The Four Winds

"The Bestselling Hardcover Novel of the Year."--Publishers Weekly

From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them.

My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.”

Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.

By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.

In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.

The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it—the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

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Published Mar 14, 2023

480 pages

Average rating: 8.07

2,595 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

ShirlRi
Jan 22, 2025
Such an eye opening about "getting stuck" in a hamster wheel in life.
Anonymous
Jan 14, 2025
8/10 stars
This is my eighth Kristin Hannah novel and typically I really enjoy her historical fiction. The Four Winds was not as good as Winter Garden or The Great Alone in my opinion. One of Kristin Hannah’s strengths is really taking the reader to a place and time. In The Four Winds she didn’t disappoint in her ability to transport to the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. I can still taste and feel the dust that was everywhere. I also thought she did a great job with the mother/daughter relationship. That being said I have to agree with other reviewers that the plot dragged because it seemed like every possible bad thing that went wrong in this time period happened to Elsa. It was too much! So my overall rating would be a 3.5 rounded up for the beautiful descriptive writing. The ending was not my favorite.
Anonymous
Dec 12, 2024
10/10 stars
I very rarely take the time to leave a review, but it’s been nearly 3 months since I finished this book, and I still can’t stop thinking about it. It’s not my typical genre, but the story is so beautifully gut wrenching, and a great lesson to keep in mind in the current state on our society.
LTC
Nov 20, 2024
Book #54: Kathleen's pick, meeting took place via Zoom!
KikiStoneCreek
Jun 03, 2023
10/10 stars
Powerful. That's the best way to describe this book. Kristin Hannah writes so eloquently that you taste the dust in your mouth, feel it in your eyes, and get the sense that nothing will ever change. If you're looking for a "feel-good" book, it's not this one. But if you're interested in the time period that was the Great Dust Bowl, no one tells it better than Me Hannah.

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