In I938 Vienna, in the aftermath of Kristallnacht, six-year-old Samuel Adler is sent to England via Kindertransport – his mother’s final gesture of love in a bid to save her son’s life. Samuel, a violin prodigy and the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust spends time in foster care among strangers before finally finding a home with a kindly Quaker couple. We follow Samuel’s story into adulthood, his move to the United States, and his love and talent for music playing an important role in the life he builds for himself.

Letitia Cordero was seven years old when everyone in her family, save for her father, lost their lives in the El Mozote massacre of 1981. Letitia and her father fled El Salvador, crossing the Rio Grande to enter America, where they eventually make a life for themselves.

In 2019, seven-year-old Anita Diaz and her mother, fleeing from violence in El Salvador, is taken into custody at the US-Mexico border while trying to enter the United States illegally. Detained and ultimately separated from her mother Marisol, Anita, visually impaired after an accident that took the life of her younger sister, is left to fend for herself, shuttled between foster homes, alone and desperate to reunite with her mother. Anita copes with her fears and loneliness through conversations with her deceased sister and dreams of an imaginary magical world where she would be reunited with all of those she has lost. Selena Duran, a social worker attached to the Magnolia Project for Refugees and Immigrants, and Frank Angileri a lawyer from San Francisco who represents Anita’s interests pro bono, work together so that Anita is granted asylum while the search for her mother continues. After Anita endures a particularly traumatizing episode in foster care they manage to track down Anita’s distant relation, Letitia Cordero who is sheltering in place in her employer, the elderly Samuel Adler’s home during the pandemic. As the narrative progresses we follow Anita, Letitia and Samuel as their stories converge - three lives, impacted by similar circumstances, decades apart –– and how they impact and are impacted by one another- on a shared journey of hope and healing.

Touching upon themes of forced migration, sacrifice, loss, trauma, healing and found family, the author seamlessly weaves the three threads of this story together to craft a beautiful, heartfelt narrative that will touch your heart. Powerful prose, superb characterizations, fluid narrative, and the author’s masterful storytelling make for a compelling read. The pace is a tad uneven but not so much that it detracts from the reading experience. Though the three characters and their childhood experiences are set in different timelines, decades apart, the author draws out the similarities between historical events and contemporary politics and policies, in the context of the impact of the same on children whose lives are upended in the face of war, forced migration and immigration policies and politics. The author paints a heart-wrenching picture of the plight of innocent children forced to flee their homeland with their fates and their lives in the hands of those who might not always be sympathetic to their cause. This is not a lengthy book (less than 300 pages) but definitely a timely and thought-provoking story. However, I would have liked it if a few aspects and characters in this story had been explored in a bit more depth and the ending did feel a tad rushed. But overall, The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende is an impactful read that I would not hesitate to recommend.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this beautiful story. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel is due to be released on June 6, 2023.

This had a really intriguing premise, looking at war and immigration in different countries and time periods. I enjoyed it, especially how the three stories ended up becoming interconnected. I expected they would get there, but had no idea how an 80-year-old man who'd fled Austria in the 1930s would connect to a 7-year-old fleeing violence in El Salvador in 2019, so when it finally did come together it was very touching.
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Like all Allende books, this has beautiful writing, and I loved all of the main characters. My favorite story was actually the one in the middle, Leticia who left El Salvador after narrowly missing a massacre in the 1980s. Of all the perspectives, I felt like hers ended up having the most depth.
*
I wish there had been a bit more to Anita's (the 7-year-old's) story - despite much of the horror she lived through, I felt like we only really got surface deep with her. Maybe that was intentional, since she was so young?  But it seemed like an opportunity to get a deeper perspective on children being separated from their parents at the border. 
*
I also could have done with less of the relationship between the lawyers working on the case. Frank honestly seemed like a filler character who didn't really advance the story.
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This was a pretty quick read, for such a heavy topic, and I did really enjoy seeing how these very disparate parts of history end up relating to each other. It was not my favorite of hers, but I'm still glad I read it!

