The Four Winds: A Novel

Kristin Hannah’s latest novel explores the tenacity and grit of a woman who fights for her family’s survival in the midst of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Elsa Martinelli has spent her whole life in El Paso, working alongside her loving in-laws to keep their land thriving despite the heat and dust that engulfs them. After her husband abandons the family and her son contracts pneumonia, Elsa faces an impossible choice: leave their cherished land behind and start a new life in California, or stay and risk losing everything.

Not only does The Four Winds tell a gripping tale of one woman’s strength, it also highlights some lesser-known details about the Dust Bowl and the destruction it caused. People slept in gas masks to avoid getting dust in their lungs at night, but even still, thousands died from dust buildup that led to pneumonia. And even if folks made the harrowing journey to California to find work, they faced discrimination and classism that made life just as difficult. In The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah has woven a story that is as heartbreaking as it is important.