Thank you to NetGalley, and Isabelle Allende for granting my wish to read an ARC of The Wind Knows My Name. I have loved Isabelle Allende's books right from her first book and jumped at the chance to read her latest. Her skill as a writer and storyteller was clearly evident as she weaved together the stories of Samuel, an orphan from WWII who was sent away on the Kindertransport after Kristallnacht, Anita, a blind refugee experiencing the brutal immigration over America's southern border, and her caseworker Selena. Allende is a master and draws you in with her expert character development and beautiful story of dealing with the trauma of being orphaned as a young child. My only disappointment in this beautiful story is the injection of politics that was completely displaced and took away from this beautiful story. Luckily there were just a couple of Trump hating statements and she never mentioned him by name so I only took one star from my review and didn't give up on the book. Stick to writing and leave American politics out of it.

This book grabbed me by the heart and didn't let go. A very important book for our times, this is a tale of refugees, sharing their tragedies and triumphs across centuries and continents. She has created loveable characters, from an introverted musicians to a passionate social worker, and a fey, gifted girl--and weaves their stories together in a tapestry of humor, empathy and hope.
I can always count on Allende's books to show the power of love and living authentically.

I am so grateful to be granted the ARC for this most compelling book! And I am a big fan of Isabel Allende! This book had many layers and in the end all the pieces come together! And how strong these characters are and what they were able to endure.. And I have to say, how ignorant I was to the immigration issue!
Thank you for this wonderful book!

I must admit the writing style was different for me to get used too. But as the story progressed it became easier.
This story of immigration based on two characters from two different time periods.
One as a young Austrian jew, the other recent boarder cross, their story weave together. Tell a tale of courage, determination, will and hope. A blending a tale of faith, love and how family can be created with open hearts and healing.

This was my both my first Isabel Allende book and first ARC book—yay! I have always meant to read an Isabel Allende book because she is one of my mother’s favorite authors; she’s always said she maybe subconsciously named me after her. I knew that her writing is typically full of magical realism, so that’s what I was expecting. I also knew that the setting was typically in South/ Central America. Imagine my surprise when this novel began in Vienna. This books felt like the adult version of Alan Gatz’s Refugee, and I mean that in the best way possible. It is told through multiple perspectives in different time periods through people becoming refugees throughout modern history. As this is a historical fiction text, I learned a lot. I had no idea the horrors that El Salvador went through in the 1980s. I truly cared for the characters, and they organically weave together. I look forward to reading more of Allende’s works. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Group, and Isabel Allende for allowing me to thoroughly enjoy this ARC.

This review will be published on Goodreads on January 10, 2022.

A lovely book about refugees decades apart, one fleeing Nazi Germany and another from present day El Salvador. This is a story about found families and people come together to help each other.

Isabel Allende, is one of my favorite authors. I have read all her books, and I couldn’t wait to read this one.
I couldn’t image how she would connect two children, one from the holocaust and one from El Salvador. But yes, she does and it’s one great story. That left me crying. Her characters are amazing.. such a timely book.
I don’t ever read the end of the story before I finished the book, but this was one time, when I wanted to see what happened to all the great characters in this book. But I did not.
I’m sure this will make the bestseller list. I know this will be my recommendation for my book club.

A heart wrenching skillfully woven historical novel that combines the WWII era with the political violence in El Salvador during the eighties to present day. I’ll never forget Samuel and his violin.

The descriptive writing style by Isabel Allende is second to none and gives you much to think about in regards to immigration policies well after you finish the book.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC.

Samuel was made an orphan at the age of five by Nazis in 1940s Austria. Leticia lost her family to political violence in 1980s El Salvador. In 2019, Anita is separated from her mother at the U.S.-Mexico border. All of these lives marked by tragedy and loss are destined to intertwine in their search for a path forward.

This might be my favorite Isabel Allende yet! It feels something like a modern version of The Secret Garden: lost, grieving people finding joy and hope with each other, with a touch of magic. It's beautiful and moving, and I especially love how it draws parallels between humanitarian crises in different times and places. Samuel, Leticia, and Anita's stories are unforgettable.

As the story begins in 1938, Samuel Adler was only five years old, a young music protégé, when he boards the Kindertranport train from Austria to England — (holding tightly to his violin) —eventually he will journey to the United States — his parents were left behind — due to the horrors of Nazi-occupied Austria.
A memorable fifty-two year old neighborhood, Theobald Volker, will never be forgotten throughout of Samuels life …. nor will his parents: Rudolph and Rachel Adler…..or Peter Steiner, a German pharmacist who was very close to his father.

The present story starts in Arizona in 2019…..(with scenes moving to California), a mother (Marisol) and her daughter (Anita) were escaping the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador — seeking refuge in the United States. Anita Diaz was only seven years old — with similarities to Samuel Adler — she too was separated from her family, community, village due to the horrors of war —(then again in the United States due to the inhumane immigration laws)— ‘ripped’ away—from her mother—just as Samuel had been from his family.