Samuel was six years old when his father, a doctor, disappeared during Vienna’s infamous Kristallnacht. Saved by a veteran neighbor, Samuel’s mother secured passage for him on the Kinderstransport, a train taking Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied Austria. Samuel was delivered to England and, after being bounced between a couple of foster homes, was adopted by a Quaker couple. Eighty years later, Anna Diaz, a blind seven-year-old, was captured with her mother trying to cross the border into the United States illegally. She is separated from her mother and put into a detainment camp for unaccompanied minors. Her way of dealing with the trauma of being separated from her mother and the horrors of abusive foster homes is to escape to an imaginary place called Azabahar. Samuel and Anna’s paths cross when a social worker and lawyer do pro-bono work and find that Anna has a relative in the San Fransisco area. That relative is Samuel’s housekeeper, and she has been living with Samuel since Covid shut the country down. While Anna gets settled with Samuel and Leticia, the lawyer and the social worker continue their search for Anna’s mother. Will Anna and her mother be reunited?

What attracted me to The Wind Knows My Name was the cover. That is why I wished for it to begin with. What also attracted me to this book was the plotline (which I did try to summarize in the paragraph above). I usually don’t read books that closely follow recent (think within the last 3-4 years) events but something about this book and how the blurb was written made me want to read it. I am glad I did because this book was a great read.

There are four plotlines in The Wind Knows My Name. When I figured that out, I was a little wary. In my experience, books with more than one plotline confuse the everliving out of me. I am happy to say that this book did not. The author marked the chapters, stating whose plotline it was and, in some cases, where in time that person was.

The first plotline centered around Samuel. It starts when he is six, and his world implodes during Kristallnacht. The plotline isn’t linear; it does jump around from past to present quite a bit. But, and I stress this, I was not confused or couldn’t figure out where in time it was. Samuel’s singular plotline ends when Leticia and then Anna move in.

The second plotline centers around Leticia. Now, this was a linear plotline, and it follows Leticia from a young girl recovering from ulcer surgery to her growing up in the United States. It details her rebellious youth and how that shaped her into the woman she grew into. Her singular storyline ends when she moves in with Samuel.

The third plotline centers around Selina and Frank. This plotline starts in the middle of the book. But it goes into Selina’s immigrant background and Frank’s white privilege background. This storyline intermingles with Samuel, Leticia, and Anna throughout the book.

The fourth storyline centers around Anna. This is a linear storyline and is told through Anna’s POV. Anna’s storyline details her horrific journey to the United States border and her horrible experiences in foster care/detention. I do want to note that her storyline is also in 2nd person. She is talking to her dead sister through her doll, and it is freaking heartbreaking.

Several secondary storylines flow throughout the book. The main secondary storyline was about Anna’s mother and where she could be. I was heartbroken by the way it ended. I did expect it to end the way it did, but at the same time, I was hoping it wouldn’t.

The characters in The Wind Knows My Name was well-written and well-fleshed out. Even the secondary characters had depth to them. The characters, along with the storyline, made this book.

When I realized that this book would take place during the pandemic (and I realized it fairly early in the book), I did almost DNF it. I did not want to read about the pandemic because I lived it. But the pandemic took a backseat to Anna’s story. But Anna’s storyline was so compelling that I chose to overlook that. I am glad that I did because this book was fantastic.

Immigration was a massive point in this book. The author didn’t sugarcoat what the border was like in 2019/2020 or how overwhelmed the agents were. Instead, she gave a good look into the chaos. And when Covid hit, the chaos just grew. There were some references to the political atmosphere during that time, and you know what? I agreed with what the author wrote. I never agreed with separating families; the author’s details were chilling when she wrote about that.

I liked Samuel, but he did not have it easy in life. I thought his being raised by Quakers was fascinating and wished that more detail had gone into his life with them. His traumatic past was why he was so attracted to Nadine and kept returning to her. Their relationship was exciting and different. The author could have written a whole book could have been written about that alone. Samuel, later on in life, was a better person than when he was younger. He was willing to do whatever it took to help Anna overcome her traumatic past. He was a gem, and I enjoyed his character.

