This book takes place in a time period that I know little about and honestly had very little interest in! But, I’m an avid reader of Kristin Hannah, so I was excited to read it! Within minutes I was hooked. Read it in one afternoon. Such a well crafted story about an environmental disaster, economic collapse, and politics in the 1930s.

What a fantastic book. If you loved The Nightengale, you will absolutely love this book. I feel like the market is saturated with WW2 historical fiction, but this book chronicles the devastating journey that a family makes to California during the Great Depression. The character development is so beautiful, and you will ugly cry at the end. This will easily make my top 3 books of 2020.

I loved this book! Kristin Hannah is quickly becoming a favorite of mine, and her writing is proof that she is well-versed in what makes up the human condition.

Elsa Martinelli was a fantastic heroine! Her strength and perseverance during a time when many were giving up hope was inspiring. She begrudgingly left the land she had come to love in order to make a better life for her children, but the journey west came with its own trials and tribulations. The “land of milk and honey” was not all it was cracked up to be, and life in California brought a whole new slew of struggles. But Elsa fought and sacrificed to provide for her family, and I truly admired her for never giving up hope.

Overall, I thought this was a wonderful and often times heart-wrenching story, but I couldn’t give it any less than five stars. Highly recommend!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3538622742

The sweeping tale explores the history of the Great Depression in the dust bowl and also the exploitation of migrant workers. With beautifully written characters and a compelling story this book was a real page turner.

Would it really be a Kristin Hannah book if the end doesn't leave you ugly sobbing? You'd have to ask someone else, because once again, Kristin Hannah's newest book, The Four Winds, knocked it out of the park!

Many thanks to netgalley and the publisher, who gave me this free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Two of my favorite Kristin Hannah books are The Nightingale and The Great Alone. They were about strong women who made difficult choices and many sacrifices. This story was also about a strong woman who never thought of herself as brave, but in the eyes of others, she was a true warrior.

As a young child, Elsa was stricken with rheumatic fever. After she recovered, her parents constantly made it known that she was not only unattractive but now also weak, and she would never be able to have that happy loving life that her beautiful sisters had with their husbands. Elsa felt this rejection by her family for over 25 years. She was lonely and alone. But she remembered the words of her grandfather, the only family member that ever loved her. He often told her to be brave. When she took this advice to heart, she snuck away for a night of adventure. She found this adventure in the form of an young Italian five years her junior. A few months later she was thrown out of her parents’ house and handed over to the Martinelli household with only her suitcase and life growing within her. This was the start of Elsa’s journey from a life unloved to truly knowing what it meant to be loved and give love under the most dire circumstances.

As per usual with a Kristin Hannah story, it was very engaging and extremely emotional. Tissues need to be close by because the characters experienced so much hardship during this time. It was the Great Depression. They lived in the Texan panhandle where Dust Bowls and endless days of droughts devastated their land and livelihood. Elsa and her children needed to travel west to California to protect her son’s lungs after he got sick. She was afraid, but once again she heard her grandfather’s words to be brave. When she reached California, life was not better. The farm owners took every advantage possible of these migrant workers. Elsa was beside herself with fear and worry. She struggled to keep her children safe and fed.But she heard her grandfather’s words once again to be brave.

I loved all these characters and they were so realistically written. They reminded me of those very real people captured so beautifully and hauntingly by famed photographer Dorothea Lange. But the one person who stood out, much like her famous photo of “Migrant Mother” was Elsa. I loved how Elsa developed into a strong empowering woman. With the guiding and loving ways of her in-laws, Elsa learned how to make what was needed to survive with what little was available. She was an example to her children of what it meant to persevere in the face of overwhelming odds and how love was the ultimate sustenance that kept them strong when most needed.

This was a very well written story, extremely captivating, and at times, heartbreakingly sad. This time period is always difficult to read, but sometimes those difficult reads are some of the best books around.

An ARC was given for an honest review.

Thank you for an advanced copy of The Four Winds! I LOVED THIS BOOK! Kristin Hannah really delivered, as always. This is a story about a family struggling to survive in the Dust Bowl and a mother who does everything for her family's survival. I loved the strong female characters, the historical fiction aspect of it, and the tiniest bit of romance sprinkled throughout. The themes are extremely relevant even today in the tumultuous times we are living.

