The Wind Knows My Name is a well-written historical fiction novel that merges the stories of various characters effortlessly, from Samuel Adler, a Jewish man living in Berkeley and who was separated by his parents after the Kristallnacht in Vienna to little Anita Diaz, a blind young girl who has been separated from her mother after fleeing violence in El Salvador.

Isabel Allende is a wonderful writer and the stories she tells are easy to follow. I was immersed in each character's story (with perhaps the exception of Salina and Frank) and loved getting to know each character. This story is one with a lot of heart and love, despite the characters' tragic pasts, and I enjoyed how the story ended.

The criticism I have for the book is that, while it was a wonderful tale (in the end, largely), there was nothing particularly memorable about it, and I'm not sure I will be thinking about this book in a week or two from now.

Isabel Allende's "The Wind Knows My Name" takes readers on a rich journey through history and human resilience. Spanning continents and decades, the novel follows Samuel Adler's escape from Nazi persecution in 1938 Vienna, Leticia's survival after the El Mozote massacre in 1981 El Salvador, and Anita Diaz's struggle as a blind child separated from her mother in 2019 due to American policies. Allende skillfully weaves these narratives through Selena Duran's compassionate lens, highlighting the challenges faced by refugees and the fight for justice. The book's exploration of immigration, family separation, and trauma resonates deeply, offering a testament to hope and solidarity in the face of adversity.

I really enjoyed this one from the very first page! It was engaging and consistently interested me! Isabel Allende is one of my all-time favorite authors, so this book was something I was excited for from the get-go. I was happily correct in assuming it would be a great one! I'll probably integrate this into a future classroom as well.

What a treat to receive two immigration stories in one book, but overall, I felt divided. In different parts of the world and in different time periods, two young children are separated from their families due to terrifying but different circumstances. In 1938, six year old Sam Adler, a talented violinist, escapes Nazi-occupied Austria (and the Holocaust) via kindertrain but boards without his parents. In 2019, a blind 7 year old girl, Anita Diaz and her mother, escape their dangerous home country of El Salvador yet were unfortunately separated when they reached the U.S. border. The parallels of immigration and its negative effects were obvious yet how they were tied together was by an unbelievable coincidence. Each story is deserving of their own book. The writing was polished like all of Isabel Allende’s works, but the stories were disjointed and felt rushed (the novel was not even 300 pages). I would have preferred a more in depth story of Sam Adler: his childhood, adult life, and how his horrific war experiences affected how he went about life. I didn’t enjoy the contemporary story as much because it was told through a political lens. I really wanted to love this like several other Isabel Allende novels I’ve read, but it fell flat … or half of it did and that is unfortunate. 3 stars.

I want to thank Netgalley, Ballantine Books and the author for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to netgalley.com for this ARC.

I am a huge Isabel Allende fan. I have read most of her books and have enjoyed them all. This book si no exception. Taking on several different timelines and different points of view, leading towards a combined story. Starting with the exile of children in Austria during WWII, going to the massacres in Ecuador, COVID, and culminating in the crisis of migrant children in our country now. This book takes on a lot and explores so many different topics but does it in a way that is not overwhelming or too much.

Highly recommend this for all Isabel Allende fans.

Heartbreaking at times, with Isabel Allende’s beautiful writing showing how peace and love can triumph over hate and pain. There were many characters stories and think that was perhaps too many, but that is my only complaint. Isabel Allende writes so eloquently and the story was wonderful. She is a treasure and I only discovered her books two years ago. Loved this story.

Thank you NetGalley, Isabel Allende, and Random House for a copy of this book. I always leave reviews for books I read.

I will start off and say that I'm not usually a historical fiction reader, however-- I do appreciate Allende's writing. This is a long over-due review, but the short of it is that I admired her approach on migration and loss. I think that the weaving of timelines sets up the reader to witness the similarities between 1938 and 2019.

It's 1938 and Samuel Adler is a young Jewish boy living in Vienna, Austria. After the horrors of Kristallnacht, Samuel is sent to England by his mother, knowing that this is the only way to ensure Samuel's safety.

Fast forward 81 years and it's 2019. Readers are introduced to Anita, a young Salvadoran girl who, like Samuel did so many years ago, is escaping from the violence of her country. Entering the US as illegal aliens, Anita is separated from her mother, thus putting into motion how the lives of Samuel and Anita eventually intersect.

There are a lot of voices in this book, so it can be a little challenging to keep track of everyone, but the author does tie things together nicely toward the end of the book. The message is a strong one -- we never know how we can be impacted by total strangers. An interesting read, though I felt at times, there was too much narrative about current and past events that took away from the plot line.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group and Ballantine for an electronic ARC of #TheWindKnowsMyName.