Isabel Allende weaves together a powerful - historical fiction novel - past and present- highlighting our history’s tragic-devastations caused from family separation….

The supporting characters (a Quaker couple who take Samuel in, a compelling social worker, lawyer, etc.), are as fully developed as the main ones. I found their stories very entertaining.

Through love, loss, suffering, loneliness, and grief, ….. Isabel Allende balances the emotional pain — not only with great compassion—and history details—but with healthy coping mechanisms — so that rather than dwell on feelings of being victimized — we are inspired by the resilience our characters develop.

Wonderful - enjoyable - important work. Bless Isabel Allende for writing “The Wind That Knows My Name”.

Tidbits ….and or excerpts ….
….The friendship between the Adlers and Steiners (German and Jewish friends was intimate, mutual, and beautiful)
….A deeply moving friendship between Samuel as a young boy…..and his widower, Volker, ex-military man was priceless.
….a reminder of the nightmare that Trump was — with his zero-tolerance policy - and the insane ways he handled our Covid crisis—is all here.

Memories from the Holocaust….
“We can’t live in this country anymore, Peter. The Nazis have us fenced in, they’re drawing tighter and stricter circles around us. We can’t even enter certain restaurants and stores. They bully our kids in school, they’re firing us from jobs and public office, confiscating our businesses and properties, prohibiting us from exercising our professions, or living a person of another race”.

“The German bombings, which killed more than forty thousand civilians and reduced entire neighborhoods to ash, had failed to achieve their ultimate goal of terrorizing the British population into surrendering”.

…..Samuel was twelve ryears of age when the war ended in 1945. The Nazis exterminated eleven million people, more than half of them Jews, are now abandoned. Samuel hoped he might find his parents. Millions of people were displaced by the war, and Samuel never did find his parents. He later was exempt from the military due to having asthma. Instead, he attended the Royal Academy of music, on a full scholarship, the most prestigious conservatory in England, since its founding in 1822.

….During the 80’s…..Leticia was an immigrant who came from Central America. She had relatives back in El Salvador. She never talked about where she came from with her American friends because nobody had even heard of the massacre in 1981, (a war against the poor) in El Mozote, where the Salvadoran Army killed more than 811 civilians….including children….in the village where she and her family had lived.

“The US government has implemented a policy of zero tolerance on immigration, and ordered separation of all families to come here seeking asylum”.
Thousands of children had already been taken from their parents. Children without proper legal representation, simply got deported.

We meet Selena Duran, social worker — heading the Magnolia Project, (an organization that was trying to help refugees and immigrants) …and Frank Angileri a lawyer who stepped forward to help - offering pro bono work. I found this entire part of the storytelling often amusing (ha….a little drama between man, women, sexual tensions, another finance in the background).

“As the death toll rose and the hospitals filled the president trying to downplay the severity of the situation, or proposed ludicrous cures, such as injecting bleach”.
Sound familiar?

“You can find humor in any situation; you sing while you cook, and rumba while you vacuum”.
“That’s how we Salvadorans face life. They used to say that El Salvador was the nation of smiles, but I imagine the smiles have faded some since the Civil War”.

Gems throughout …. Visits in San Francisco….Berkeley…. funnies (with a spaghetti lid > you’ll have to read it yourself)….
And inspiration from healing, productivity and contributions….

Wonderful as can be!

The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende. Pub Date: June 6, 2023. Rating: 5 stars. A beautiful story of two resilient children who face adversity and embrace life following childhood trauma. A boy in 1938 fleeing a war torn region during WWII and a girl in 2019 immigrating to the United States in the wake of an influx of migrants, this story interweaves the struggles of immigration, identity, lost family and overcoming grief and strife to live a fulfilling life. I read this book in 24 hours and found it very difficult to put down. The author writes lyrically and leaves the reader wanting more. I highly recommend this timely novel. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #thewindknowsmyname #netgalley

Isabel Allende has again presented us with another wonderful book. The Wind Knows My Name weaves together past and present, from the late 1930’s Vienna to present day US. It deals with Jewish families trying to save their children during Hitler’s time by sending them away to safety and connects it with the immigration situation that is taking place in the US today.

Samuel Adler is a Jewish boy growing up in Vienna in the late 1930’s. Hitler is in power and has set out to take over countries in Europe. Jewish people do not fit into his picture of a perfect race so he has started to round them up, sending them to camps, and ultimately doing away with them. After Samuel’s father is sent away, his mother agrees that it would be best if Samuel was sent to England to stay with a foster family until things got better. Samuel never gets to go back and is adopted by a family there. He grows up, becomes a musician and winds up in the US.

Marisol and her daughter Anita are living in El Salvador. Marisol is abused, shot and fears for her and her daughter’s lives. She sets out to immigrate to the US but is captured and Anita is separated from her. Selena is a social worker assigned to Anita and enlists the help of Frank, a lawyer, to seek asylum for Anita and try and find her mother.

