Kristin Hannah does it again and I got swept away in this book. Starting in 1921, in Texas and covers the Great Depression and the American Dream in California. But did it really turn out to be as good as it sounded? It's a book of hard times but undying love between a mother and her children. I love books with strong women as the lead character and this one does not let me down. Elsa does all she can to keep herself and her children alive, even though it is very tough for her. This book had me tears and the characters will stick with me for a long time.

Reminiscent in many respects of The Grapes of Wrath, this is a wonderful literary depiction of the farmer and the unemployed-turned-migrant worker, who suffered more than we today can imagine amid the Dust Bowl and the California labor strikes of the 1930s. The courageous and unassailable spirit of Elsa Martinelli, along with the love she receives from her children (Loreda and Ant) and extended family (Tony and Rosa), drives this story, which details not only the hardship and tragedy that the characters had to undergo, but also the perseverance, bravery and compassion they exhibited in the bleakest of times.

Hannah’s novel is well-plotted, and she provides great depth to her characters, who definitely seem very real. She also appears to have done extensive historical research and is very successful in embodying in her story the pain, suffering and desperation that existed among people in parts of our country during this time period. For all of these things, I applaud her.

My only quibble, and it is a small one, is that it seemed just a tad too long. I think that making this novel somewhat more compact (perhaps by about 20 percent) would have made it truly stellar. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this novel very much and consider it a great read!

"The Four Winds", by Kristin Hannah is a captivating novel of Texas families during the Dust Bowl era. It is a book of heartache, determination, courage, poverty, love. We are not disappointed with the characters' lives we come to know in this book. As we delve into their heart wrenching stories we come to understand them from their inner turmoil to understanding the actions they take and the consequences they will experience.

The author's rich descriptions allow the mind to paint a picture of a world we've never known and can hardly imagine but I've been to Dalhart so I understand that area. Our hearts are intwined with theirs as we read of the Martinelli's gritty determination to eke out a living in a new country. It is this family that will fill the gaps in Elsa's life and teach her to never give up. As a mother, I cannot imagine witnessing the deterioration of my children or friends.

There are a couple fo scenes of intimacy outside marriage that were not highly descriptive but are present. I tried to skip through. It is part of the tale that takes young Elsa to her future. I have read very few books that captivate me the way The Fours Winds has. It will stay with you long after the read and that is the measure of a good book.

Thank you NetGalley for this book & St. Martin's Press. I would never have found this book.

Kristin Hannah has blown my mind once again. Amazing piece of writing. This author can do no wrong. I didn’t think any work could compare to the nightingale but I was wrong!

Although this book was good, it was not my favorite from Kristin Hannah. Its a dark and depressing story, so it you are looking for something light and happy this is not it. I should also mention that historical fiction is not my favorite genre, but i love the details and education that kristin hannah provides in her novels. She is so descriptive that she takes you right to the era shes describing. The story follows Elsa on a journey to support her family. Overall an emotional story, and I enjoyed it from start to finish.

Kristin Hannah is a talented author who has written some amazing novels. While I appreciated the detail and development of this story and the characters, this novel was not one of my favorites. There were incongruities and abrupt changes that bothered me - Elsa at the end seems completely different from Elsa in the beginning and the change went beyond any explanation or character growth. Some of the plot trajectory toward the end was also difficult for me; the romance with Jack was very quick, the death of Jean, and some other scenes seemed rushed and less authentic. Nevertheless, I admire Hannah's depiction of a period of history that isn't often discussed. Despite some weaknesses there are some beautiful scenes and touching images in this novel and I'm sure her many fans will still enjoy it!

Let me start by saying that I love Kristin Hannah AND this wasn't my favorite book of hers. I almost always give her books 5 stars but this one just eeked out 4 from me. This book is depressing - So much depression, dust and darkness. As a reader, I need a small glimmer of hope every once in a while. This book took 300 pages to find any green, any water and any hope and then it was quickly swiped away. Although the ending was "ok" I felt like I had been on a JOURNEY that was almost physically painful - A sign of a great author - But be ready for it!

#NetGalley
#TheFourWinds

Thank you to NetGalley for ARC. Kristin Hannah- author of The Great Alone and The Nightingale...she is just amazing! Four Winds is the story of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma and the panhandle of Texas. Families walked and those that could, drove to California for a better life. They became migrant workers picking cotton and fruit, working for pennies. The “company store” taking 10% of that pay to cash their chit wages and charging high prices for groceries making the families forever in debt. The story of their lives and resilience is extraordinary. #fourwinds #kristianhannah #feb2021

Amazing. Kristin Hannah brings the despair and horror of the Dust Bowl times to us like no other book I've read. Sympathetic, well-drawn characters. Have a tissue box handy.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC to read and review.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

An exceptional novel chronicling the Great Depression's mass migration to California in the 1930's. Beginning in the Texas panhandle, we follow the life of Elsa Martinelli and her family. This book is heartbreaking and devastating. That events similar to what happened to Elsa and her family happened in the United States should open our eyes to current events and all of us should feel compassion for our fellow citizens.

