I've read quite a few books by megapopular novelist Kristin Hannah, with The Nightingale being my absolute favorite. I'm always excited to pick up her books. Her latest, The Four Winds, was not her best, but fans of hers will probably still enjoy it.

The Four Winds is mostly the story of Elsa Martinelli and begins in Texas during the Dust Bowl era of the Great Depression. Elsa lives on a farm with her husband, in-laws, and two children. They all must fight every single day to survive both literally and financially. This part of the novel is completely engrossing as you root for their spirit and survival.

What is less successful, at least for me, was part two of the novel, when the Martinellis need to decide if they will stay in Texas or go west to California. I believe that the most riveting historical fiction draws the reader in to what was happening at the time without relying so much on dialogue to explain it. Part two moves the story along mostly by dialogue instead of action, which makes it less successful than part one in my opinion.

But Hannah should still be commended for her well-researched account of one of the darkest times in American history.

MY RATING - 3

I can honestly say that this book is going to stay with me longer than perhaps any other I have read in 2020. I knew Kristin Hannah was an incredibly talented writer and that this book was likely to completely shatter my heart, and I was not let down on either front. This is the story of the Martinelli family, told through the eyes of the mother Elsa and her daughter Loreda. We follow Elsa through incredibly awkward teen years to a forced marriage and the genesis of her small family, before their stable and comfortable farming life in Texas is shattered by the Dust Bowl years and the Great Depression. She leaves for California with her children and faces unimaginable hardship there. It is so fascinating to watch both her and Loreda grow up, find out what love and strength truly mean, and find their voices. It was a book I absolutely COULD NOT put down. It is obviously not an easy subject matter in the least, but you will find yourself so completely transported to this world. I will also say that I drew parallels often to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 that we are all currently living in and through which the author finished this book. Her afterword is poignant and so meaningful.

A round of applause for Hannah - another amazing work.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for my ARC of this novel. All opinions are my own.

I'm torn about how to rate this book! It was a beautifully written story with fascinating characters set in an interesting, if heartbreaking, historical period. I couldn't put it down. However, zero good things happened to anyone! It was page after page of misery and disappointment. I suppose that is an accurate depiction of reality, but as I reader, I do crave a bit more happiness for the characters to whom I grow so attached!

Kristin Hannah is a tremendous storyteller. The Four Winds gives us the character of Elsa who is told she is too tall, too thin, and not overly attractive daily. Living in Texas during the dust bowl she flees to California with her children for a better life and finds herself under the thumb of large farms who use the company store to keep underpaid workers always in debt. This is a story of struggle, stubbornness, the triumph of women when they work together, and how the American dream does end up being the same for everyone. I treasured the tale of Elsa and hoped for her to have the life she deserved the whole way through the book. Excellent.

Very mixed feelings on this one. I loved learning more about the Dust Bowl and California Migration and the ending elicited the feelings it intended (though I think the conclusion was in part for shock value and very abrupt). I really felt for Elsa and her children and the awful conditions in which they found themselves trying to survive. It was the repetitive descriptions of these situations and conditions though that had me slogging through more than 1/2 of the book. I think the author could have cut the number of dust storms and descriptions of the migrant camps in half and still have left the reader with a great understanding of these hardships. It got tedious to say the least.

Thank you to Net Galley and Kristin Hannah for the ARC of this book.

This is the story of Elsa born to riches but ignored by her family - she falls for the first boy who gives her any attention and finds herself with child. The family who already doesn't want her now kicks her out and husband Rafe is forced to take her home. There she meets his parents, Rose and Tony, farmers without much but they have love. They accept Elsa as their own and she finds hard work when accompanied by love is so much better than the lap of luxury with no love.

But hard work is only the beginning of her obstacles. It's 1930's in Texas. The Dust Bowl is beginning. Years without hardly any rain, high winds, burning winds, crazy conditions. Add in the stock market crash, the Great Depression and so many farmers with nothing. Many head to California with hopes of a new life and work as a migrant farm worker. Only too many go which makes things there horrific and trying to live when you are penniless with no roof over your head.

Elsa's character is a very strong woman who learns what's really important in life. The struggles endured throughout her lifetime are many but through her we learn so much.

I hadn't read much about this time in history but found it fascinating. Kristin Hannah has researched this very well and it shows. I highly recommend picking this book up! While it's not the lightest and happiest read, it is deep in content and historical fiction and beautifully written!

Wow. Just wow. Kristin Hannah has outdone herself yet again with this stunning masterpiece of hope and perseverance during one of the single the worst times in history - the Great Depression and Dust Bowl in California and the Great Plains. One of the best books I have read in a while. Beautiful, heartbreaking and rich with history, unimaginable strife, and the overwhelming power of kindness. Absolutely loved it.

