Author: Kristin Hannah Kristin Hannah’s “The Four Winds” is one of those novels that quietly settles in your mind long after you turn the final page. Set during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, it tells the story of Elsa Martinelli, a woman who has spent much of her life believing she is unworthy of love or happiness. As drought, poverty and relentless dust storms devastate her family’s farm in Texas, Elsa is forced to make impossible choices to protect her children and search for a better future.