If you are a fan of historical fiction, this book is right up your alley. Kristin Hannah's The Four Winds is the story of a much under-represented time in American history- The Dust Bowl. There isn't a lot of fiction out there about this time period and this place because who wants to read about people surviving in dust storms and not having food? You should want to read this! This is a very humanizing story about hard times, the will to survive, and doing what you need to do for your family. I love how Hannah explores the relationships in this book, particularly the ones between women. This book also seems very relevant today because the question is often asked about how people could let their fellow Americans suffer. We forget how the dust bowl migrants were treated when they left to look for jobs elsewhere. I highly recommend this book to my fellow historical fiction aficionados. Kristin Hannah does not let us down with her outstanding research and interesting characters.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and Book Club Girls. I love Kristin Hannah books and this one did not disappoint. I felt like I was living along with the characters because of the wonderful descriptions throughout the book. I found the story interesting but by the end I was worn out due to the terribly difficult life the characters led. Although depressing, the book made me sit back and be thankful we live in present times, even with a pandemic, and not back in the 30’s. I would recommend this book.

Thank you St. Martin’s and NetGalley for ARC. Something for readers to look forward to in 2021 and sure to be a best seller. While this one didn’t quite measure up for me to The Great Alone, it was another outstanding piece of historical fiction. A little slow for me in the first half but an excellent second half and I’d love a sequel that follows Loreda into adult hood.

Kristin Hannah’s books are just amazing to me. She always makes the state, area and/or weather feel like a character in the book. This story was around the farm lands in Texas, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and the plight to California. Elsa is the main character throughout it all. She loves the land in Texas but she isn’t sure her or the ones she loves can survive. The trials and the journey both via land and emotionally are heartbreaking and amazing. This is a book that will sit with me for a long long time.

This book does not come out until February. However. Thanks to #netgalley I was able to get an #advancedreaderscopy y’all. Can we all agree that #kristinhannah KNOWS how to tug on our heart strings. Everything she writes is a masterpiece. While the names and stories are fictional there’s some truth there. She tells a tale of the Great Depression. Of the dust storms Texans suffered. A tale of love, loss, poverty, strength, suffering, and bravery. The tale she weaves for us is so realistic that I wasn’t able to stop or put the book down until I had finished. Truth be told. I didn’t want the book to end. I felt for these characters. I wanted more from them and their story. Where did they go? What happened? Yes. The ending was perfect for a book such as this. But. It is one of those pieces that stick with you. These are characters and people you won’t soon forget. Some authors we tire of. Their writing seems rushed. The ending slapped together. Kristin keeps her stores neatly woven. #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleybooks #bookstagram #booklover #booknerd #booknerdlife #bookrecommendations

This book is so sad and so depressing. Grim would be a great word to describe it. I loved Elsa so much but how much suffering can one person take? From her biological family to her deadbeat husband her life is one big pit of sadness.

To balance the constant sadness there is some happiness in the book too. Her relationship with her in-laws made me smile. Tony and Rosa were my favourites (besides Elsa). This book shows us the resilience and grit that would have been necessary to get through the hardships.

But back to the sadness and gloom. This book is full of it. The Great Depression and the dust storms were terrible to read about. Sadly things did not get better for her when she got to California. She did make some friends along the way (including a special friend) but overall this book felt heavy to me.

In classic Kristin Hannah style this book is well written and well researched. Also in classic Kristin Hannah style I needed some Kleenex to get through it.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for making it available.

The Four Winds is the story of one woman, her families and life on the plains during the dust bowl. The writing is instantly compelling and Elsa the main character felt very real and familiar. I found myself staying up late multiple nights to read. The book takes you to the Texas panhandle and you can feel the dust and feel the despair. In many ways the book lasts a lifetime as it transitions form the prairie into the fields of California. Here we go from the dusty desperations to the lush green valleys of the haves and the have nots. Here Christians judge harshly the Okies invading their lands, taking their tax dollars and the squalor that results from the poverty of folks just trying to make it through the day.

It is impossible to read this story and not make parallels to 2020 and life during the pandemic. With so many people on their knees in current times, the links are hard to miss. My father was born in 1931 and thus the dustbowl doesn’t feel that far removed in time. America has a short memory and we do not seem to listen very well. I guess in a way our consistent behavior could be reassuring. It could save us all the shock of the poor treatment of fellow human beings and yet..

