THE WIND KNOWS MY NAME has a stunning cover and is the latest work of historical fiction by Isabel Allende, an award winning author long fascinated by questions related to the immigrant experience (The Japanese Lover; In the Midst of Winter). Here, Allende relates the story of Samuel, a young Jew from Vienna and part of the Kindertransport; of Leticia, whose family was killed at the 1981 El Mozote massacre; and of Anita, a young, partially blind girl from El Salvador who was separated from her mother in 2019 by the US border police. Allende definitely evokes empathy for these characters. Each story is harrowing in its own way, but this very emotional novel ultimately ends on a hopeful note as they coalesce into a family unit of sorts. THE WIND KNOWS MY NAME received a starred review from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. 4.5 stars

Four stories weave together in this multigeneration story from Isabel Allende that tells the plight of immigrants from WWII to the modern day. I enjoyed this but it was very heavy at times.

I loved how the characters stories wove together. The book opens your eyes to how many times in history children are taken from their parents and how much suffering has resulted from those actions.

fantastic. no other words. I have to collect myself when i finish her books. it's possible something was lost in the translation, but i thoroughly loved this story. yes it will break your heart. most war stories and especially immigration stories do. but it's so worth your time

👋 Hey, Hey, Hey - Mini Reviews 👋

Hey! Zoe and I are still here, but it’s taking longer than anticipated for me to get back to regular posting. 😜 Having kids out of school makes unpacking harder and I knew we had a ton of stuff, but phew! 🫣 It’s ridiculous even with the excessive purging. 📦📦📦

Here are the books I’ve read since I’ve been absent/moving…I’m still reading! OK, so audiobooks mostly, but I’m getting them checked off! ✅✅✅

The Wind Knows My Name - This one had such a unique premise! A Jewish man who was separated from his family due to WWII decides to take in a blind El Salvadoran girl whose mother was doing everything in her power to get them to the US. Powerful story and writing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Beautifully written historical fiction. Love how everyone’s stories intertwined in the end to create a beautiful family of unrelated individuals

This was such an interesting story! I really enjoyed the unique plot and the characters. I look forward to the author’s next work!

Four compelling storylines, skillfully woven together by Ms. Allende whose writing transports readers into her story's space. Feel the breezes, atmosphere and smell the smells. . .I love her writing.

These stories are laced with traumatic happenings. . .and show the effect - deep and lifelong in the persons who carry them. Reading this book has been a compassion building exercise for me - there's a reason people do (or don't do) what they do. . .their histories are ever-present in their everyday decision making. When you are impatient, judgmental, dismissive or indifferent in your reactions to others - question yourself as to why and take a moment to think about the person who's triggering that reaction. Trauma is probably standing close by. . .

Four stars. . .windy and wise, and who know your name . . .worry not. . .

*A sincere thank you to Isabel Allende, Random House Publishing-Ballantine, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #TheWindKnowsMyName #NetGalley

I enjoyed the first part of this book. The setting was the beginning of World War II and families being separated. Samuel Adler was sent to safety by his mother after much anguish and with his father's disappearance. However, the time frame was cut short on Adler's fate. He was a frightened little boy not knowing if he will ever see his mother again and then a young man in the United States meeting his wife. 20% of the book was historical fiction with the rest of our current state of the southern border and Covind 19.

The connection was families escaping drug cartels and sending their children to safety to the United States. Adler in his later years connects to one of those children who lost everything. They are connected by Selena Duran, a young social worker who is assigned the case of Anita Diaz who has been separated from her mother. Selena with a lawyer friend worked together to find Anita's mother so she could stay in the United States.

For me there was a vast time line and many characters that made up this connection that it fell apart for me.

A special thank you to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

Another beautiful book from Allende. A bit different as so much of it is set in the United States and modern. But nonetheless, timely and immersive. Told from multiple viewpoints and times, this is ultimately a story of family. Samuel was a child of the kindertransport who has lived a long life and currently lives in Berkeley, where his longtime housekeeper Lettie has moved in during Covid. Lettie is a child of El Salvador and the horrible atrocities that occurred there during their Civil War. Then there is Selena, a social worker for immigrant children and Frank, a lawyer taking on immigrant cases in hopes of winning over Selena. And in the middle of all of these characters is Anita, a little girl who fled El Salvador with her mother. They ended up in a detention center and were separated. Allende does a masterful job of weaving all of the stories and characters together (as usual) - crafting a beautiful and heart wrenching novel.

Allende’s books are so stunningly written and this was no exception. Truly a gifted storyteller. This was at times tough to read but ultimately a story about never giving up one’s dreams.
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Thank you #randomhouse and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I have never read anything by Isabel Allende before this novel. I know she’s a well-known, well-respected author, critically acclaimed and with a string of best-sellers. I just hadn’t come across her books before — and so, when I got the chance to read this, I was thrilled to!

The novel is a historical and contemporary work of literary fiction; weaving together multiple, seemingly disparate threads, across time and distance. This is a story of multigenerational, intergenerational trauma and the power of found family, the connections we build through shared experience and history. The novel begins with a young boy, left bereft by World War II and the holocaust, then segues into the latter end of the 20th century, refocusing on a young woman whose own life was torn apart by political and real warfare in El Salvador. The paths of these two individuals merge together in 2017 when the United States begins its policy of deporting refugees and refusing asylum to those at the Mexican-US border.

This is a harrowing story, one designed to evoke an emotional response, to serve as an act of resistance and resilience, a political statement and work of activism. It delivers on all these points.