Eventually Anita winds up in the care of Samuel. Selena and Frank do eventually find Marisol but the outcome is not good, leaving her an orphan. This enables them to legally seek permanent asylum for her. With Samuel’s and Anita’s history being so similar, they are able to help each other to accept their past and to more on. Samuel is quite old, but Anita now has a better chance for a fulfilling future.

Thank you Net Galley and Megan Whalen for giving me the opportunity to read this pre-release of Isabel Allende’s newest book.

I have some complicated feelings about this one and I'm 100% sure I liked it but the writing was, as always with Isabel Allende, stunning and compelling.

What an absolute stunner! I wouldn’t expect anything else from one of my favorite authors of all times.

This heartbreaking,Thought-provoking story that cover themes of the past and the present.

The magical ways Allende is able to intertwined multiple stories in such a smooth and touching way it’s mesmerizing.

We will have 3 different stories told and that will come at full circle.

1938 Vienna During WW2 , we will meet Samuel Adler , 5 years old and the story of how he loses his parents due to the Nazi invading Vienna

Leticia Cordero 1982 El Mozote Massacre in El Salvador and how a young girl ends up losing every single member of her family and community. But by a miracle her father is then Ionly one left alive and so he has no other choice than to go north.

Arizona 2019, Anita Diaz ,7 years old at the hands of terrible immigration laws …

When I tell you that my heart was in my hands while reading this story , I kid you not.. Allende paints a reality in the form of fiction that for a second there I forgot I was reading a novel..

I cannot stress enough how important their stories are, pick this one up as soon as it comes out, you won’t regret it!

The Wind Knows My Name is an amazing heart-wrenching novel that will leave you feeling the hopelessness for the unfortunate small children of war in 1938 as well as 2019. Isabel Allende does an extraordinary comparison of times during World War Two and El Salvador' s uprisings and then brings the principal characters together in conclusion. Wow, what suspense, depravation, violence, and heartache prevail. It is an eye-opener for the similar devastating events current in today's world.

🗓ℙ𝕦𝕓 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕖—𝕁𝕦𝕟𝕖 𝟞, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

✂️ P L O T L I N E
Sam was put on a train to England as young kid in 1938 to save him from the Nazi’s brutality. 2019, Anita and her mother flew El Salvador out of desperation for safety. Leticia has her own past of grief, loss, and story of immigration that she struggles with. Selena is a social worker/ aspiring lawyer that wants nothing more to help reconnect broken families. This story intertwines the past and the present as we find out how all these characters are connected. A book with a heavy COVID backdrop and the inhumane ways that families were broken up at the border during the former Presidency. A story that shows us that despite the loss, grief, and trauma children go through, they never need to be lost in this world. There is always hope to find family and home.

💭 ⓂⓎ ⓉⒽⓄⓊⒼⒽⓉⓈ
Isabel Allende is one of my mom’s favorite authors and I can now see why. Although this is my first book written by her, it is clearly apparent that Isabel writes from a position of unwavering truth about the history of our country and the current injustice that it holds. Her characters are people that we need more of in this world. The people who are selfless and are willing to do what it takes to protect each and every person that deserves to be in this country.
The story itself was beautiful, but I did struggle in the beginning with the slowness of it all. The connection of the characters didn’t come until much later in the book and I found myself being frustrated and confused sometimes. This is a story with a lot of heart and a lot of sadness. It does come together beautifully at the end, but I will say you need patience with this book in order to get there.

📚Read this book if you like
💫Multiple timelines
💫Multiple Characters POV
💫Intertwined Characters
💫Stories of immigration
💫 Informative and reflective storylines

⚠️Trigger warnings: Rape, abuse, loss⚠️

🎻𝕄𝕐 ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾 🎻
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

💕Q U O T E S : “Bonding is a mysterious thing, it doesn’t obey any known laws, it happens spontaneously or it doesn’t happen at all; It’s impossible to force it.”

“I find it hard to stay positive in this rubbish world. But I’m starting to feel a desire to try to change it, something I’ve never really felt before.”

🙏Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group- Ballentine Books, and Isabel Allende for this beautiful ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts 💕

Isabel Allende is just a master of her craft. The Wind Knows My Name is the latest example of her ability to craft a timely and timeless story that resonates with so many. I fell in love with the characters and their intersecting stories. I appreciate the straightforward writing in regards to recent events. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great storytelling. The other wonderful qualities of Allende’s writing are just icing on the cake.
You’re not going to want to skip this one in 2023. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this beautiful book. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I just reviewed The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende. #TheWindKnowsMyName #NetGalley

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the opportunity to read this book. I read it in one day. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful. I absolutely love reading books by Isabel Allende. I have never been disappointed. Book 5 of the year was five stars from me. Get a copy of this book when it’s released in June!!!

I always look forward to the next Allende book.. Her historical novels are engaging and informative. As always, well researched and thoughtful. Another winner from Allende. Thanks NetGalley!

Isabel Allende is a masterful storyteller and this book does not disappoint! I have read nearly all of her books and this is one of the most memorable. I won’t be surprised if this book is made into a movie. Absolutely beautiful!