works includes "The Nightingale" and "The Great Alone". This story is set in Oklahoma and California during the Great Depression years. We meet Elsa as an over-protected teenager with very low self-esteem and follow her life. She marries, becomes an mother and must learn to find her strength. The book does a wonderful job of documenting life in both the depression and the Dust Bowl (when severe drought caused farms to fail, people to go hungry and dust storms to damage their health). Many Americans left the drought stricken areas for a better life in the California, although what they found was greedy landowners and prejudice and this is also part of the story. This is a fabulous recommendation for historical fiction fans and cover a time and place not often written about...her fans will not be disappointed. I loved it!

Get your tissues out for this heart-wrenching book about trying to organize migrant workers in California during the Depression. Beginning in northwestern Texas in 1921 it is the story of a “ugly duckling” sister in a wealthy family. She’s usually relegated to her room to read, but at 25 she seeks to find a life of her own and ends up being forced to marry the father of her unborn child, an Italian immigrant’s son. You might think of this as a modern retelling of The Grapes of Wrath. It’s a powerful story of a transition in American history that was challenging. Readers of Jess Walter’s The Millions, about union organizers in Spokane, Washington in the early part of the twentieth century, will enjoy this book. Hannah, a mega-seller in popular literature, will introduce a new group of readers to early labor struggles although in this book the heroes are wearing white and the bad guys are definitely wearing black. Once us snobby readers give into the romance, we find we really like the story.

I read The Four Winds the last week of December and ABSOLUTELY loved it. While I fell in love with Kristin Hannah a decade ago with her powerful women's fiction she has mastered historical fiction over her last few books. I love that the setting of this book is during the Great Depression, I've had an interest in the Dust Bowl since I read The Grapes of Wrath in high school.

Elsa makes the challenging choice to take her children and leave her family and the land she loves to travel to California to escape the dust that is killing her son. Through the book we see her courage and sacrifice through multiple challenging situations. The themes of family, love and perseverance are paramount in this book. Definitely need some tissues as you're reading as it's heartbreaking in parts.

I can't recommend this book enough!

The Four Winds comes out February 2nd! Thanks to @stmartinspress and @NetGalley for an advanced copy.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah is a heartbreaker of a novel. Elsa is a naive young lady who finds herself suddenly married and living with a new family. She adjusts to her sudden life changes well but is challenged by conditions such as the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and moving to better her and her family's lives. I learned a lot about the struggles and extreme poverty families went through during a time period that I hadn't known much about. Elsa is a character who will long remain with me. Definitely recommend reading this one. Read and enjoy!

“It wasn’t the fear that mattered in life. It was the choices made when you were afraid. You were brave because of your fear, not in spite of it.”

Kristin Hannah paints the devastation of nature in the dust bowl and the cruelty of humanity faced by the migrant community of the Great Depression with a poignant pen. While the story evokes Steinbach’s “Grapes of Wrath”, it does so through the lens of a powerful female voice.

I was overcome by the bravery of the main character, Elsa, who never really saw herself as brave. Her grandfather’s advice to “be brave” calls to her throughout the story and drives her to make intimidating changes for the future of her children. She believes she “fails” them while in reality, she “saves” them. She is a true warrior, fueled by love. The image of the warrior is, as the author describes, the very nature of motherhood.

The strong female bonds in the story are so beautifully written.... mother-daughter, friend-friend, people-people. In these bonds, the characters find their strength and ability to keep moving forward in the face of great adversity. I was especially touched by the relationship Elsa has with her mother-in-law, another warrior. Even when the characters don’t speak, there is such true love and respect between them that jumps off the page. Between that and Elsa’s relationships with her friend Jean and with her own daughter Loreda, I was always in tears.

Overall, this is a story of hope, love, courage, and the strength of human character to get through the toughest of times...it reminds us that despite our trials, we stand up, find our voices, and remain unbroken.

I believe this will be a top read of 2021, just beautiful!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

I received a free electronic ARC of this exceptional historical novel from Kristin Hannah, Netgalley, and a personal invite from St. Martin's Press, the publisher. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. As usual, Kristin Hannah takes us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions as we accompany this true grit Italian family in the 1930s through the years of drought, the plains states dustbowl, and the depression, as Elsa Wilcott of the Texas panhandle town of Dalhart chooses to make drastic changes to her future plans.

A survivor of childhood rheumatic fever, Elsa was shuffled off to the side, treated as an invalid with no saving graces by her busy family. Though the eldest of three daughters, the family chose to isolate her in her room, where she read everything she could get her hands on. It was considered by her mother that she was too ugly to even consider marriage and children, not long for this world with her rheumatoid-induced heart problems, thus not worth educating, and allowed only Sunday worship service and her walks to the city library as a way to socialize. Most painfully, her entire family refused to include her in their lives at home as well as out in the community. The wealthiest family in Dalhart, there is no excuse for limiting her socialization and education, but she is powerless in their arguments and heartbroken by their excuses. Her only friend was her now deceased Grandfather, who gave her the advice she is going to base the rest of her life on. He said, "Don't worry about dying, Elsa. Worry about not living. Be brave." At 25, she decides to take her future into her own hands. Completely naive with little interaction with people and normal activities, she begins to make her own choices even if she has to rely on the information attained from novels.