I only got to know Leticia once the author explored her background. It was then that I started to understand her. She was like Anna in a way. She had lost her entire family in a rebel attack that wiped out her village, and she crossed the border illegally (with her father). Her reaction to being Anna’s only relative in America was spot on. But she had a big heart and couldn’t let that little girl stay in foster care. She was one of my favorite people in this book.

I loved Anna and was so mad for her throughout the book. Time and time again, she was let down by the adults in her life. I wanted to reach through the book, hug her, and tell her it would be alright. By the time she arrived at Leticia and Samuel’s house, she wasn’t the same girl she was at the beginning of the book. But, her time with Leticia and Samuel did heal her. She acted like a normal child instead of the withdrawn fearful child she was when she arrived.

The end of The Wind Knows My Name didn’t shock me. I figured it would end the way it did. I did like that Anna got her HEA, though. She deserved it after everything she had been through.

I recommend The Wind Knows My Name to anyone over 21. There is language, violence, and mild sexual situations. Also, see my trigger warning list.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books, NetGalley, and Isabel Allende for allowing me to read and review The Wind Knows My Name. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

Allende is a writer like no other, lyrical, engrossing, and captivating stories of time, place, and intricately written people and contexts. I learned so much about past and present challenges with family strife and separation, sociopolitical structures that impact family safety, and just what lengths parents will go to keep children safe but to also reunite with them. I loved how the two stories were woven together, how the book was a celebration of resilience and hope despite the heavy themes, and that this was a book that highlights important present day themes on family separation.

Allende's work is a gift; this book is a great option for book clubs who focus on current events/literary fiction as well as historical fiction. Great for fans of the author and for historical fiction readers in particular (and don't let the WWII theme put you off if you aren't into that era... this is different from most HiFi set in that time period, trust me as a general anti wwII setting reader).

With appreciation to Random House Ballantine for the review copy on NetGalley.

This is the first book I have read by Isabel Allende and it won’t be my last. I love a dual timeline that connects. I was most impressed by this authors ability to really develop these characters in a way that connects them to the reader and makes you so vested in their story. It was a truly sad story, but you also saw good in the world with those who helped. It is a timely and relevant heartbreaking story. I would definitely recommend.

This was a moving and emotional book that centered around children being separated from their parents under horrible circumstances- one during the holocaust and one in the modern day. I also gained a greater understanding for the recent immigration crisis and the way children were forcefully separated from their parents. The only complaint that I have is that the writing style tended to be too centered in conveying facts and at times I felt like I was reading a book report.

In this novel, we follow three different stories, past and present with the common theme of immigration in America. I learned what children experienced in Europe during WW2, as they separated from their parents by way of kindertransport to England in order to survive. We follow Samuel Adler, a 5 year old Jewish boy as he stays at orphanages near London before eventually finding a home with a Quaker family.

Then we get Leticia’s story, a young survivor of the El Mozote massacre in 1981. Her village was destroyed and family killed. This resulted in Leticia and her father making an arduous migration to the U. S. border. This was a devastating event in history that I wasn’t aware of. I would’ve liked to see this explored a little more.

Then in 2019, we follow eight year old Anita who traveled with her mother from El Salvador to seek asylum at the Arizona border. Anita gets separated from her mother at a detention center due to the new family separation policy enacted by the president. Her mother is deported. We are introduced to Selena, a social worker who enlists the help from a pro bono lawyer from San Francisco to help with Anita’s case.

Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors, and I appreciate her using her voice to bring attention to the plight of the immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. This is such a divisive problem that Americans seem to have strong opinions on. Regardless, children should have never been separated from their parents. I felt that Allende did a great job in merging the stories together with sensitivity, but also felt there was a political agenda. Were she excelled in the overall plotting, it lacked in the character development, rich prose and descriptive narration.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an ARC in exchange for my review.

I usually enoljoy Allende's books a lot. This one was good, but not amazing as I thought Violeta was. It felt very drawn out an the ending seemednto happen all at once. Everything felt like it concluded suddenly after a few things were discovered and I thought it was too hurried after the drawn out details of the beginning of the book.

It was interesting how the author managed to combine immigrant situations from two very different times and countries into one story. The way these stories came together was lovely. I did feel that there were a few unnecessary characters and storylines introduced which added to the drawn out feeling I got from the first half to three quarters of the book.

I have not read any of Ms. Allende's books in a while. This is because she tends to slant towards the mystical, which is not my type of book. After reading the premise, I was intrigued especially because I do a lot of volunteer work in Guatemala.

The challenges are great and treacherous for those escaping poverty and violence. At the same time, the boarder situation is complex and not always humane, like separating children from parent(s). This is the case of little Anita who fled with her mother from El Salvador.

But I am getting ahead of myself. The story starts with another migration during the Nazi occupation of Austria. A young boy is sent away to live in England as part of the kinder transport.

Eventually, these two lives intersect.

The chapters are based on the different stories of the main characters, which also include the US social worker and the pro bono lawyer. There is just enough of clairvoyance but not over the top for me. I only wish that the character development was much better. The stories are pretty basic and not very nuanced. Definitely a quick read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This is an amazing novel. I waited to read it since Allende is one of my favorite authors. I was not disappointed, since this is perfection. Allende manages to blend the stories of children separated from their families during times of unspeakable horror.

The first story is that of Samuel Adler, sent from Vienna to evade death at one of Hitler’s camps. The second story is about Anita, caught in the maelstrom of the Trump policy of separating parents and children. Allende manages to tell us their stories and create a magical connection that leaves the reader both smiling and crying.

Without a doubt, I confidently recommend this to all my readers. It is a reminder of the endless cruelty and trauma that is visited on our most vulnerable population, our children.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this superb and beautiful book.

The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende

This five star masterpiece by Isabel Allende will charm you and horrify you. Readers of her previous works know that Allende leans toward controversy. This story centers around two children, decades apart, separated from their families during time of war or conflict “for their safety” and less so, the politics of the 2020 pandemic.

Sadly, the results are the same for these two children and thousands more. Governments which promised to help them have no plan to reunite them with their parents. New languages must be acquired, talents are lost and forgotten, help is a fantasy.

You will admire the characters who actually work to do their best for these loveable, yet lost youngsters.There are many problems that Allende points out in America’s current immigration policies. Cruelty abounds within our own borders, and Isabel Allende suggests there’s a better way to treat immigrants.

My sincerest thanks to #BallantineBooks and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.

This was EXCELLENT! It was interesting because it started in Austria, and the characters never went to South America, as many of her other books do. It also follows several character's lives, from Samuel, a young Jewish boy sent on Kindertransport to England during WW2, Selena, a young Mexican woman who helps children separated at the border, Anita, a blind young girl who immigrated to the US from El Salvador, and Leticia, who moved to the US from El Salvador herself as an infant. I was curious how they would all connect, and it comes together beautifully. Felt very relevant in today's news, as it touches on immigration and Covid, and the connections to WW2 are startling. What a fantastic book!

I like Isabel Allende's writing. I like that she connects characters with different backgrounds and brings them together through shared experiences. This novel, didn't do it for me. I felt like the pacing was a little bit off and that I didn't get enough time with some of the characters to truly be satisfied with the ending.

Going into this book, I knew very little about the Kindertransport train that evacuated Jewish children from nazi-occupied Austria. The book is about the life of one six year old little boy and his love of music. His story is extremely touching and inspiring. As he faces his final years, he is given the opportunity to help another child who is facing dire circumstances as he once had.

I appreciate the author’s voice on the pertinent topic of immigration and bringing it’s history to the pages. The inclusion of all things bad in 2020; specifically the pandemic and the US political climate, was an important part of the current era timeline but I didn’t enjoy the reminders of masking and sanitizing.

The Wind Knows My Name
By Isabel Allende

This novel deals with three people who have suffered tragedy and horror as young children. Samuel Adler, an Austrian Jew, was sent via kindertransport to England to escape the Nazi terror with the promise that his parents would join him later. Unfortunately, both his parents die in the concentration camps, leaving Samuel with feelings of abandonment.

