What a strong woman! Very good description of the prejudice immigrant families endured during the dust bowl. I was cheering Cir her to succeed throughout the entire story. Very readable.

It is 1921 and twenty-five-year-old Elsa Wolcott feels her life slipping away from her. She is a spinster with no prospects in her small Texas town. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli. He is eight years younger than her, with hopes and dreams that are beyond Texas. Elsa makes a decision that will destroy her reputation and change her life forever. The only thing she can do is marry Rafe and move in with his family on their farm. Thirteen years and two kids later, Elsa's marriage may not be the happiest, but the Martinelli's feel more like her family than her own family. But the summer is hot, the rain is scarce, and the wind is plentiful. Their Texas home is in the middle of the Dust Bowl. With the crops drying up and jobs disappearing, people are desperate for food and rain. The dust storms are relentless and Rafe when Rafe up and leaves in the middle of the night, Elsa is determined to keep her family together. But when the dust nearly kills her young son Elsa has no choice but to leave the only home she has ever known and go west. Where the jobs are plentiful and the dust won't kill them. Elsa and her children aren't in California a day before she realizes that life in California will not be any easier than it was in Texas. Will Elsa be able to give her children the better life that she desperately wants them to have in California?

The Four Winds is one of the most gripping novels I have read in a while. Kristin Hannah paints a bleak picture of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. But it is not all that different than what our country has been experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of people out of work, standing in long lines for food and help from the government. Absurd amounts of people dying by no fault of their own. It was a tragic time in our country's history and The Four Winds will take you there and immerse you in the misery. I liked Elsa Wolcott. She proved to be a strong character, willing to do whatever it takes to give her children a better life. The book is told in alternating voices. One chapter is Elsa and the next is Loreda, Elsa's teen daughter. It gives the reader the complete picture of what life was like during that time. And it was ugly in so many ways. I was so surprised by the ending. The author took the story in a way that it left me speechless. - CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS.

Bottom Line - I am so grateful that Kristin Hannah told Elsa's story. The bookstores are full of novels about World War 2, but very few historical novels about the Great Depression are available. The Four Winds is a story that will grip you and break your heart, but it is not to be missed.

Details:
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
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Pages: 464
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: 2.2.2021
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Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Kristin Hannah never disappoints. The story flowed great, had me on a roller coaster of emotions but in the best way

4.1 - outstanding historical fiction; Elsa's perseverance and grit were inspirational; the vivid imagery of the Dust Bowl was excellent

Hannah makes the Dust Bowl and the plights of migrant workers during the Great Depression come alive in this enthralling historical fiction.

Elsa and her daughter Loretta and son Ant make the difficult decision to leave her in-laws’ farm in the Texas panhandle for California, where they hope to make a living. But California is not what the flyers, sailing in on the winds carrying away dirt and dreams, led them to believe. Instead, California is prejudicial, back-breaking, and demoralizing. And yet Hannah presents a story that is not dissimilar to 2021: (im)migrant distrust, big farmers’/corpotions’ greed, hard work, unionization and political unrest, and the little people just trying to get by. This historical fiction novel will hit you hard, and you will think about it for days and weeks after you finish the last page.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance read copy of this book in exchanged for an unbiased opinion.

This book touched me. Once I really start to read it, I couldn't put it down. I haven't been readying for the last 4 months at all but this book brought it all back to me.

The characters were real. They were strong. They faced challenges and didn't just win the day. But in the end, they did win because they had enduring love. And not romantic love, but love of each other and the land. The writing so eloquently made you feel the characters emotions. You felt the despair, the sadness, the fear, the anger, intense love and deepest grief.

This is not a book tied up in a pretty bow. It's real and honest and inspiring. Once again, Kristin Hannah has made me fall in love. This time with a family from Texas in the 30's.

This book follows Elsa and her family who live in the panhandle of Texas during The Dust Bowl. You see their struggles of the time there, and then their life and struggles as they become part of the migration to California.

I love Kristin Hannah’s historical fiction because she can weave such an emotional story while teaching us about history. How she is able to evoke so much emotion from her strong characters is amazing at times, although I did find some smaller scenes in this book just a little melodramatic for my taste,

It is still expertly written and is obvious how much time the author put into researching the topic for this story. I learned a lot from this book and it made me want to research and learn more, which to me is the goal of a well done historical fiction novel in my opinion.

4.5 stars

The Dust Bowl era of the 1930s, coupled with the Depression, were crippling times for many families in America's Heartland. Overused, their farms suffered and the families lost their livelihood and their own sustenance. Lured by hopes of jobs in California, thousands of families traveled west in the hopes of new agriculture jobs. Land barons, who did need their help, often treated them poorly, still giving them insufficient wages, excessively demanding conditions, and discrimination over the "Okies". In their hometowns, many were farmers but others were white collar workers from banks, schools, retail, etc. The stress was unimaginable and families accepted the picker jobs for pure survival. Kristin Hannah follows a family on their desperate trek to find a better life.

