The Four Winds narrates the bitter and heartbreaking story of the dangers, hardships and tragedies that millions of people across the United States faced during the Great Depression. 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.” 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. 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. 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. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.īy 1934, the world has changed millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life.

But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era.

The four winds characters