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.

The Wind Knows My Name is not so much a novel as an indictment, and perhaps a warning. It’s a slender tale, though it’s three tales in one, and there are enough interesting characters for a few more tales which are only hinted at.
The indictment, though, is not hinted at. The story starts with Kristallnacht, the unleashing of the Nazis’ first fury against the Jews, which would end with six million dead. It’s an old story, well known. Or perhaps it’s not as well-known as I would like to think, and that is the raison d’etre for this book.
This is a tale which constantly reminds us of the incredible cruelty always lurking under the surface in the human race, by focusing on three refugees in three different eras, all torn from their families, their cultures, their homes, all by the casual violence of mobs which can arise at any time, urged on by the powers that be. Samuel Adler is one of the Kindertransport, some 10,000 Jewish children taken from their families to rescue them from the inevitability of the camps. Leticia Cordero is the sole survivor of the El Mozote massacre of 1982, when the El Salvadoran army wiped out an entire village in a counterinsurgency campaign. The third refugee is seven-year-old Anita Diaz, in 2019, fleeing with her mother from a murderous security guard in El Salvador, seeking asylum in America. But this is 2019, Trump’s América, and Anita and her mother are separated, as so many were. The tales of these three refugees’ lives are interwoven over the course of eighty years, along with those who damage them and those who try to heal them.
Does Ms. Allende equate the cruelty of Trump’s policies with the savagery of the Nazis? You’ll have to decide that for yourselves, and decide whether American policy long before Trump bears some responsibility for the ongoing chaos in Central America. This novel is a challenge to the conscience.

I have read many books by Isabelle Allende, some in the original Spanish, so I was excited to receive an ARC copy of her latest book, “The Wind Knows My Name” from NetGalley and the publisher, Ballentine Books. The novel alternates among four narrators: Samuel, Letitia, Serena and Anita. The novel begins with Samuel who is six years old during “Kristallnacht,” (the Night of Broken Glass) when his father’s doctor’s office and the upstairs apartment where the family lived were vandalized by Nazi gangs terrorizing Jewish homes and businesses. His father was beaten and ultimately sent to a concentration camp where he died shortly thereafter. Samuel and his mother were hidden by a sympathetic World War I veteran. Samuel’s mother decided to send him to England on one of the few Kindertransports that transported Jewish children to England and placed them in foster homes to protect them from the Nazis. After the war, Samuel learned that both his parents had perished in separate concentration camps. He eventually moved to San Francisco with his wife Nadine, whom he met during a trip to New Orleans.

Letitia was a young girl when her father traveled with her to a hospital in the capital of El Salvador far North of their little village, where her chronic stomach pain could be diagnosed and cured. While they were away from the village, it was destroyed and the entire community was massacred by Government soldiers trying to root out guerillas. Shortly thereafter, Letitia and her father crossed the border into the United States, where her father found odd jobs to support them, helped by another immigrant, Cruz Torres. After her father’s death and a succession of failed marriages, Letitia reencountered Cruz Torres who recommended Letitia’s services as a housekeeper to Samuel’s wife, Nadine.

Serena is a Mexican-American social worker for the Magnolia Project, an organization that helps immigrant children who were separated from their parents during their detention by border patrol, trying to reunite them with their parents and obtaining the services of volunteer attorneys to help seek asylum for them. During the course of her work, Serena meets Anita, a seven year old from El Salvador who was separated from her mother at the American border, and has since lost touch with her. Anita is assigned to various homes and foster families while Serena and Frank, an attorney who has volunteered his services, attempt to find Anita’s mother.

During the course of the book, the connections among all the characters are slowly revealed, until all the disparate individuals work together for Anita’s benefit, strengthening their own lives in the process.

This novel did an excellent job of shedding light on the plight of illegal immigrants in the United States, particularly the children who are separated from their parents at the border. That said, the novel itself relied too much on summaries of events, rather than relating events as they unfolded. For example, the first third of the book was dedicated almost entirely to relating the histories of the individual characters from childhood to adulthood. Also, even in the contemporary sections, there was a lot of summarizing the feelings and events rather than relating them. This made it difficult to engage with the characters because as a reader I felt a slight remove from them. However, despite these reservations, it is a worthwhile book to read as the individual characters’ stories are interesting and the information provided about the plight of immigrants is illuminating.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review).

Isabel Allende really knows how to weave a story that gets you emotionally invested. First our heart breaks for Samuel. Then it breaks again for Anita. The Wind Knows My Name is about the agonizing decisions parents are forced to make in order to save their children's lives. And, in turn, the coping mechanisms these children use to cope with their trauma. Samuel's story begins in 1938 and Anita's eerily similar story begins in 2019. While this is fiction, its easy to imagine these as real circumstances happening to real people. Speaking of people, there are a lot of them to keep track of and we bounce around between stories quite a bit so I found myself forgetting some of the ones who don't play a dominant role. I really liked how the two stories twist and turn to eventually come together. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC of this book.

Isabel Allende is a Queen, and this story will always stick with me. This story interweaves three stories in the past and present tracing the ripple effects of war and immigration from one child in Europe in World War II and another in present day in the covid pandemic. It is about conflicts in which children have no part but suffer the most. Allende teaches us that the wind knows us, no matter how hard and hopeless life may be, so we are never lost. She tells a powerful and heartbreaking story about three families: Samuel Adler, a Jew who through his mother's love, managed to escape Vienna during a time where the Jewish community was being exterminated, Lety, a migrant from El Salvador who lost her family during a massacre that plummeted her village, Marisol andAnita, a mother and daughter seeking asylum in the US after fleeing a violence ridden El Salvador. The timelines were so easy to follow and I cared for these families so much. I learned a lot about immigration, and it is relevant to the times we are living.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Release date: Jun 06, 2023

Thank you @netgalley for my Arc of Isabel Allende's book the Wind Knows my Name. Allende is an author that I will read everything she writes, so I was excited to be chosen to read this ARC. It was fantastic. The story was compelling and the writing was descriptive and beautiful. Allende wove the stories of the past and present together seamlessly and included current events of the pandemic and immigration in a thoughtful way.

The Wind Knows my name is an emotional book and a tough subject matter. It starts with Samuel Adler who is 6 years old when he gets separated from his family during Kristallnacht. Then you meet Anita Diaz, a 7 year old child who is separated from her mother who is trying to immigrate from El Salvador. Anita is blind and captures the heart of her social worker. The book tells the story of the immigration system and the foster system through Anita.

I don’t think that I have ever not enjoyed a book written by Isabel Allende and “The Wind Knows My Name” was no exception. Initially, as characters were introduced I questioned the book…and wondered how this section would resolve. Of course, for me at least, the book became a page turner that, by the end , caused me to have tears running down my cheeks. What a wonderful, restorative read this was! The subject matter is timely, and covers a lot of ground. Many current events were included - some good, some not so good, and some just plain horrific.

Lyrical prose, as always, well crafted, complex characters, and plot that speaks to the heart….this book thoroughly “floated-my-personal-taste-in-reading” boat! Well done Ms.Allende - as always.