Forgive my indulgence by starting this review on a personal note, but as a child, my parents had a saying - “Never judge a person’s life story by the chapter you find them in”. It was said with kindness and concern for others’ misfortunes, and never was this more pertinent than in The Four Winds!

1930’s Texas, the dust bowl, the stock market crash, and for the farmers across The Great Plains, came burning winds that destroyed everything in their path, and a drought so fierce that it left wheat fields so severely blasted by heat that they couldn’t be harvested, the collapse of the economy - everything that nature and life could throw at these poor unfortunate people was thrown, and life as they knew it was gone.

It is against this backdrop that we meet Elsa Martinelli, on the face of it an unremarkable woman, struggling with the question, should she stay on the home farm and keep struggling, waiting for the rains that never come, this is an area she has known her whole life, or should she take her two children and try her luck out West? Well, the decision Elsa takes, turns this unremarkable woman into one to be proud of, someone who shows us that in adversity, we can reveal the warrior who’s been hiding within.

The hardship, the sheer grinding poverty and its effects, are hard to witness here, in addition, the prejudice shown to these people who were just trying to put food on the table for their families, was shameful. Here we discovered others who were better off, who hadn’t known a day’s hardship in their lives, doing their best to grind these poor unfortunate people’s pride into the gutter - that’s if they still had any pride left to grind, after all that they’d suffered. However, the overriding message that comes across is that human beings can survive against all the odds, and that love for one’s family survives everything.

This is an epic read that is undoubtedly heartbreaking, but it’s stunning, and so beautifully written that I will take Elsa Martinelli with me in my heart for some time to come. Don’t miss this one!

I have just finished Kristin Hannah’s ‘The Four Winds’ after waking at 5 this morning. I could not stop thinking about Elsa & how the final 20% of this story would pan out. It was a great read. I was hooked. I loved it. It began in Texas where farmers struggled during the Great Depression and through droughts and wind storms. It then moved to California where workers from all corners of the USA struggled to create better lives for themselves and their families. I felt so much for Elsa with her parents, on the farm & in California. There was nothing about this tale I would change. Even Loreda totally redeemed herself and Jack was such a great addition. I didn’t expect the story to end as it did either, an aspect which I love about a book. Kristin Hannah really knows the human mind, what gets people riled up, what incites anger and courage. This is such a fitting book for these unsettling times we live in. It shows the strength of humankind and that with faith and perseverance there is nothing that we can’t achieve. I really really enjoyed The Four Winds and will remember it for a long time to come.

I am a huge fan of Kristin Hannah, and receiving an early copy of The Four Winds was such a treat. Thank you!

The novel is set during a period of American history that I knew absolutely nothing about. Being British (my excuse), I had never heard of the Dust Bowl era , and I now feel very grateful to have been educated about it and it has made me hungry for more. In true Kristin Hannah style, I was swept off to Texas and California, during the Great Depression, and was truly immersed in the experience from beginning to end. Some aspects of the poverty, starvation and injustice were truly shocking, and broke my heart several times over.

Hannah always creates such wonderful characters, and in The Four Winds, they all stole my heart, in different ways. The mother daughter relationship between Elsa and Lorenda was particularly poignant. Elsa's relationship with Rose and Tony was simply beautiful.

How Hannah manages to deal with such heavy and depressing subject matter, yet make it compelling and at times uplifting, is testimony to her writing. I knew it would make me cry, and it did, in bucket loads; however, there is also so much food for thought, and Hannah appeals to the inner strength and courage of women, and reminds us what we are capable of.

I don't want to give anything away, but urge anyone to READ IT! This has leapt to my favourite book of 2020, and is vying for my favourite Hannah book, which is saying something.

As Hannah references in the Epilogue, there are so many parallels that can be drawn with the current pandemic situation that we are in, and reading The Four Winds made me truly grateful for what I have, while also making me very anxious about how worse things could get, particularly for families living in poverty. It really does bring some much needed context to today's crisis.

Too add some small critique - I am not sure if this is a final proof that I read, however there were some small typos, inconsistencies, repetition etc that I felt still need ironing out. However, that didn't detract at all from how much I loved this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press.

There are books I enjoy and there are books that touch my soul, books that I find my thoughts returning to weeks after I reached the last pages The  Four Winds by by Kristin Hannah falls into the latter.  This novel is harrowing, beautifully written, and has to be one of the best novels I’ve had the pleasure to read this year. It’s rarely a book moves me to tears, but this book made for such an emotional read as I followed Elsa heartbreaking journey from The Great Plains of Texas to California.  Elsa makes the difficult and life-changing decision to chase the American dream and head to California hoping to find a better life for her children, Loreda and Ant. 

Elsa never felt loved as a child, tolerated by her oppressive family she finds her life stifling. Until one day she meets the boy of her dreams and soon begins a new life, one that she has yearned for. A family, a home and a livelihood on her husbands farm on the Great Plains. But then one of American history’s darkest periods, the Great Depression and drought threatens all she holds dear, Elsa’s world is destroyed. The Four Winds is a story of one women’s resilience as she battles against nature, prejudice, poverty, injustice and suffering. It’s a rich and compelling tale of the strength of a mother’s love and the sacrifices she makes to give her children a better life.