If I can stop crying maybe I can write this review! But tears just keep coming. This book was amazing, I can honestly say this book has impacted my life in ways I couldn’t imagine a book can. We meet Elsa, who is not loved, who is treated horribly by her own family. She decides to be brave and go out, something her parents don’t even want her to do since all they care about is image and they think their daughter is ugly, she meets a young man who will change her life forever.

But there is a shift in what she considers her happy ending. Elsa works hard and doesn’t give up, she earned the love of her in-laws, she works harder than any man, and all she wants is for to give her kids the feeling and the life of love and security that she never had. Then the Great Depression happened, changes in her family happen and she has to make a decision that will save her children, going West.

This is the part that I can’t even spoil because EVERYONE needs to read this amazing book. What Elsa goes through, is something that I don’t even know if I would survive it. Not only does she want to have this better life that everyone says they will have when they get to California, but it’s far from better. In California she finds voice, and that voice, even though she is a fictional character inspired even ME! Omg this author is AMAZING!! My goodness, bring in the tissue boxes!! You will need them!

Thanks Netgalley, the publishers and the author for this amazing opportunity to read this book, it is exactly what we need to read in these times.

“ As we know, there are lessons to be learned from history. Hope to be derived from hardships faced before.”

Texas 1934

Set against the backdrop of one of America’s most defining eras...the Great Depression Ms. Hannah brings Dust Bowl migration to life in her riveting story of love, courage and sacrifice. “The Four Wings” tells how Elsa Martinelli worked hard to care for her children Loreda and Anthony when her husband Rafe abandoned them. With her children, Elsa left the Texas farm for California...the land of opportunities...but what the family lived through was not what they had wished for....

This historical fiction is one that whisked me away into another time and place not only with its uplifting read but also for its richness of words and excellent portrayal of the American Dream seen through the eyes of a strong-willed woman whose actions will change the life of generations to come. What a great timing for this book being published during the pandemic a time when workers are out of work and some are losing all they have. During the depression people had little or no help at all from their governments.

This is heart-wrenching and a tear jerking story from the opening page till the story warps up. Close to 500 pages of a very exhausting read. What we have are pages after pages of griefs, suffering, tragedies, despair, hunger and most of all the feeling of powerlessness.….. and a story of the ultra-rich taking advantage of people in need...sounds familiar. Plus ça change plus c’est pareil. Well said...well-done.

At the end of the book Ms. Hannah tell us that she took writer’s liberties in enhancing her narrative to make reading most pleasant and she did it with finesse and excellence...

I was so excited and eager when I saw that I was approved to read this book! First of all, thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the advance review of this book.

There is no doubt that this book would have taken a major emotional toll to write, and research. The story of Elsa Martinelli, a woman living through the Dust Bowl Era during the Great Depression is compelling and heart wrenching. You can taste the Texas dust swirling around Elsa, her in laws, and her two young children. For the first half of this book I was all in. I loved the evocative imagery, and while I found there was repetition (I think by half way we truly understand what a dust storm was like), I wanted to see where the story would take us.

For me, I checked out halfway through. I couldn’t handle the devastation anymore. There was no hope or reprieve from the panic and downtrodden(ness). Perhaps this was realistic, but reading this in the days before Christmas while my own country approached a second lockdown, I just couldn’t handle this story.

I think it’s a well crafted and well researched book that many will love, while others who need some hopefulness might find, like me, they they can’t handle this kind of book right now

Kristin Hannah sets the scene of the Dust Bowl and the 1930s California migrant experience with compassion and strength. As a reader, you immediately root for the main characters and find yourself reflecting on what tough decisions you’d make in pursuit of a better life. The book provides reflections on what does it mean to be an American and defining what joke really looks and feels like. It can’t be ignored that the book has been published and will be released amongst a global pandemic that has many questioning federal support, Hannah addresses the parallels in a very thoughtful author’s note. I recommend this for folks looking to learn about times in US history usually glossed over and especially those who are fans of Hannah’s character development and world creation.

Kristin Hannah's writing is beautiful. That much is obvious. I will read every novel she writes. Her ability to captivate the reader and keep them turning the page even when the story is moving slow or building slowly is amazing. While I was so excited for The Four Winds and ecstatic I was chosen to receive an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, I was a little nervous because I didn't have too much interest in the subject matter nor did I know much about that time in history.

This novel shined a light on the Greatest Generation and true American grit. It is not an easy read, though. You will root for the strong female protagonist (Elsa) as you do for every Kristin Hannah novel, but it was discouraging that she couldn't catch a break. But that's the reality for many in during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. If I had to compare it to another one of Hannah's books, I would say it is most like the Great Alone -- so if you loved that novel., I think you'll love this one. Something I did not enjoy was I felt that the novel was a little bit emotionally manipulative when it came to anti-capitalism and pro-communism messaging. I know that many flocked to communism in the 30s and including that is historically accurate, but I think Hannah painted communism in a favorable light and the answer to all the problems in the world. Now, we know that communism was responsible for the killing of millions of people in the 20th century. With the year being 2020 and the political landscape right now, it just felt like the way she was trying to prove a political point and that rubbed me the wrong way.

Regardless, Kristin Hannah will still be an auto-buy for me. I look forward to sharing this novel with our blog audience! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book. I have read lots of books by Kristin Hannah, and she just keeps getting better and better. This one is a masterpiece. I don't want to give the story away. I just want to tell you to READ IT! It is truly one of the best books I have ever read. It is heartbreaking, but also hopeful. It will make you cry, think and just count your blessings. It is really a timely book for 2020 (during a pandemic). Highly, highly recommend!

With heart-wrenching titles such as The Nightingale and The Great Alone under her belt, Kristin Hannah is an increasingly well-known go-to for readers looking for a memorable, often tear-jerking, historical saga. Hannah’s latest, The Four Winds — to be released February 2021 — is no different. Centering around 1930s America and the related hardships, Hannah offers a critical, emotional reminder of the sacrifice that went into the foundation of the so-called American Dream. Four stars because this one is, sadly, a real downer.

The Four Winds centers around Elsa Martinelli, our female protagonist, who’s only a young woman in Texas when we meet her. While she’s full of spunk and smarts, she’s a bit of a pathetic, no-one-loves-me-no-really character. It’s clear Hannah will be going for a redemptive arc for Elsa, but she really starts off as a boring, pitiable subject. With a family that couldn’t care less about her and a romantic interest that’s the polar opposite of romantic, it’s hard to find much to hang on to plot-wise other than hoping Elsa isn’t doled out anything else awful by those around her.

Said romantic interest, Rafe, soon gets Elsa pregnant, to both their horrors, and she moves in with him and his Italian family on their farm. Her family is elated to be rid of her; Rafe’s life is ruined; things are looking really bleak for Elsa. This will unfortunately continue for pretty much the whole novel.

After a few years settling in to life as a farmhand and mother, Elsa begins to shine under the tutelage of her mother-in-law, Rose. But it’s the 1930s, and the Martinellis live on a farm in Texas, so it’s only a matter of time before things start to go south. Here Hannah paints a drawn-out, aching portrait of life for Midwest farmers whose entire worlds center around the hope for rain. With dust storms that batter their land and cover every inch of their homes, people begin fleeing east and west for the hope of anything better.

After a time, Elsa and her two children are forced to leave Texas for her son’s health. But upon arriving in California, it soon becomes clear that with thousands making the pilgrimage west, there are no jobs, no homes, and no prospect for these migrant workers. While it reflects the truth of the time, there is very little to hope for in this novel.

The plot begins to take off once Elsa, Loreda, and Ant settle in their “ditch-bank camp” home (sadly, a tent) and look for work, hope, and change. Elsa gets a quick lesson in unfair labor practices, Loreda discovers communism, and the family learns that nothing comes without a fight — a common theme in The Four Winds.

While I’ll admit this book comes in a distant third for me in Hannah’s lineup, it is still achingly beautiful. Elsa’s plight reflects much of what unemployed Americans are dealing with today, and watching Elsa comes to term with her government’s and her superiors’ failure to provide the most basic needs for her and her children hits close to home this year.

I don’t recommend this one if you’re looking for any sort of uplifting or escapist reading, but I will be placing it firmly in the hands of those hoping to find a story to relate to and find solace in. Another breathtaking, heartbreaking delivery by Kristin Hannah.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. This was one, very depressing read, read during a very depressing time in our lives. I love so many of Kristin Hannah’s books and always look forward to a new book coming out, so it is hard for me not to give The Four Winds more stars. While the subject matter was very interesting, The Dust Bowl, The Great Depression along with the migration west to fight for the American dream, the story was just too hopeless for me. Yes it was reality during those times, yes you could feel the dust in your throat, yes the characters were real but I wish the story was written with more positivity. The last chapter of the book got to me and was reminiscent of what I like about Kristin Hannah’s previous books.

All this being said I do encourage fans of Kristin Hannah and fans of historical fiction to read this book. You will learn about the oppression during the time of The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl and the struggle Americans faced in order to survive. Your new hero’s will be Elsa and her young daughter Loreda.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The book will be coming out February 2nd.