I enjoyed this book. I learned a ton about the Dust Bowl and was invested in Hannah's characters. It is a somber story but well done.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah is a story of the Depression, the dust bowl, poverty, unionization, and the American dream. It is a story of being an immigrant in one's own homeland and of prejudice. Although written about the 1930s, some of these conversations continue today even amidst the current prosperity of this nation. Elsa Wolcott is a memorable character, and the book is one that will stay with me for a long while.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2021/07/the-four-winds.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

This was my first historical fiction book in quite awhile, and it was impossible to put down. I think I finished this in just under 3 days? It follows the story of Elsa Martinelli and her children as she makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her family and the only home she's ever known to go west to California for a better life. What happens next is the view of the "American Dream" through the eyes of someone who risks everything to give her children a better life.

This book felt a lot like the season of Game of Thrones where you think "Surely this can't get any sadder/worse/more depressing/dark." Spoiler alert, it does. This book made me ugly cry several times and I will not feel shame for that. What Elsa and her children go through is absolutely terrible. The descriptions of the ditch camp and all of the families who thought they were in for better and ended up living worse than slaves was heartbreaking. I almost wish I had taken a break during this book because it was so emotional, even though I had the hardest time putting it down. I thought when the plot shifted towards focusing on the resistance I would get a break (along with the characters). Boy, was I wrong. I basically sobbed for the last hour of the book.

This is a great historical fiction piece, but my advice would definitely be to break it up into smaller parts because it is truly SO emotional.

Kristin Hannah always delivers. This devastating saga was about a woman and her family struggling to survive during the Dust Bowl. Her descriptions of the characters and the time period were captivating. You could feel the changes in the environment and sense the emotions of the characters (total Great Alone vibes). It was heartbreaking and uplifting, and I’m telling everyone I know to read it.

this book was so depressing that there were moments that I wanted to give up on it. But overall, I am glad I finished it. Although very depressing and heart wrenching I wanted to see how the characters would end up. I also feel that I learned so much about this time period and I loved the women in this book.

I really had no idea how bad Texas was just after the Great depression in conjunction with one of the worst drought in the Great Plains. Add to that Dust storms and food shortages, and you have a very depressing story. Kristin Hannah's writing style saved me from losing interest. I mean how many times can this family's luck be that bad? It seems like once there is a glimmer of hope tragedy strikes again. I would have put this book down when I started to feel depressed but I was also thinking it has to get better at some point. I cheated and looked up this time in history just so I could see what year it ended, hoping that they didn't all die before then.

Do yourself a favor and look up the Dust Bowl to get a visual of how real it was.

Do you ever read a book and get sucked in by the characters and the situation they're going through?! If not, then I definitely recommend you read this book because it will do exactly that! Of course I'm not living during the Great Depression but I did tell my husband we needed to stock up on bread haha.
In all seriousness though, I absolutely loved this book. It is slow-paced at times, but definitely worth it in the end. I love how Kristin Hannah gets into the details of the Great Depression, showing what ordinary families had to go through in order to survive. It made me realize how strong my great grandparents really were to have to live like this and under these conditions. I also really enjoyed the political movements that she brought into this book and the way that debt/credit actually started and how it's used as a way to make people poorer. It also made me realize that humanity is not all that different between generations. How the way people wanted "foreigners" or those who didn't originally live in California, out of their state and how it's similar to how we treat people from other countries who live in the USA today.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book. Kristin Hannah is an amazing author and so far her books have been far from disappointing!

Excellent, but extremely depressing story with an equally depressing ending. Characters were well-written and memorable.

Another epic from Kristin Hannah. Set in an era I really did not know much about. One woman’s struggle to keep her family alive during the Dust Bowl. A true survivor story!!

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was a compelling page turner, started out a little slow, but the story picked up and keep my interest from beginning to end. This is a part of history that I wasn't too familiar with, so I appreciated the ability to learn from this story. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. Kristin Hannah has hit it out of the park with her last 3 books!

An extraordinary albeit difficult story about a strong woman character during extremely challenging time in US history.

Unbeknown to most the Dust Bowl era was marked by the biggest American migration of people from the East ( Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico all the way from Louisiana …. ) To California. These hard working American people went West trying to survive and got abused as slave laborers kept under the poverty level to pick, cotton, fruits and vegetables replacing the two millions Mexican laborers that had been deported by FDR Mexican Repatriation Act.

Yes, the account is dire, but the times were too. Regular women had to grow the courage, tenacity and survival skills during depressing, miserable circumstances, when death was looming around. I’m always gobsmacked that WWII stories are so popular but American history tales are judged as depressing … almost like … if it happened far away then it is romantic, if it happened here then it is dramatic.

Thankfully Kristin Hannah is a great writer who can entice the reader in a painful journey and still brings up the hope of betterment.

Allow yourself the space to read this book. Surely not a beach/pool novel but definitely worth your time (over a 100K 5 stars cannot be wrong ).

Thank you to the Publisher St Martin Press and Kristin Hannah for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kristin Hannah's book, The Four Winds, is a very well researched historical depiction of a slice of time. She has once again created such vivid, authentic characters - flaws and all - who take the reader deep into the story. The Dust Bowl and Great Depression era come alive in these pages. Very well written and a must read for historical fiction fans!

Thank you to Kristin Hannah, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel and share my thoughts.