The author has described the Alaskan landscape so vividly you can feel the scorching heat, the cloying dust, imagine the barren landscape and sense the desperation as Elsa and her family try to battle nature’s ways. As you follow her journey, you experience the migrant camps in California first hand, the poverty, disease, the sense of frustration and heartbreak as Elsa attempts to make a new life for her children. But amid all this there is hope, friendships are formed. The Four Winds explores the strength and resilience of women in the most difficult and challenging times. Kristin Hannah has created multi dimensional characters, they are not without flaws, but their vulnerability and their courage make them such incredible characters. They are the characters that burrow their way into your heart; you feel their pain, cry alongside them, laugh when they find rare moments of happiness, you’re in awe of their resilience and courage. 

This book isn’t the easiest of reads, it’s bleak, and desperately sad, but when a book consumes your every waking moment, has you reaching for a box of tissues and leaves your heart shattered into a million pieces, then it’s worth it. I said at the beginning of this review this is one of my top reads this year and I would go as far to say “this is one of the best books I’ve ever read”. Highly recommended especially to those who love historical fiction.

What a wonderful book, I was completely hooked and read this in one day! Hannah has such a talent for writing stories about strong women, weaving them into deep, complex characters that you root for throughout. Before reading this, I wouldn’t have said I would find a book on the great depression and the effects of drought in Texas particularly interesting, but this book was fascinating. As with all of Hannah’s books you will feel hope, despair, triumph and sadness as you journey with Elsa Martinelli throughout the Great Depression, watching her try to escape extreme poverty and make a better life for herself and her children. This is a definite must read, then (if you haven’t already) you should go back and read all of her other novels too.
Thanks so much to netgalley, the author and the publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest unbiased review.

The Four Winds is my fourth novel by Kristin Hannah, The Great Alone and The Nightingale being two of my favourite ever books, so I was ecstatic to be accepted to read an advanced copy by St Martins Press on Netgalley.

Beginning in 1930s Texas we meet our protagonist, Elsa, unloved and unacknowledged by her family, she doesn’t have much hope for her future until a short, secret fling results in pregnancy. She is then dropped on the doorstep of the fathers house and subsequently disowned by her family.

Over the years she becomes rooted with her in-laws, showing her dedication and hard work ethics however her now husband, Rafe, becomes distant and once again, Elsa fears rejection.

Adding in the onset of the destructive droughts in the Dust Bowl era of the Great Depression, Elsa and her family experience the toughest conditions with the land so dry it cracks and no wheat harvests for years.

Elsa has to make the heartbreaking decision whether to chase the American dream and head to California, the land of hope and milk and honey or stay on the land she loves and calls home.

Hannah uses a combination of in depth research and her natural gift of beautiful writing to create an engrossing, emotional and often harrowing story. She weaves in issues surrounding the drought, poverty, politics and feminism.

The reason I didn’t give it the full 5 stars is because it is incredibly bleak. I appreciate the book is reminiscent of the time however I personally needed a few more highs rather than constant lows. I was envious of Elsa for getting back up every time she was knocked down and wonder what I would have done if it was me in that situation. I just felt it lacked the vibrancy and pace of her other books.

That being said, it is an epic book and I will continue to be a huge Kristin Hannah fan!

A remarkable tale of courage and determination passed from mother to daughter. Beautifully written, backed up by evident research and a heartfelt retelling of the times as they were. Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book.

kristin hannah has written another bestseller !! A wonderful account of life in the midwest and the hundreds who left for california to find their fortune .Life was no better for elsa and her kids when they arrived ,picking cotton and paid very little we follow their story and feel their pain .

This is epic historical fiction from Kristin Hannah, a harrowing, tough and painful read of one of American history's darkest period, the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, the tragedies, poverty, starvation, unemployment, the sacrifices made, set in Texas and California from the early 1920s up to WW2. It is impeccably well researched with all its excruciating details, an era seen through the eyes of a woman, a mother, and her family. The tall Elsinore or 'Elsa' has suffered poor health, is from a wealthy family who make her feel she is never as good as her sisters, never loved, that results in her poor self esteem. So when she receives attention from a younger man, Rafe Martinelli, she ends up pregnant, and despite him being already engaged, they find themselves married.

Elsa finds herself living on a farm, loved and thriving, despite it being a hard life of challenges, getting on well with her in-laws, Tony and Rosa, particularly close to Rosa, with two children, Loreda and Ant. However, living conditions become unbearable, particularly for the farming communities with the Depression, the lack of rain, the never ending drought, the failing crops and the devastating dust storms and their dreadful impact, leading to people scattering in the winds. Despite everything, for obvious reasons Elsa is reluctant to leave until the life threatening conditions worsen considerably, and they move to where it is said is the land of milk and honey, California. In a relentlessly downbeat and bleak narrative, California is far from the promised land, instead they face endless prejudice and injustice.

Elsa is a mother, a strong, courageous and indomitable woman, there is nothing she will not do for her children, the hardest of workers, in a California that exploits, with terrible working conditions and pay. Despite everything, despite the horrors, what shines through is the underlying power of the human spirit, its astonishing capacity to endure the worst of times, the despair, and survive, against all the odds. Hannah's novel speaks to, parallels, and echoes our contemporary realities, the pandemic and its crushing impact, men in power that cannot be trusted, a divided nation, and a future that looks so bleak, offering hope by illustrating people's resilience from the past. As you might well have gathered, this is clearly not the easiest of reads, so heartbreaking, but it is nevertheless compelling and riveting, of women and their relationships, a book for our times, and a historical education too. Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC.