“The wind picked up, ruffled [Elsa’s] dress. She paused in beating the rug, sweat running down her face…and tented a hand over her eyes. Past the outhouse, a murky, urine-yellow haze burnished the sky. Elsa tilted her sun hat back, stared out at the sickly yellow horizon. Dust storm. The newest scourge of the Great Plains. The sky changed color, turned red-brown. Wind picked up, barreled across the farm from the south. A Russian thistle hit her in the face, tore the skin from her cheek. A tumble...

Many went west to search for a better life but their American dreams became nightmares by poverty, hardship and greed. The past few years have been a time for things lost: jobs, homes and food. A man has to fight out there to make a living and women of The Great Plains worked from sun up to sun down too. When they close their eyes they can still taste the dust. Millions are out of work and there is a drought. The water is drying up and the sun burns down on all the crops, especially the wheat.Th...

***NOW AVAILABLE***I have read five of Ms. Hannah’s novels. I would give the read itself a 3* but the beautiful writing and the incredible research that went into this book definitely earns it a 4* rating.This book was an incredibly depressing read. I felt so much for the characters that I really had to hold myself back from crying. Particularly when injustice after injustice was endured and things kept going from bad to worse. It made me wonder how much can a person really stand before their sp...

Elsa is a 25 year old woman who is considered an old maid at the age of 25; however, her luck changes when she meets Rafe, they get married, and settle on a farm. Fast forward a decade. Elsa now has two children, Ant and Loreda, but finds herself in the middle of The Great Depression and suffering from a series of back-to-back lackluster farm years. Should she stay on the land she loves, the legacy that she has built for her children, or should she go West to California for more opportunities?Th...

Four things you’ll want to do after finishing The Four Winds:1. Drink a ginormous glass of water. Kristin Hannah has created such a vivid portrait of the American Dust Bowl in the 1930s that you can almost feel the dirt in the back of your throat. It’s hard to imagine the ground being so dry and the weather so ferocious that you could catch dust pneumonia, yet you’ll believe it after only a few pages. 2. Look up photos of the farmers and migrants of the era. You can probably close your eyes and

This is a hard hitting historical fiction book. This is the third Kristin Hannah book I have read, and this is was not my favorite one. I really enjoyed this book a lot, and it was very well written like all the other Kristin Hannah books. Kristin Hannah books are not for the light hearted because they are hard hitting and goes into the dark parts of the subject the book is covering. This one takes place during the great depression it starts in Texas. I have to say the characters are well develo...

An easy 4 stars for a book of courage in face of soul destroying poverty. Four Winds is the story of Elsa Wolcott and her marriage to Rafe Martinelli, after she becomes pregnant with his child. She is disowned and shunned by her family because of this forced marriage to someone they regard as lower class. She moves into the Martinelli home. Rafe's parents welcome her as one their own in 1921 rural panhandle Texas. But then the drought comes and crops no longer grow. This period is now known as t...

whenever i think of the dust bowl era, i have traumatic flashbacks of reading ‘the grapes of wrath’ in high school. not the best experience, so ive kind of unintentionally avoided the topic ever since. but im so glad i decided to give this a chance. i definitely connected more with the writing, the characters, and the overall story in this book. what really got me was how much i empathised with elsa. im not a mother, but i found it remarkable just how fully i could understand the love she felt f...

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 fro...

WarriorKristin Hannah’s latest novel is an outstanding historical saga sparking memories of the classic John Steinbeck story, Grapes of Wrath. Based during the great depression, the hardships and demise of small farmers and the migration of people from the Dust Bowl states in America to the land of milk and honey - California. Except, California was where “I came west in search of a better life, but my American dream was turned into a nightmare by poverty and hardship and greed.” The Four Winds

Be sure to visit Bantering Books to read all my latest reviews.This is a “meet you in the middle” kind of review. An “I liked it, but I didn’t love it” review. And unfortunately, it’s a “Hannah had me for the first 75% and then blew it with the ending” review.Yep. It’s that type of review. (Hangs head.)In The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah’s latest novel of historical fiction, we travel back to the harrowing years of the Great Depression – one of the most challenging eras in America’s history.It is

For a long time I have wanted to read a book on the Dust Bowl, explaining reasons behind it and telling stories of all brave people who survived that environmental disaster that happened in the early 1930s in the Great Plains. I came across the Dust Bowl tragedy while reading some reviews of books tackling this subject, and was puzzled by the phenomenon which had such a horrific impact on the lives of millions. The times were hard, the Great Depression struck and added to the near famine and pov...