I only wished for a happier outcome for our family.

I don't know when a book has touched me like " The Four Winds" did. It is set in a time period I don't usually read and I kept putting off starting it but once I did I didn't want to put it down and at the same time it is so painful I had to come up for air every not and then. These characters will become a part of you and you will feel like you are living every dust storm, flood and blistering hot day right there with them. Even though I am a US history buff this book brought to life a time that I think gets skimmed over in history but you will never ever forget it now. After reading this book you will be grateful for every bit of food, every drink of water and a roof ( no matter how many leaks) over your head. I believe you will be profoundly different when you close this book.
Thank you to the publisher (St. Martin's Press) and /or author (Kristin Hannah) via NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

Book Review: The Four Winds: A Novel by Kristin Hannah
(Published by St. Martin's Press on February 9, 2021)

4.5 Stars.

As "The Nightingale" meets "The Grapes of Wrath", can we ever expect anything less than epic from the Kristin Hannah brand?

The author revisits two important coincidental periods in American history: the Great Depression (1929-1933), and the Dust Bowl, a period in the 1930's of severe dust storms which devastated the ecology and agriculture of American prairies, mainly, it is said, due to improper topsoil farming.

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1921, Texas. Unfortunate circumstances cause the despised, uncomely daughter of a wealthy Dallas merchant to be banished to a farm in the prairies, where enceinte Elsa Wolcott is wedded to her reluctant beau, and where she sheds her sheltered life and discovers her true worth as a person and a woman.

The prairie is also the place where Elsa unexpectedly finds unconditional love from her in-laws, hardy Italian immigrant farmers, Tony and Rosalba Martinelli, their love for her and for her children, Loreda and Ant, the kind of love which she would never ever get from her own uppity family.

1935, San Joaquin Valley, CA. Driven by hardships inflicted by dust storms on the Martinellis' farm, Elsa and the children escape to the Golden State, only to be despised, detested and exploited as migrant "Okies". To survive they get deeply involved with the nascent pro-labor movement in California's farmlands. And by necessity, the young ones quickly come of age...

"Why was I so mean for so long? You gave me wings, Mom. Did you know that? I feel you here..."

Elsa Martinelli nee Wolcott. Mother. Daughter. Warrior.

Definitely a must-read for Kristin Hannah fans and fans-to-be!

Review based on an ARC from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.

Probably closer to a 4.5 but I’m rounding down for reasons I will explain. Ok so I want to start this off by saying I truly got sucked into this book, I read it 48 hours and it’s over 400 pages but Kristin Hannah’s writing is always so beautiful it never feels that long. She created such vivid imagery that I could almost taste the dust and feel the heat of 1930s Texas.

Reading this book fresh out of 2020 created an added interesting layer, because many are facing financial hardship and struggle right now due to a global pandemic, and while not exactly akin to what happened during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, it certainly gave some added perspective.

Like many of her other books, there is a general melancholy undertone and a few highly highly emotional moments. But for me, I just wasn’t “wowed” like I was with say, The Great Alone. I kept waiting for something to happen that would make this a five star book for me and I will say (without spoilers) at approximately 93% through it was happening and I was blown away (pun fully intended). Personally, I think that’s too long to have to wait though to be completely astounded by a book which is why I didn’t round up to a five.

All in all, I think fans of Kristin Hannah’s will love this latest book from her. It is truly beautifully written, and I think it will give readers a chance to really think about what we have and what we value and maybe even take for granted.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kristin Hannah and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Four Winds is a sweeping saga about a woman who is much stronger than she realizes and the relationships she has with her family. Elsa loves fiercely and does everything in her power to try and create a better life for her family during the dust bowl era. The novel follows Elsa from the dust bowl in Texas to the fields of California as she searches for a way to support her family.

Kristin Hannah writes beautifully and this novel reflects her scrupulous use of language in describing the harrowing difficulties of living through the Dust Bowl and the depression of the 1930s. Elsa Martinelli is from a well-to-do family but she has always felt out of place in her family and its society. After falling for a young, working-class Italian, Elsa marries and finds the family she has always longed for in his parents, who own a farm. But, as the dust storms ravage the farm and her children's health, Elsa is forced to make the hard choice to leave the farm and travel to California, where she hopes to build a better life for herself and her children. As anyone who has read The Grapes of Wrath knows, the life she is about to enter is ruthless and unjust. Elsa faces more hardship and discouragement than most people could possibly bear, but she continues through this, providing the example that her daughter needs to succeed in this unforgiving environment.
This novel reflects careful research. The characters are well-drawn and true. The descriptions of the devastation to the farmland and the treatment of the individuals in the squatter tent cities is heartbreaking.
This novel is a definite recommend to readers of historical fiction and novels with strong female characters.

Kristin Hannah has done it again. Delving once again into the world of historical fiction, she takes us on a trip through the Dust Bowl of the early 1900s, a period in which I am embarrassed to admit I did not know much about. Picture the Great Depression. Millions of people out of work, starving, homeless, desperate to feed their families. Farmers that for decades that have thrived and been able to provide a solid living, are now struggling to get by on a daily basis. Elsa Martinelli never imagined that she would be a farmer's wife. Yet after an unexpected pregnancy, she finds herself raising her two children on a Texas farm with her husband and in-laws. For many years, times were good, until they changed on a dime. Elsa and her family are now struggling to make ends meet and keep the farm alive. It all becomes too much for Elsa's husband, who ultimately ends up abandoning the family. At first, Elsa tries to keep going, but it soon becomes clear that something must change.
Packing up the family, Elsa heads west, to the land of opportunity....California. With visions of prosperity and security in her future, Elsa soon finds that life is even more difficult for the relocated 'Okies." Forced to live in crowded camps and work from dusk to dawn, Elsa soon realizes that the American Dream appears to be just that....a dream. It is now up to Elsa as the head of the family to model the resilience and fortitude that will propel her family through these harrowing times.
Another solid read from Kristin Hannah. While it lacked some of the spirit of "The Nightingale" or "The Great Alone", it was a fascinating look into the lives of Americans back in the darkest of days. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

I don't know if I even have the right words for this book. I read it in two days. I finished it in tears. When you are reading a book and you can actually feel the dust in your mouth and on your face, the water seeping through your clothes, chilling you to the bone, you know that you have fallen into a fantastic book. Just thinking about what all these migrant workers went through during the dust bowl and depression, makes me cry. Ms. Hannah perfectly put me into the lives of Elsa, Loreda, Ant and all the other poor families that suffered.

Elsa lacked so much self-esteem, brought on by her awful parents, that she could not see just what a wonderful, strong woman she was. Her daughter, though at times I wanted to throttle her, was a testament to her mother. The women that held up their families in the worst devastation anyone can imagine, made me proud to be a woman. The story takes us from the dust storms in Texas to the people picking crops in California. It makes you think twice about the migrant workers and what they go through to put food on our tables.

Yes, I ended up in tears. I still tear up thinking of the ending. This just might be my favorite Kristin Hannah book yet and that says a lot. It comes out on February 2. Get it.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of this wonderful book.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah is shaping up to be a top book of 2021. It follows a stubborn mother as she navigates the fallout from both her hasty marriage and the widespread collapse of the economy and ecosystem during the 1930s.

Elsa, our protagonist, is a complex woman who grounds this novel in a believable central character. Her devotion to her land and her family (especially her children) is immeasurable. It is heartbreaking to watch her struggle for a better life as she first stays, then flees, the only world she knows in north Texas as the Dust Bowl ravages her land and her life. The other characters, especially her children, are wonderfully rendered as well. This may be a work of fiction, but its depictions of generational poverty and relentless inequality are especially resonant in today’s world.

5/5: A beautifully written work of historical fiction. From the endless plains of the Texas panhandle to the rolling hills of crop-studded California, the landscapes are vivid and immersive. The characters are strong and weak, complexly human in every way. The setting is at once distant and utterly present, as it will no doubt conjure images of current migrant crises, climate change, rampant poverty, the housing collapse, and widespread disease and fear. However, The Four Winds is a testament to the strength of family, both blood and found, and the power of resistance and tenacity in the face of oppression and isolation.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Another exceptional piece of historical fiction from a writer who doesn’t disappoint. The setting is the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s, on the Texas panhandle. Elsie is overlooked by her parents who focus on her two pretty sisters. Already 25 and sheltered after an illness as a youth, Elsie ventures out and meets Rafe, a young dreamer. Elsie becomes pregnant, and her parents disown her. Working hard, Elsie endears herself into the lives of Rafe’s parents. When the crippling sand storms force many off the land, Elsie leaves with her daughter and son and faces even more hardship. This novel is filled with examples of courage, resiliency, and strength in the face of terrible challenges. Elsie’s story will break your heart, and has relevancy for the hardships faced by immigrants today. I highly recommend this novel, and thank NetGalley for the ARC.

It took me a few weekss to write this review after reading The Four Winds. It may take several more for me to fully process the depth of this beautifully written novel. This is one of those books that will linger in your consciousness for a very long time. It's complex and rich in character and explores the dynamic between a mother and daughter in a way that few have been able to accomplish. This is not a HEA story. Even weeks after reading it, I still feel the depth of the emotional journey. The Four Winds is a stunningly beautiful book that is worth every shed tear.