4.5 ⭐️ rounded up. There are a good amount of characters and the story is told from several points of view across the span of many years. It’s a little disorienting in the beginning, but you catch on quickly. It all ties together in the end, have no fear!

Equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming, this is a beautiful read! It’s fairly heavy subject matter, so probably not a beach read, but still a great novel!

Thank you to #netgalley for this ARC of #thewindknowsmyname

4.5/5 stars! The time jumps and shifting perspectives in this story were so interesting. I don't often read historical fiction because I find many books in this genre lack the balance between the time they take place and the character they create. Isabel Allende handles this beautifully. The struggle for me was the pacing of the story. Some of the chapters were overly descriptive, which took me out of the story. But outside of pacing, it was a stunningly charming and insightful read.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

As usual, Isabel Allende has presented a fascinating and timely story of immigration, family, and connections. During the holocaust, young Simon is sent by his mother from Austria to England before she and his father are fatally sent to concentration camps. Eighty years later Young Anita is brought to the US by her mother to escape the brutality of El Salvador, only for the two of them to be officially separated at the border. The novel traces all that happens to Simon and Anita, and it is only toward the end that we see how their stories become intertwined. The points of view of a social worker, a lawyer, and a Salvadoran-American housekeeper are also interspersed in various chapters, and add to the breadth of the novel.. Although I found the plotline very interesting and relevant, I thought the narrative style was awkward, and much of the dialog stilted, didactic, and inauthentic, perhaps because of the translation?

This is a richly crafted, powerful story about the effects of war, immigration and injustice. Isabel Allende is a master of her craft and this book will have you in tears many times over.

Samuel is a very young child when he was sent to Britain via the Kindertransport to escape probable death by the Nazis as a Viennese Jew. He eventually emigrates to America where he marries and lives the remainder of his life.

Leticia is spared from a brutal death during the El Mozote massacre as is her father, though she lost the rest of her family to that brutality. They flee to America to seek safety.

Anita, a young blind girl, and her mother, Marisol, cross the border into America in 2019 trying to seek safety from a man who has tried once to kill Marisol and no doubt will try again. Anita is separated from her mother by the authorities and ends up in numerous foster homes.

These three stories converge seamlessly while shedding light on the plights of migrants and the heroism of those who help them. Although very sad, the story is beautifully written and will stay with me awhile.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Group for the ARC

A timely story of what it means to be a refugee in unsettling times. Anita is an 8 year old Salvadoran girl ripped from her mother's arms at a detention center after having crossed the border into the US. Told partly in her own words, partly by Selena, her social worker, Eventually we learn that Anita's mother is not coming back for her, Her story is heartbreaking and all too real. Adler (Mr. Bogart) is an elderly man who was sent off by his mother on the Kindertransport during WWII in order to save his life. After growing up in England, and learning that his family perished in the Holocost these two eventually come together with the help of a dedicated group of committed professionals . Their relationship with each other and their friends help heal old and new wounds. A fine story, well written, by a sensitive author. I recommend this book

It’s not that I didn’t enjoy this story but I felt like it was two separate stories that they tried to combine at the last minute. The connection happens later in the story and it just didn’t happen for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the early read.

I have read many Allende books so when the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Wind Knows My Name, I jumped at the chance.

This book begins with Samuel Adler's story... with his survival of Kristallnacht and his placement on the Kindertransport to England. The story is heartbreaking and it feels like it ends abruptly and a new characters are introduced and their story lines are developed. At first, it felt disjointed to me... but as I finished the book, I understood exactly what Allende was trying to get the reader to feel. That the plight of a refugee is disjointed, it does not always have an ending, it sometimes simmers for decades, and the only thing that can help change that for the refugee is us... those who are established. Those who have homes, jobs, a place in the community in which we live.

She eventually brings all these story lines together to draw us further into the story... knowing that we'd love how she weaves them all together. But, I don't think a well-woven story is necessary for us to understand what our role needs to be.

It was the story of Anita Diaz that most impacted me... to have a "front row seat" at the atrocities of child/parent separation that occurred are not something that history will look back kindly on.

What she shows us is that family is not always nuclear... sometimes the best family is the one that is forged out of desperation. And that family can help heal old wounds and give new meaning to ones life.

I had originally rated this book 4-stars, but I have not stopped thinking about it so I believe it is worthy of a 5-star rating. This is not a typical Allende book, but that does not make it bad... I think it just might make it better, especially for the message she imparts within the pages.

A huge thanks to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. This book will be published later in early June 2023.