And it was a mess, for a time, her life. She was banned from returning to her own home after one of her decisions backfires, but it may be for the best. The farming Martinelli family, though reluctant to fold her into their world, are even at first glance warmer and kinder than her own. And the lifestyle - the chores and patterns of life on the farm are wonderfully exciting to this city girl. It is with a full heart that she adapts to life on a working farm.

And then the drought begins. The Great Plains loses all of its topsoil - millions of tons of it - to the severe winds as year after year the rains don't come. Change is coming. Can Elsa Wilcott Martinelli adapt fast enough to survive this, too? Can she be that brave?

The story takes place in the Texas panhandle during the great depression and the Dust bowl that devastated a large part of the great plains economy. Elsa lives with her husband's
family in a farm in a place called Lonesome Tree. The relentless dust storms and the ruined crops puts this family and many others in a state of desperation. Abandoned by her husband and without a relief in sight, Elsa decides to follow the footsteps of those who migrated to California, the land of milk and honey, pursuing a better life. But things aren't how she expected. The challenges seem to be endless and poverty, hunger and humiliation are unbearable.
Elsa fights with all her force to keep her children and herself alive making of her life an epic that seems to have no end.
The atmosphere of the book is related to the landscape and the extreme conditions that the protagonist face during the whole length of the book. I fin that clever but a little excessive. The book feels dense and hard to read. I love historical fiction as a genre and find this particular period of history very appealing but at some point the reading experience ceases to be pleasant.
The book is very well documented. I would really like to see a film adaptation. I think that that would be incredibly epic.

The Four Winds
By Kristin Hannah


A woman’s perseverance is showcased in this memorable and beautifully written family drama.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY
Texas, 1934. The winds are blowing from the north, south east and west. Farmers are fighting to keep their land, their families and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dirt threatens to bury them all. Elsa Martinelli, like so many of her neighbors, must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or take her children west, to California, in search of a better life.


REVIEW
The Four Wind is poignant, riveting and thought-provoking story. Author Kristin Hannah is unmatched in her ability to evoke emotion with indomitable women characters who are courageous, strong and make a difference. Elsa Martinelli will have you cheering her on in the very first chapter, when her parents treat her shamefully.

Elsa is a moving character who has faced enough hardships during her brief twenty-five year life to emotionally cripple the average women, and yet she perseveres. Hannah harnesses Elsa’s anger and desperation to fuel this emotionally intense story of love, family and survival. You not only feel Elsa’s emotional pain and desperation, but you also feel the dirt and sand in her bed, hair and mouth. And you can even hear the winds ripping the house apart.

The Four Winds is a gut-wrenching story and an indelible portrait of America during one of the most desperate periods in our history, a conflation of both the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl between 1935 to 1938 in the Great Plains.

Hannah has created a marvelous book all the way around. From the dramatic cover and the captivating opening chapter, to the iconic characters, the memorable story, the perfect pacing and the enlightening writing. It’s a meticulous-built tension-filled family drama that will leave you speechless.

Hannah has written more than twenty novels including The Nightingale, and The Great Alone. Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Publisher St. Martin’s Press
Published February 9, 2021
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

Get your tissues out. Each book Kristin Hannah writes gradually builds on a set of multi-faceted female characters that are put into unthinkable situations but she's topped herself in this one. My heart took a beating. I have sand in my teeth. It's a relentless look at the bleak dust bowl depression era that scarred a generation. I was drawn to it as a former Oklie who grew up with stories from my grandmother and great-grandparents about this time in America.⁣
⁣
While I enjoyed the main character, Elsa, especially the early chapters, the parallels to Grapes of Wrath are so many, it's impossible not to make comparisons. It's an unfair competitor that I wish I didn't know so well but time and again I came back to it.
⁣
In the beginning, Elsa is established as a young woman who's been told she's unattractive, unmarriable, and sickly despite the fact that she feels healthy. She's a heartbreaking restless heroine clinging to the idea of being brave. This bravery will guide her through the ordeals that her life is destined to be thrust into. ⁣
⁣
When she has her own family, her daughter, Loreda, has the same restlessness that Elsa had yet she clashes with her mother, possibly because she never really knows her true spirit. Loreda takes on issues of worker's rights with optimistic hopes of youth but the blindness of the young woman to see consequences that can alter her entire life is a repeating theme. Seeing this circle of life was interesting but I had a hard time latching onto the romance thrown in. It felt like a device to put a shiny coat on a story that is very grim. The endless emergencies (wind storms, starving, flooding, beatings) were historically accurate, but left little breathing room or depth between these events. My issue was how little the characters ranged in hero or villain. Usually, her characters show both sides of their humanity but in this one it felt limited. That made the Grapes comparison even worse because Steinbeck created profound characters that are in my bones and this book didn't have the same weight.

