Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Four Winds: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Four Winds: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Four Winds: A Novel
    Audiobook15 hours

    The Four Winds: A Novel

    Written by Kristin Hannah

    Narrated by Julia Whelan

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    This program includes a bonus interview with the author.

    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
    #1 USA TODAY BESTSELLER
    #1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
    #1 INDIE BESTSELLER

    "The Four Winds seems eerily prescient in 2021 . . . Its message is galvanizing and hopeful: We are a nation of scrappy survivors. We’ve been in dire straits before; we will be again. Hold your people close.”—The New York Times

    "A spectacular tour de force that shines a spotlight on the indispensable but often overlooked role of Greatest Generation women."—People

    "Through one woman’s survival during the harsh and haunting Dust Bowl, master storyteller, Kristin Hannah, reminds us that the human heart and our Earth are as tough, yet as fragile, as a change in the wind."     —Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing

    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.

    A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

    "Julia Whelan is herself a master storyteller because it’s absolute magic how she brings this novel to life for listeners. Her emotional rendering will bring tears and laughter and she portrays every character perfectly, men women and children...Have the tissues close when you put those earbuds in." -- Reading Franzy

    "With forceful narrative drive, Whelan delivers a compelling performance of Hannah's memorable new novel." -- AudioFile Magazine

    Editor's Note

    Book club pick…

    Meet Kristin Hannah’s latest heroine: Elsa Wolcott, a woman bravely facing increasingly harsh conditions during the Depression and Dust Bowl. Hannah told TODAY that Elsa is her “favorite character of all time,” and went on to say that “I really think that the message of ‘The Four Winds’ today, in this moment, is a reminder of the strength of the human spirit and our ability to survive.” Members of Jenna Bush Hager’s book club helped her select Hannah’s novel to read for February.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateFeb 2, 2021
    ISBN9781250317247
    Unavailable
    The Four Winds: A Novel
    Author

    Kristin Hannah

    Kristin Hannah is an award-winning international number one bestselling author with over 25 million copies of her books sold worldwide. Her most recent titles, The Four Winds, The Nightingale and The Great Alone won numerous best fiction awards and her earlier novel, Firefly Lane, is currently a bestselling series on Netflix. Kristin is a lawyer-turned-writer and is the mother of one son. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest near Seattle.

    More audiobooks from Kristin Hannah

    Related to The Four Winds

    Related audiobooks

    Contemporary Women's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Top 10 Books

      Feb 5, 2021

      Top 10 Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Invisible Life Of Addie Larue

      Oct 7, 2020

      RELEASED OUT NOW! 560 pages | Hardback/ebook Author VE Schwab Publisher Titan Books This story weaves together a number of tropes – a deal with the Devil (or in this case the darkness), the damned soul condemned to wander for all eternity – and yet c

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Midnight Library

      Aug 12, 2020

      The Midnight Library
      1 min read

    • Article

      Q&A with Erin Morgenstern, author of ‘The Starless Sea’

      Nov 5, 2019

      Erin Morgenstern, bestselling author of "The Night Circus," answers questions about her latest novel, including where she finds inspiration.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Wounds That Won’t Heal

      Oct 30, 2017

      Wounds That Won’t Heal
      7 min read

    • Article

      Winds Of Change

      Dec 10, 2019

      “Till the end of the pitted and dusty lane, she was a dry, brown leaf swiftly floating down a clear stream. Part of it was easy, the part about being brown. ‘Brown as mud and common as mud,’ Aaji would scream every morning waking her up. The rest of

      9 min read

    • Article

      Lost Children

      Aug 4, 2022

      Lost Children
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Wisdom of Women Shines in Najla Jraissaty Khoury’s ‘Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales’

      Oct 22, 2018

      Long, long ago These things happened or maybe no. Let’s start with the image on the cover. Three women sit in a courtyard. One holds a long-handled pan over a coal brazier; the other two, one of whom has her back to us, hold small cups. They wear ide

      7 min read

    • Article

      Cricket Ceague

      Apr 1, 2019

      Penelope Berkeley, age 9 Mars Hill, NC Night had fallen, and Luna awoke from where she had been sleeping in a cornfield. She moved steadily through the stalks with barely a sound, keeping her eyes on the glittering glass rooftop of the greenhouse in

      7 min read

    • Article

      Mother Tongue

      Feb 24, 2021

      Mother Tongue
      12 min read

    • Article

      Left To Lose

      Jul 10, 2022

      Around the time she gives up her name, it starts to feel like this entire revolution isn’t worth it anymore. The world is probably lucky that Kelian—she still remembers Kelian, in spite of everything—is there to pick up the pieces, the way he always

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Bridle

      Oct 10, 2021

      Saliva pooled on her tongue beneath the rusty depressor. She endured a constant urge to swallow, afraid of choking on her own fluids. The taste of metal and blood are so akin, it is easy to mistake one for the other. This early in the day, blood was

      11 min read

    • Article

      Night Visions

      Sep 10, 2022

      Night Visions
      6 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Aug 19, 2022

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Library

      Nov 4, 2021

      The Library
      2 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Jul 12, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Inherited Imagination

      Aug 18, 2020

      The Inherited Imagination
      9 min read

    • Article

      I’ll Be There

      Oct 25, 2019

      I’ll Be There
      7 min read

    • Article

      Seedlings

      May 6, 2021

      Seedlings
      9 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Jul 12, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Aug 9, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Silence of Witches

      Dec 10, 2019

      The Silence of Witches
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Four Winds