To meet the novel’s objectives, Allende writes simply. The language is straightforward and direct, with little metaphor or room for interpretation; it is accessible in order to reach diverse readers. The prose possesses a determined clarity, one which all readers will appreciate. But readers should not confuse simplicity for lack of depth; Allende’s writing is emotionally charged, it reveals a deep awareness of human frailty and response to trauma.

It is this reader’s opinion that few readers will able to walk away from this novel unmoved by its content and message.

I loved this story and how all the characters were connected. My only criticism is I think it should have been longer. The relationships between all the characters should have been fleshed out more to make their connections more relatable, realistic, and less rushed. I felt no connection to the characters because there just wasn’t enough to create that connection for me.

Isabel Allende is an absolute legend. I grew up reading her books in Spanish and now I get to read them with a completely different mindset and a deeper understanding. I love her to death.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.

While there is no doubt that Isabell Allende is a masterful storyteller, this book did not work for me.

The format is one of many characters, each with their own chapters and POV. However, for me there were far too many characters and voices, leaving me not invested in many of them. While I was invested in the child Anita's story, the chapters with her voice did not work for me. By the time the ending and resolution came around when all the characters become connected, it was too little too late for me.

Another issue I had is the pandemic. I have read quite a few novels that were set during 2020 and beyond. The subject matter itself doesn't bother me, but this felt heavy-handed to me. There was a lot of explaining what was happening in the world then, which readers in 2023 don't need to hear.

Because Allende attempts to put so much story in the novel, it ends up being a lot of telling rather than showing, which made me lose interest rapidly. I wish there were fewer characters and a simpler story that allowed us to get deeply in to the story, rather than glossing over large parts of it.

(I got an ARC of this through NetGalley!) I don’t think there’s ever been an Isabel Allende book that I haven’t loved, and this one is no exception. It weaves together two storylines beautifully – we begin by following the story of Samuel, who is separated from his family as a very young boy for his safety after Nazi attacks in Austria. Years and years and years later, another young child, Anita, is fleeing with her mother, and the pair also end up separated. As a social worker and lawyer work to help reunite Anita with her mother, the Anita and Samuel’s stories are told, first separately, and then intertwined. This was such a beautiful story about family and home!

I'm so disappointed, but this just wasn't for me. I was looking forward to my first Isabel Allende book, but I had a really hard time getting through The Wind Knows My Name. I'm having a hard time putting my finger on exactly why I didn't love it, but I think it just felt like too much. The book could have been about Leticia and Samuel or Selena and Anita, but it just felt very disjointed to me and I didn't get enough of each story. There were definitely things I did enjoy and I will give Allende another chance, but this one just was not for me. Thank you Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a heart-breaking yet beautiful story of two childhoods separated from the home and family they know. But together they can form a new family and break the cycle of lonliness.

This is a difficult but necessary read by the one and only Isabelle Allende. Her writing takes you along on the journeys of her characters where by some magic things feel as if you're living them or remembering them. This isn't my favorite Allende book but she never misses for me, and this story is no exception. Highly recommend.

As you read this book, I'm warning you, you will begin to feel a heaviness you may not have carried before. A heavily cloaked, to-the-bone type of weariness is something you may experience, as the you read about the devastation that was Kristallnacht. As you envision the scenes at the Mexico-U.S. Border that continue to this day - scenes in which screaming children are ripped from their parents and then stored in cages until the US government has the time to say, "Whoops, we kinda lost any paperwork that would help us find your parents. but well, I'm late for my afternoon Starbucks run, so kinda not my problem right now." Yes, all of this may make you feel heavy. And if you're an open-minded sort of person who enjoys learning and wants to constantly strive to educate yourself, you may start looking at your own behaviors. The way you change the station on the news when the border crisis is covered, the way you know the Jewish people were treated badly under the Third Reich, but don't exactly remember the details.

This is what it is like to read an Isabel Allende novel. Always has been. Allende takes the world as it is, not as it should be, not a fictionalized version, and she writes her characters into our imperfect world. She then blends magical realism with a strong political stance and the next thing you know, you're crying on the couch because you really could be doing more for people in need, you really could be better. You know it and you're pretty sure that somewhere, somehow, now Isabel Allende knows it, too.

In this novel, Allende tells multiple stories. The story of Samuel, shipped away from Vienna shortly after Kristallnacht to avoid the wrath of Hitler. The store of Anita, ripped away from her mother while trying to escape deadly violence in El Salvador. As their stories intertwine, we are reminded - in fact, it becomes impossible to ignore - there is always more we can do. Should do. Must do.

Personally, I've always found Allende's dialogue a bit forced, something just doesn't quite flow for me with her technical writing. But her stories? They more than make up for any small technical missteps. Beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous novel.

You will not be able to understand what some experiences feel like unless you go through them yourself. You could imagine what it could be like, but you would never know. Having to leave your homeland, being separated from your parents at a young age, feeling as if you are the only person left on this planet...

Adler was sent to England at the beginning of the WWII, even though his mother thought they could leave Germany behind together. He grew up as an orphan; he was taken in by a family with good heart. Anita crossed the MX-US border with her mom only to be caught by border police and be separated from her mom. Somewhat paths of these two were crossed and it was the best thing that could happen to either.

Isabelle Allende has the voice for family tragedies, relocated families, and war crimes separating parents from their kids. I liked how she connected two different separations and found the commonality in them: date changes, time passes, but it is still the kids taking burnt of what adults are doing.