It's a great book and I know fans of her books will love it but this takes 3rd place among my favorites.⁣ Thank you @stmartinspress and NetGalley for letting me read this 💕gem! It is an epic read.

It’s been a minute or two since I’ve read historical fiction. I absolutely adore the genre, but much of the last year has been spent binging romance and thrillers as part of my “escape reality as much as possible” plan. I scooped up The Four Winds on a Netgalley whim, and was excited to try out Kristin Hannah for the first time (yup, it’s truly my first.) As we drew nearer and nearer to pub date, I kept choosing other ARCs over it. At more than 450 pages, I knew it would be an investment, and as a historical fiction novel, I felt like it would take me at least a week or two to get through, so I kept putting it off. Well…I finally picked it up (I’m determined to win a Netgalley-related competition in January) and I devoured this read in less than 24 hours. I was gripped from the first chapter. It flowed effortlessly and is so well-written that I felt totally invested through every single page.

We meet Elsa in the early 1920s, on the cusp of her twenty-fifth birthday. She’s been secluded most of her life after suffering a rheumatic fever in her teens. Her wealthy family has sheltered her from the world, and she’s always been told she’s not pretty enough, not strong enough, never “enough.”

Finally, Elsa has had “enough” and starts meeting a much younger Italian immigrant. Her family disowns her when she gets pregnant, and the Martinelli family reluctantly takes her in on their Texas wheat farm.

Elsa learns to work and love the land, until the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl decimate both the economy and the landscape of the Great Plains. Farmers and their families start migrating west with the promise of greener pastures and steady jobs. While the grass may be greener, their lives certainly don’t improve.

It’s told through alternating perspectives of Elsa and her daughter, Lareda. This story left me raw and wrung out. It was filled with heartache, tragedy, despair, desolation, but also hope, strength, resilience, and restoration. It’s not easy to read, and at times, downright depressing. Many of the tragedies Elsa and her family face are the same things many folks face today--hopelessness, grief, food, housing, and job insecurity, powerlessness, ecological devastation. The hits were relentless for Elsa, yet she persisted, especially for her kids. You can feel her heart swell as the seeds she’s sown take root:

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥. 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥--𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘵𝘦𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵--𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦.”

It’s the type of read I would describe as “epic” because the story takes you on a soul-scraping journey. While you may not get the type of HEA you’re seeking, you’re left with a sense of peace and possible introspection that will leave you sobbing but satisfied.

5 easy stars for The Four Winds! I knew The Four Winds by @kristinhannahauthor was going to be a quick read within about 30 pages. I started thinking about what a fantastic movie it would be because of how easy it was for me to be swallowed up in the setting with the characters. The way Kristin describes the heat, the earth, and the life struggles of the main character, Elsa is gripping. The dialogue and depth of internal feelings of the main characters sprouted empathy that are difficult to find in books, portrayed by words.

Elsa thinks she is destined to live a loveless life. A change in circumstances and twist at the beginning changes all of that and she is quickly thrust out into the world with practically strangers. The strangers take her in and love her in ways she has never felt from her own family, filling voids she thought would always remain. Multiple twists, turns, and devastating blows later, this story shows the significance of the love of family and the power of relentless hope.

This book contains parallels to the trying times we are in. Thrust into lives much different than we had pre-Covid19, I felt it encourages us all to find the hope Elsa clings so tightly to throughout the book, the hope that is very American, with the capacity for overcoming difficult times and holding on to dreams and aspirations we all collectively share with grit that only comes from consistently putting one foot in front of the other, day after day.

I recommend The Four Winds. If you like Kristin's other books, you will surely want to add this one to your collection and crack it open asap. If you aren't familiar with her other writings, this one is a great one to start with. Thank you to @netgalley @stmartinspress and @kristinhannahauthor for the ARC of The Four Winds in exchange for an honest review. #fourwinds #5starread #bookreviews #readgoodbooks #historicalfiction #greatread #sendmebooks #bookaholic #readtolive #lovebooks #booknerd #nerdalert

Kristin Hannah has done it again, she’s captured a period in time by bringing us a family who becomes so real that the reader feels like they are experiencing life along with them. This book takes us to the panhandle of Texas in the 1930s, which is suffering between The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl. Elsa and her children decide to leave and go to California for a better opportunity, which of course, is not what they find there. They are living in a shantytown, working as migrant workers for low wages and in really poor conditions. This is a heartbreaking story of a terrible time in our history. But it is also hopeful and shows us the powerful pull of friends and family and love to help us through bad times.