Isabel Allende's new book "The Wind Knows My Name" begins with the most horrifying stories of genocide, fear, and the complete absence of love. Without giving too much away, Allende is able to convince the reader that love and compassion can exist-despite traumatic histories and reality of modern life. While I did not find this book to be as compelling as many of Allende's other novels (I often felt bogged down by the switching perspectives and the changing timeline), I think her readers will enjoy her take on the beautiful intersection of many different lives that converge during the COVID 19 pandemic.

I’m humbled to even write this review. Thank you to the publishers at Ballantine books for the opportunity to review the eARC English translation of El Viento Conoce Mi Nombre.

Devastating doesn’t even begin to describe this book. Allende thoughtfully weaves different through lines of refugee stories in a novel that serves as a total rebuke to the rising fascism in the United States, especially in response to the border crisis of asylum seeking Central American migrants.

In this case, The Wind Knows My Name follows the story of Anita Diaz, a blind Salvadorean 8 year old girl, as she makes her way through the immigration system after being forcibly separated from her mother in 2020. The novel spans from the Salvadoran Civil War in the 80’s, Berkeley in the 60’s, and even Nazi occupied Austria to recall the horrors of Kristallnacht all to answer the question: why would someone leave their home for a foreign place that is openly hostile to them? Moreover, why would someone even allow their child to undergo that journey alone, knowing that there is a chance that they may never see this little one again?

The book offers a succinct, horrifying answer: even if safety is behind visas and legal hoops, violence knows no borders, holds nothing sacred, and only builds up over time. This was true for Jewish people fleeing Nazi Germany, and the same is still true for the current wave of migrants fleeing violence and climate catastrophe in the homes they’ve lived in for generations.

Deftly written, and never too interested in the gory details at the expense of a character’s rich internal life, The Wind Knows My Name offers a deeply empathetic, generational view on immigration. It’s gut-wrenching but also reminds us the ways we can all hold on to hope even if it is a short trip to Azabahar.

I don't think I've read a book written by Isabel Allende since I read The House of the Spirits ages ago, so it was a pleasure to receive this ARC from NetGalley. Allende tells the story of war, immigration, and who pays the price for these in two timelines set decades apart. Samuel Adler is separated from his parents during Kristallnacht in Austria in 1938. He ends up in England on a Kindertransport and eventually moves to New Orleans and San Francisco. In 2019, partially blind Anita and her mother fled El Salvador because of violence. Due to inhumane United States policies at the border, they are separated. Anita meets Selena Diaz, a social worker with The Magnolia Project that works to reunite separated children with their parents. Anita may have a relative living and working in the US, and the reader finds out how these characters are linked as their stories move toward convergence.

This novel does portray the plights of immigrants' suffering but I personally wished that the connections had been revealed sooner. There is a lot of time spent on the characters' backstories in the beginning of the book, and there were times that the overall story felt disjointed. But this 3.5 star book is one well worth reading to better understand war, violence, and immigration as Allende gives us personal stories of the effects of broader policies.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on June 6, 2023.

This is my first book by Allende although she is well known to me as an international figure. I had thought this to be historical fiction but it ends up as primarily a romance. There is an extremely heavy handed leftist/liberal slant to the storied that took me out of the plot lines. I enjoyed the Adler backstory the best.

The writing style is simple and to my ear a bit florid. I did not enjoy the preachy political tone at all. This book was just not for me despite being offered it by the publisher.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

There is no one who writes to the human heart and experience like Isabel Allende, and once again she knocks it out of the park. In this searing novel, four seemingly disparate stories converge in a treatise on the historical and contemporary horrors of immigration.

Allende is at her best when she writes about Latin America, the sections in El Salvador are breathtaking. She shows her prowess with voice; writing brilliantly from a myriad of perspectives including a survivor of WWII and a nine year old girl engulfed in modern border battles.

There are nice throwbacks and allusions to her first novel, House of the Spirits and serves as a wonderful bookend to that novel, although this reader hopes that Allende will write many more novels in the years to come. Highly recommended.

A touching and powerful book by Isabel Allende. It takes place mostly in 2020 and covers the early days of the pandemic and the crisis at the border. It’s also bout trust, love what makes a family. All of Isabel Allende’s books speak to me.o

A very moving and hopeful story on immigration and the effects on violence and war, mostly on those who had no part in it: the children. Normally, multiple POVs and different timelines set me off in a story, but I loved the way Allende handled all those here. She did not rush through any point of view, giving the reader ample time to get to know each and develop concern for them. The topics Allende chose to write about were extremely timely; I hope this book reaches the right audience.

I struggled with this at first. I didn’t expect that many changes in POV, and the narrators connection with each other confused me until halfway through when I began to truly piece together where the story was leading.