    4.5/5

    1,010 ratings64 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      Communist propaganda disguised as a novel. Don’t waste your time.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent! I felt the sand dirt n heat as I listened to story. Amazing characters. Learned so much. What an ending! Highly recommend.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I listened to the audio version, and it was very well narrated! Finished the book in 2 days!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I loved it... I just felt so sad with the ending :(
    • 4/5
      Very sad throughout but I just couldn't put it down.
    • 4/5
      I was not prepared for the ending, grab your tissues. The first half of this book I had to force myself to read because it was so sad. But once you get to the middle it grabs you and doesn’t let go. It was good.
    • 5/5
      My first Kristin Hannah book, she's fantastic, really great writer, really good narration
    • 5/5
      Strong women overcome it all! And persevere! And give strength to others.
      Many have said they loved this author and this will be the last book they read by her. This is the first book I read by Hannah and now I want to read all of her books. What an amazing story she told in this book. The story of a woman who’s family did everything they could to make her feel weak and unlovable. But during a challenging time in our country’s history, a strong woman overcame her struggles and gave a family strength. An amazing story! So many memorable characters! And strong women!
    • 5/5
      Loved this book. Amazing how we all have more strength than we know. And the love we have for our children gives us the power to move mountains. Couldn’t put it down.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful book. A must read! The characters were so realistic and believable. I was vested in the book from the beginning.
    • 3/5
      The box was okay but no “Nightingale.” A bit too long for the storyline. Overly dramatic and kind -of hard to believe.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. She has done it again. She created incredibly believable characters. The story was heartbreaking but very American. A must reas.
    • 5/5
      Excepțional! Am trăit povestea cu toate simturile focusate la maxim.
    • 5/5
      Great story- had a tough time putting this one down. Kristin Hannah's books seem to be getting better and better with each one she writes- love the historical fiction ones!
    • 5/5
      I've been listening to the audiobook for the past two weeks. As I was driving across the country heading east, the characters were heading west and we went through some of the same places. Texas. Tucumcari, NM. The San Joaquin Valley, CA.

      It's an amazing story of hope and perseverance. It's a reminder of what we Americans have overcome before in our nation's history. It's a history of us in some very dark times and how we came together, problem solving and improving. Highly recommend.
    • 4/5
      I almost stopped listening to this book. I grew up in Texas, and I really didn’t want to listen to men I’ve already heard in my own life. I thought I guess not much has changed in that state, and I’ve already read the Grapes of Wrath, so...I was so wrong. This is an awesome book, and I can’t wait to do more research on the dust bowl. The narrator is superb, and it is eerie how this book mirrors what is happening in America now. What great characters, and what a gem to find.
    • 5/5
      It’s story was perfect for our times. Truly inspiring. Loved it!
    • 3/5
      Although I love the history of this book and believe it well researched, it didn’t compare to The Nightingale for me. I struggled with boredom for most of the book and there was zero suspense until the last couple chapters. I thought the way it ended was unsatisfying as well.
    • 5/5
      This book was hard to read. The writing and reading by Kristen were absolutely beautiful, so much so that I sometimes felt I was there too, enduring the endless dust, hunger, cotton-picking and fear. So, I was really tired once I finished. And then I thought to myself, but I only experienced this for a matter of hours while the women living through the dust bowl did that for four years. Four years! It just seems unfathomable.

      Excellent book, excellent story, excellent narration. Loved it through and through. And to think it all began with a red dress.
    • 5/5
      Simply BRILLIANT! This is by far, Kristin Hannah's best book yet.
    • 5/5
      This book was SO hard to read. It was sad in the beginning. The sadness never let up...like, NEVER. There were times I almost put it down. Something wouldn’t let that happen. Despite the hardship and sadness, there was unending compassion for the characters. Kristin Hannah is a MASTER at building relationship between you and her story’s characters. I just cared too much about them to stop reading. I was also awakened to how precarious our station is in life...and how dependent on valued roles. It illuminates the validity of today’s oppressed population’s cries. What a portrayal of the human spirit. In all its hardship, this story instilled belief in that spirit, especially the commitment and love of a mother for her children. PICK IT UP...and don’t put it down. You’ll be glad you did.
    • 5/5
      The Best Read of The Year For Me!! I Loved Ever Minute of This Book!!
    • 5/5
      This is an exceptional book and people today could learn many lessons from this historical tale. It focuses in on how we overcome but it also focuses in on the prejudice and mean treatment of people who are down on their luck and just trying to survive! There are just that minority of people who rather kick people when they are down than offer a hand up! Many valuable lessons in this book and it made me cry so hard! Loved it!
      Elsa is such an amazing role model for women!
    • 5/5
      Hannah’s best book yet. Laughed, cried and could stop listening.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book! Such a vivid portrait of what it was like to live during the dust bowl. ????
    • 5/5
      Engaging, historically informative, interesting characters, excellent narration. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. Will definitely look into other books by this author.
    • 5/5
      I have just recently stumbled onto this author, this is my second book by her. Both books have had a deep impact on me and I’ve grown to love each character as the book progresses. I can’t wait to dive into the next book!!
    • 5/5
      The best historical fiction I've ever read. Heart wrenching, emotional, relevant. Julia Whelan is a master narrator. Highly recommend
    • 5/5
      I read this book and it was amazing, the strength and love of a mother is REAL! The ending broke my heart but the lesson is the most important, from all of the characters this book has been labeled as my fave book of the year
    • 5/5
      This was an excellent book!! I loved it! Having studied and taught Calif. history, I thought it was pretty accurate! I just hated to have it end!! Joan Hansen