I loved Kristin Hannah’s Nightingale and Night Road. I did really enjoy Four Winds, but not as much as the other two books. The end made me cry as I just couldn’t imagine enduring as much as the Martinelli’s did with this ending.

High level synopsis: This story is about a farm family that living in a time that is post stock market crash of the last 1920, and during the dust bowl and Roosevelt eras. The drought in the plains and the convergence of people into California, the Land of Milk and Honey. The poverty, hunger and strife families from all walks of life hand to go through is captured is this amazing book.

I’m sure that families that went through this era in real life most likely felt their stories were never going to change. In a way, I felt the same way during parts of this book. I also struggled with the changing of Point of View right in the middle of a chapter.

Overall, this is a really good book. Great character development! It made for a story that broke your heart while rooting for the families involved.

This was a solid 4 star read for me.

Pub date: 2/9/2021

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was amazing as usual for Kristin Hannah. I love how it was set during the Great Depression era. The characters seemed so real and the story was addicting. I couldn't get through the book fast enough. Well done Kristin Hannah!

A generational saga that begins in the Great Depression, the dust bowl. Heartbreaking yet fulfilling.
Strength and determination feature prominently. I didn't expect to enjoy this story to be honest but I'm a fan of the author and she did a fabulous job telling the story. I loved it.

Kristin Hannah has done it again! She keeps getting better and better. What a beautiful and heartbreaking story. This book was a hard one to read and had me googling a time in history that I didn't know much about. I loved the characters, it was very atmospheric (you could almost feel how hot and dry that part of U.S. was at that time) and an emotional read. This will be at the top of my books of the year.

This was my first Kristin Hannah book that I have read (I'm way behind the times apparently) and this book has been everything I've been searching for in a book in 2020. It is heart wrenching, heart warming, laughable, cryable and so much more. The emotions of the characters felt real, raw and the imagery and description used in the book allowed for so much visualization that I felt present with the characters throughout their journey. This book is officially in my top 5 books overall and has made me want to explore other titles written by Kristin Hannah. If historical fiction is for you, please read this book when it is released in February, you won't regret it. A big thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book in exchange for an honest review.

This novel will make you weep and cheer and be thankful for all you have. If it doesn't, you have a very heard heart. This story was so real that tears came, more frequently than any other book I've read in years. The courage the main character had was phenomenal. Kudos to the author for giving us a book that reminds us, in the middle of a deadly global pandemic, that we are not facing hardship alone and that we can survive, especially if we hold each other up and share any scrap of grace.

I thought this book was beautifully crafted. I recognised parts of myself in the pages as the story unfolded. This novel, in the end, is a wonderful story of triumph!

I have been reading a lot of historical fiction lately, most from WW2. This book, however, was set in the 1930's and told of families living in Texas during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. I learned so much about how these 2 difficult times affected real people's lives. I wasn't alive during those years so had only read about them in my history classes. Maybe a few paragraphs on each. Nothing that really showed the personal crisis these people faced. The family in the story migrates to California after hearing all the promises of how wonderful life would be there with plenty of work for everyone. And tells of their struggles when those promises end up being empty ones. If you want to read a story that will teach you a lot about that time in our country's history and grab your heart at the same time, I would highly recommend this book.

Posted on Goodreads and numerous reading pages on Facebook, plus Amazon and B&N when available.

I've never read much about the Dust Bowl Days and the Great Depression other than history books in high school. This book brought that time period to life. I did have a hard time starting the book because the beginning did not have the kind of depth I appreciate in books, but I'm glad I continued. The social justice themes in the book at the end rang true, especially in this historical moment with the pandemic, which the author cites in her afterward. I enjoyed this book.

As we are battling fires, hurricanes & other forces of nature, we are invited into a force of the past that devastated so many back in the 1930s - the Dust Bowl. We meet people who worked & fought so hard just to survive & overcome those who took advantage of others. As a story I would give this book a 3. But give it a 4 because I love the writing that evoked the emotions of sadness, fear, loss & anger so completely. Thanks NetGalley for giving the early chance to read.