The Wind Knows My Name weaves past and present, showing how gravely the past events affects those who no part in it: the children. The book opens by introducing the narrators, their backstories and history as children so as the reader, we would be familiar with the whys and hows of their current state in the present. This wasn’t by any means a light read and the amount of time spent with each character felt equal; one of my favorite aspects of this book. I loved the way Allende handled the themes and the topics here - immigration and the effects of violence and war - highlighted in the different ways the characters think and view things. This was most evident for me in Anita’s chapters and her manner of coping with all she’s been through. I always wished for the best for all POV characters even when I knew the best wasn’t going to happen. Either way, Allende managed to put light in the heaviest moments in the book.

I am a fan of many #IsabelAllende books, so I was excited to read the ARC for #TheWindKnowsMyName. The story begins by following the father of Samuel Adler, who is a child during Kristallnacht. He is sent to England to be saved from the Nazis yet never sees his parents again. The story then jumps to modern era following the story of a young girl who has fled El Salvador with her mother from who she was separated when they were taken at the US border. The stories of these two people come together at the end, Allende paralleling much of the traumas experienced by refugee children in different historical and current situations. The book touches on the recent US elections as well as COVID and the horrible situations happening to children as their families cross the border into the US. While I learned a great deal while reading the book and could clearly see the parallels, the story itself jumped around to too many characters, and it was hard to be invested in any one person. That being said it is very full of explanatory information. Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for the ARC.

3.5 stars rounded up for the importance of the topic

Another mesmerizing book by this legendary & gifted author.
Unusual to have most of the story set in the present, but the interwoven tales and writing are enthralling & transporting.
Such a gorgeous cover!

With great thanks to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group for this e-ARC!

Another brilliant novel by this author. She never disappoints. Heartbreaking, moving, political, all the aspects that make her stories great.

Isabelle Allende has does us all a great service by illustrating the perils that children suffer due to political strife. She skillfully weaves together two stories throughout the novel. From the past we meet 5 year old Sam Adler in Vienna in 1938 whose parents are forced to place him on children's train to safety deliver him away from the Nazis, 1938. In contemporary Arizona, 2019. we meet Anita Diaz (age 7) and her mother as they are separated upon arrival in the states after fleeing El Salvador.

We toggle between the past and present and learn more about the children's situation through the supporting characters of Sam's adoptive family and Anita's lawyer and social worker. Allende paints a sympathetic and heart tugging story that helps us all speak more articulately about the tragedies at our border. If you love Isabele Allende, enjoy social justice literature, or just want to walk in the shoes of someone who had to flee their home, The Wind Knows My Name is for you!
#RandomHouse #IsabelleAllende #TheWindKnowsMyName

I've thoroughly enjoyed Isabel Allende's writing so jumped at the chance to read her newest work. "The Wind Knows My Name" focuses on two separate, but inter-connected, timelines - beginning with Samuel Adler, a young child separated from his parents at the beginning of the Holocaust, when his family's entire life is destroyed during Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. Shipped off to Britain on the Kindertransport, he has difficulty adjusting to life in new foster homes, finding respite in music and the violin he brought with him from home.

Eight decades later in 2019, we're introduced to Anita Diaz, a young migrant girl who's escaped El Salvador with her mother, but is separated and found alone at the United States border. Selena Duran is the social worker Anita is assigned to, and its through the Magnolia Project that she loops in the help of Frank, a lawyer at a prestigious law firm to work through the litigation of cases like Anita's. Their hard work and dedication to Anita lead them to a house in San Francisco owned by Samuel Adler, where Leticia, a distant relative of Anita's, works as his housekeeper and aid. Despite the distance and time, and the complications that the COVID-19 pandemic has for the world as a whole, Allende weaves a thread across these seemingly disparate characters and stories that is simultaneously heartwarming and eye-opening.

I think Allende has drawn striking and bold parallels across two different events in time, showing how children are the ultimate victims of violence and unrest in their home countries. In the present day, as a growing migrant population becomes a pressing issue for countries like the US at large, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that each one of these people are putting their lives at risk for a reason - they have no where else to go. It's clear that this novel is not just one told just for enjoyment, but for edification, and also serves as a call to action.

I personally felt a bit torn as a reader, as it's clear that there's a lot that Allende wanted to accomplish in her work. Especially towards the final third of the novel, there are a number of new characters and backstories introduced that I found difficult to keep track of. I would have loved to know more about Selena and Frank (and Leticia and Anita's family), but their plot lines felt rushed and less developed as the earlier parts of the novel focused on Samuel. While I don't think this is one of my favorite novels from Isabel Allende, I nonetheless enjoyed her writing and believe many readers will find the topics to be highly relevant and relatable.