Elsa’s story of rejection from her family of origin, to an unexpected family that loves her, her heartbreaks, unflinching ability to do what she needs to survive is inspiring and very relatable. She finds an inner strength to fit for life and to love that makes humans so very redeeming and made a compelling read. The author’s talented way with words made me face into suffering page by page. I kept reading because I loved the characters and the story. The dust of the 1930s does not seem far away and there is so much hope to be learned from the story.

The Four Winds is another strong historical fiction novel from Kristin Hannah. I was eager to read this book set during the Great Depression, specifically in Texas and California in 1934. The Dust Bowl is taking place and our protagonist, Elsa Martinelli sets off from Texas with her two children in tow hoping for a better life in California. What they find when they get there does not measure up to the lush lands and plentiful opportunities they were expecting.

Kristin Hannah's beautiful writing makes her characters come alive. I loved the character of Elsa, as well as her daughter Loreda, and the author did a great job of showing how they grew and changed over the course of the novel. The hardship they endured not only made both mother and daughter stronger, but solidified their relationship and respect for one another. From Elsa: "A warrior never gives up. A warrior fights for those weaker than herself. It sounds like motherhood to me."

While I found the writing and characterization very strong, I took issue with a few inconsistencies in the plot. For example, it didn't make sense to me that Elsa's birth family was so cruel to her; we are told this is due to her being "ugly" and suffering a childhood illness, but that didn't ring true to me.

Overall, fans of Kristin Hannah and historical fiction will appreciate this new offering on a tragic period in American history.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Heartbreakingly beautiful!!
Honestly I started this book a week ago and as I finished it, it felt like a different book because of how different the characters are from the beginning to the end.
Elsa is a young woman in her 20s who lives with her parents, and because of an illness she had when younger, she is treated like she will never amount to anything. Her parents discourage her and tell her she will never be loved. She is desperate to break out and find love of her own. When she meets 18 year old Rafe one summer, it seems she found it. She ends up pregnant and her parents send her to live with his family, disowning her completely. After many years, Elsa feels she belongs and has found her place.
This doesn't last long as the depression worsens and the dust storms get worse, Elsa must take her two children West to California in order to save them, she never thought things could be worse.
This story follows a mother in her journey to save her children and herself, and to find her inner bravery.
I loved this book and Elsa was an inspiration. She went through so much and was able to keep going because her children needed her.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC of this amazing book!

This story is one that will stay with me for a long time. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah is a rich beautifully crafted storytelling. It breaks your heart and leads you to darkness of the past that you never knew was there. Yet it's merciful enough to provide just a sliver of love or hope necessary to keep you from despair. The author doesn't sugar coat the story at any step of the way. The main character is strong and loving. As the reader you know this from the beginning even though she couldn't admit it to herself til the end. Historical Fiction lovers will relish this book for its description of daily life during the depression and dust bowl eras. As the reader your heart goes out to all the characters and their terrible predictions. It never occured to me that american immigrants were treated so badly in California. It brings light to an ugly little American truth. I became so invested I would of loved the story to simply continue. Perhaps a new story that follows Loreda and her adventures.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy.

Kristen Hannah delivers again, a book that I could not put down! This was an era that my knowledge of was very limited. The Great Depression and those that fled west for a new life. It was heart wrenching to imagine the horrors those poor people faced, and the author did an amazing job depicting the stage where all of these events took place.

Set during the Great Depression and drought of the 1930’s, this book is all about overcoming hardships. While I found the length and continuous descriptions of the battles and pains the people of the Plains endured repetitive at times, I understand this may have been the point. These people desperately needed a break - from people too weak to help them, government who didn’t care, or Mother Nature herself - and the repetitive nature of the writing made me never forget their struggle was always present.
The female lead was a person who never realized her own strength or the power of her voice, but she worked every day to care for those she loved, even if she didn’t realize she was loved in return. While a lot of us never have to feel her levels of pain and hard work, most of us have to work to find ourselves and our voice. The story of her growth and family unfolds over many years, each with a new set of struggles and a willingness to fight.
This is a well-written book, a beautifully spun tale in the same folds as the author’s other works. I recommend it as a slow, yet powerful, read.

Kristin Hannah does it again!!! I cried several times during this heartbreaking but inspiring story. I’ve always gravitated towards Historical Fiction novels but have never read anything during the Great Depression era. I can’t wait to dive in and do more research. As a mother, the love Elsa shows her children resonates deep within me.