Allende has been one of my top
Five writers since I found her writing around 2000. It is an always immersive, beautiful, and raw. This proved no different though still very different due to its focus on WWII and Europe.

A wonderful story full of deep emotional turmoil and timely views on the world. There are few better writers than Isabel Allende that force readers to examine themselves and the world while reading an engaging narrative.

I really enjoyed this book. This is a fantastic story by a fantastic author. The book goes back and forth between several characters which at first don't seem totally related, however the author pulls it all together with the stories in the end and it all falls into place.
The book follows Anita, a child who is taken from her mother as they try to enter the US through illegal channels. The mother is deported to Mexico, as Anita fights to survive alone in a strange place as a 7 year old who can barely speak English and is partially blind. Her case is taken on by a Pro Bono attorney, Frank and a social worker, Selena. Frank and Selena work tirelessly to find her mother, and to make sure she is not deported. Along the way we learn their stories, as well as many other key players in the story.
This book addresses the challenges of our immigration crisis of the more recent years, as well as taking us all back to the time of the Holocaust. Times have not changed, as we had hoped and we are still making mistakes in how we are handling the situation, and also the handling of the people in the situation.
I would definitely recommend this book to others who like historical fiction works.

This is not the first book of Isabel Allende’s that I have read; nor will it be the last! I have fallen in love with each and every one of her stories, and The Wind Knows My Name is no exception. It’s a short, beautifully written story that packs a lot of information and emotion into its relatively few pages.

There still are many of Ms. Allende's books I've purchased in my "to be read pile." However, I was provided an advanced reader's copy of the Wind Knows My Name from NetGalley for free, for which I am thankful. I’m also thankful to Ms. Allende and her publisher, Ballantine Books, for allowing me to read the advanced copy. My review of this book is entirely VOLUNTARY.

The story involves a lot of tragedy and loss but also love and compassion. It begins with a young boy forcibly separated from his family during WWII immediately following the infamous and deadly “Night of Broken Glass,” or “Kristallnacht,” when Nazis and Nazi sympathizers carried out a coordinated wave of anti-Jewish violence on November 9 and 10, 1938 throughout Germany, annexed Austria and parts of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. Rioters destroyed hundreds of synagogues and Jewish institutions, leaving many synagogues burning throughout the night in full view of the public and firefighters, who had orders to intervene only to prevent flames from spreading to nearby non Jewish buildings. Approximately 7,500 Jewish-owned commercial establishments had their windows shattered and their wares looted. Many Jewish cemeteries also were desecrated. About 30,000 Jewish men were arrested that night and sent to various concentration camps, where most died, but hundreds of men probably lost their lives on that night or within days of it from brutal beatings by the crowds. Fearing for their lives, many mothers sent their young children alone by train to Britain to live with strangers, hoping eventually to be reunited, in a mass rescue effort by the British government known as Kindertransport. The young boy at the beginning of Allende’s novel, Samuel Adler, was one of these children.

After relating the horrors committed by the Nazis, The Wind Knows My Name goes on to tell of atrocities against various communities wiped out throughout South America during the 1980s and 1990s, resulting from various civil wars and interference by the US government, mass political corruption, and drug cartels. It is at this time we learn of a little girl, Leticia, miraculously saved from the obliteration of her community because she was away at the time recovering from a serious illness.

The book eventually comes full circle, uniting Samuel, now an old man, Leticia, and another young child left alone not only due to the ongoing brutality against women and children in her home country of El Salvador but also because of recent US border policies during the Trump administration of deliberately separating children from parents and failing to keep records of where each went.

The Wind Knows My Name is a relatively short book, at less than 270 pages, but it packs a lot of information, a lot of violence, a lot of emotion, and a lot of love into its short package. I recommend reading it for all, but especially for those who do not lean too far right on the political spectrum.

Allende explores the themes of migration and the vulnerability of young migrants with a cast of characters it is impossible to not fall in love with. As the characters' lives weave together, it is hard to not be drawn in by her writing and the worlds she creates. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for both a good story and an entry point into thinking about the situation at the border. While it is necessary to also do outside research, Allende gives us a glimpse into the topic.

In this beautifully written novel of separation and heartache, Allende masterfully weaves together four individual stories of triumph through tragedy. This epic novel delicately details the crisis at the Mexico/United States boarder, and compares this trauma of separation to the separation endured by kids and parents of the Kindertransport during WWII. This story is beautifully written and takes its time telling the characters stories. It takes awhile before the four characters stories are intertwined, but it is fulfilling and eloquently done. I would recommend this book to book clubs as there are many issues within the novel that can be discussed.

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!