Once again, Kristin Hannah does not disappoint!

In this historical fiction, The Four Winds begins in the late 1920s and early 1930s in the Texas panhandle. Elsa Martinelli and her family are wheat farmers who are suffering from the devastation of the Great Depression and the droughts plauging much of the country. Elsa, like most mothers, wants the best life possible for her children, Loreda and Ant- and in order to do that she takes off for California, where she has heard jobs are plentiful.

Upon arrival in California, Elsa and her children are met with new challenges and they realize that it isn't the land of milk and honey as had been described. However, Elsa refuses to give up.

My heart broke so many times reading of the heartache the Marinelli family endures. Kristin Hannah paints the reader a picture of life in the 1930s and the struggles that so many Americans had. The characters were enjoyable and the story showed that tough times don't last, but love does.

An easy 4 stars for a book of courage in face of soul destroying poverty. Four Winds is the story of Elsa Wolcott and her marriage to Rafe Martinelli, after she becomes pregnant with his child. She is disowned and shunned by her family because of this forced marriage to someone they regard as lower class. She moves into the Martinelli home. Rafe's parents welcome her as one their own in 1921 rural panhandle Texas.
But then the drought comes and crops no longer grow. This period is now known as the Dust Bowl. Rafe's holds on for a couple of years, but then deserts his wife and 2 children, leaving a note, saying he is looking for a job. Elsa stays for another year, but when her son Ant almost dies from a silicosis lung infection caused by a dust storm, Elsa decides to go west.
She arrives in California's San Joaquin Valley. She ends up picking cotton at wages that keep her family in perpetual debt and poverty The story of her struggle to provide for her family is inspiring, but truly depressing.
Two quotes: "Poverty was a soul destroying thing. A cave that tightened around you, its pinprick of light closing a little more at the end of each desperate, unchanged day."

"Love is what remains when everything else is gone. This is what I should have told my children when we left Texas."
This is a long book, at 477 pages and I read it in 11 days
Thanks to St Martin's Press for sending me this eARC through NetGalley. #TheFourWinds #NetGalley

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction novel from Kristen Hannah. This is the third title I have read by the author.
This is a story taking place during the Great Depression and is about love, loss, and fighting for what's right to name a few. I found myself thinking about the characters even when I wasn't reading the book.
I recommend this for Kristen Hannah fans as well as historical fiction fans!

Disclosure: I received this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Five-star rating systems are difficult to navigate. What are we rating books on? Or for? Or maybe even against? After reading Kristin Hannah's latest novel, The Four Winds, (due in 2021), I had to ask myself these questions multiple times.

The main character is Elsa and this is her story, although, as Hannah writes in her Author's Note, Elsa represents thousands of women who struggled through the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. She also represents women before that time period and after--women who fought for suffrage, women who still fight for basic human rights. She is a migrant and a mother, and she represents the migrant mothers who today are seeking a better future for their children in a country that is increasingly hostile to them. The story ranges from Elsa's first encounter with the man who will be her husband through the ravages of the Dust Bowl in the Texas Panhandle to her migration to California where she fights for the right to feed and house her children. It is, as expected, a sad story.

I have only read one other novel by Hannah, the amazingly powerful The Nightingale. If I were to rate The Four Winds against that book, I would have to give it a lower rating simply because the characters are not as fully drawn.

While we are privy to Elsa's interior life, we are only given a glimpse. She remains a mystery, to herself as much as to anyone else. I felt the same way about other characters--from Rose and Tony to Lorada and Jack. It's not that we don't care about these characters, it's just that we don't know enough about their motivations to care more. Beyond the main characters, Hannah offers a cast of others who are roughly drawn, more like caricatures (taunting siblings and unloving parents, selfish alcoholic husbands, hard-working farmers, Communists, Okies, the Big Boss, the strike breakers) who are lost in the landscape of the larger history on which she builds her story.

History is Hannah's strong suit, but where The Nightingale offered up history in a compelling story, The Four Winds frequently feels like a history lesson pretending to be a novel, as if there just isn't enough human stuff holding it all together.

Hannah is popular, as her best-selling novels attest. She is also good, which is not the same thing. There are many popular authors who are not, strictly speaking, good writers. Hannah is a very good writer. I just happen to like The Nightingale more. If I had more stars to work with, I would give this novel four-and-one-half stars. As it is, I'll give it five. It isn't a four. It is really worth anyone's time.

This book was magnificent. Raw and heartbreaking but also uplifting and brave, I found I could not put it down and it pulled tears out of me more than once. 5 shiny stars!