First, I want to thank St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for sending me an ARC of The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah to read and review.
The book begins in Texas. It is 1934. This is Elsa’s story. She is too tall, unattractive and treated as an invalid. Her parents consider her as just an extra mouth to feed. And then Rafe comes along. Her world changes.
Farmers have been thriving. Life is good and then a drought comes that just won’t end. The author’s descriptions of the hardships is so vivid that you can almost feel the grit and dirt that covers everything.
Many families head out west to California hoping for a “new life”. This is finally where the novel captures your attention.
Hannah’s characters are so beautifully depicted.
From Elsa’s journal “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 —“.
Publication date is February 9th 2021.

I admit to being a history buff but my knowledge of the Dust Bowl is limited. The Four Winds covers the Dust Bowl in Texas 1934. I was amazed at the similarities of today's world and the events in 1934. Kristin Hannah must have a crystal ball.
Elsa Martinelli is the main character of The Four Winds and she makes Scarlet O'Hara look like a sissy. Elsa meets the trials and tragedies of this horrific time with a spirit of survival and sacrifice. The pictures from the Dust Bowl that we see on our history books don't give as accurate a picture as Hannah does with this story. With the exception of a few parts that are R rated, this book should be required reading. I was totally exhausted when I finished. The descriptions are so vivid and the characters are so real! The Four Winds shows how strong and resilient the American people are. From famine, prejudices, unfair wages and working conditions, to lack of health care Hannah still managed to weave love and family into this fantastic story.
I voluntarily received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

This is a heartbreaking glimpse into what it was like to live through the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl Migration. There almost needs to be another book to continue the story of the migrant uprising.

I like the author's note in the end, in which she reveals she began writing this novel about hard times in America during the worst environmental disaster in our history, the collapse of the economy, and the effect of massive unemployment. "Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the Great Depression would become so relevant in our modern lives..." she writes.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

This book was great and I couldn't put it down! I grew very attached to the characters, you could feel what they were feeling and I just wanted to know what would happen next with them. It also opened up my eyes to a new perspective on the Dust Bowl and what people went through during that time. For them to be treated the way they were was terrible, I had no idea. I can see why it was important to fight for your rights for equal treatment especially on how hard they worked and just couldn't seem to make it. It wasn't fair to them. I definitely recommend this book to read!

Another incredible work by Kristin Hannah.

Elsa Martinelli, prior to marriage, has dreams and despite her parents' insistence, she is going to follow them. But as the story goes, girl meets boy, and her dreams shift but she's happy and finds a contentment she certainly didn't have at home.

Becoming a Martinelli means embracing a family and a culture she knew nothing of as a teen. It means working hard, living on and with the family's land.

But the Great Depression has other ideas for the family's success. As the Dust Bowl ravishes the land and the money is no longer, Elsa has decisions to make. How will she continue to support her family? Can her husband and his family withstand this era? Or should she venture to find a new life?

As a Kristin Hannah fan, I eagerly awaited this book. I was not disappointed. After a slow start, the book
unfolds with vivid characters and realistic setting and dialog. I love that once again there is a strong female
heroine in the book. Its a great read during these difficult times. Shows that hardships have been overcome
before, and will be conquered again. Highly rated.

This is a fantastic portrayal of the Dust Bowl and Depression seen through the eyes of a very brave and courageous women. She was the epitome of the times when people were desperate to improve their lives at a very bad time in our history. The writing is superb and the plot keeps the reader at the edge of one's seat. Ms. Hannah has done it again. Thank you.

Another wonderful book by Kristin Hannah! This book follows the Martinelli in the midst of the dust bowl and the great depression. The tenacity of this family, in particular the women, is just overwhelming to me. I enjoy so much when books open up history to me and help me appreciate the many things that I have.

The characters of Elsa, Jack, Jean, Rose, Tony, Ant and Loreda touched me throughout the story.

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions expressed are my own.

I’m breathless after “The Four Winds”. Kristin Hannah has created a jarring novel around the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl that it’s eerily similar to our current times. It’s an emotional read during such an historic, earth shattering era that left people with nothing and with the hope that being an American would provide an opportunity to stay standing through whatever hardships they faced. This book is rich in history and I loved all the layers of Hannah’s talent, in the story, in her characters. She makes a dark time in our history stand out to remember the courage and strength it takes to endure.

I loved this book. Her family made me mad. She had great strength and love in her. The in-laws were wonderful people. It was interesting to read about the dust bowl era without being boring. I truly loved the book.