Leticia Cordero lived with her large family in a small village in El Salvador until her whole village was massacred by government forces in the early eighties. Leticia and her father escaped and swam across the Rio Grande to make a life in the United States.

Anita Diaz, a Salvadoran child also crossing the border with her mother, Marisol, was detained and then separated from her mother. Added to Anita's plight, she is virtually blind from an earlier accident.

All three stories are fictional but they are based on true stories which have happened – and continue to happen today. Human cruelty, especially against women, never ends. Allende gives us reason to hope that there is also goodness and love in this world.

Isabelle Allende focuses her title on the plight of immigrants, particularly children, fleeing harrowing situations of abuse, political unrest, war and/or discrimination. These children are separated from families, culture, language, traditions, and homelands to enter a world where they have no knowledge, uncertain expectations, bureaucracies which they cannot navigate alone and a future which may not reunite them with family. They are too young to comprehend a system and a world that is even incomprehensible for adults.

To underscore the plight of children, she begins with a Jewish violin protegee, Samuel Adler fleeing 1938 Vienna as he travels alone on a Kindertransport for the UK. She then shifts her gaze to modern times, Arizona, 2019 to Anita Diaz, a seven-year-old blind girl forcibly separated from her mother when they flee El Salvador.

Both stories underline the impact of immigration policies on the most vulnerable, the children. Allende depicts how both children attempt to cope with their lives and forge connections. The stories of Samuel and Anita come together in an unlikely way.

The writing is excellent, particularly in depicting the situations the children flee, how they attempt to cope and how they discover who they can be in this new world. But Allende is always an advocate against the harsh realities of the immigration systems, so at times the book seemed more of a strident call for action than a novel grounded in the story of its characters. Leticia, the housekeeper for the now aged Samuel, the social worker Selena Duran and her lawyer boyfriend (both attempting to help Anita) had roles that moved the narrative but often in unbelievable ways. So mixed feelings there, a 3.5 rounded up to a 4. But this is an important book which will generate much discussion in book clubs. Recommended. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this title.

This review will be posted on June 6, 2023 to: https://instagram.com/amandas.bookshelf

Isabel Allende has done it again! I think this might be my favorite novel of hers. The novel opens on Kristallnacht in 1938 Vienna. Shortly after, young Samuel Adler is sent out of Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport with the promise he'll be reunited with his parents once his mother can secure their travel visas. In 2019, young Anita is separated from her mother at the US/Mexico border. Anita now faces deportation, despite the fact that she and her mother were seeking asylum from violence and danger. Allende takes these characters, and others, to weave a breathtaking tapestry of exploration of war, violence, and seeking refuge when home isn't safe. This is difficult but moving subject matter, one meant to spark understanding of the very real humans we talk of when debating the immigration crisis. Do be sure to read the Author's Note at the end to understand Allende's motivation for this story and the real people who inspired composite characters. #TheWindKnowsMyName Rating: 😍 / loved it
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This book is scheduled for publication on June 6, 2023. Thank you Ballantine Books and @randomhouse for providing me this digital ARC via @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Allende is a masterful storyteller who does not shy from traumatic and difficult themes. In her newest novel, she weaves plot lines from Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany 1938 to refugees fleeing El Salvador in 2019 during the outbreak of a global pandemic. The theme that brings these stories together is children separated from their families during times or turmoil/war/unrest and the humanitarian efforts to rectify this unjust and unnatural occurrence.

I was captivated by each plot line, moved to tears, disgusted by the abject hatefulness of some and rejoiced in the hope and fight of others. This book is poignant, relevant, and inspiring. Lovers of literary fiction will be moved and left with a lasting impact of Allende’s characters and prose.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for my advanced e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Isabel Allende new novel The Wind Knows My Name is a heartfelt story that the world could use right now . It's a novel about people trying to survive wrongs done to them. It brings together the story of Kristallnacht with the situation on the US border. The main characters are Samuel Adler and Anita Diaz. As you start the novel you wonder how their worlds will collide. As you turn the pages you see Samuel growing up as an oprhan and then into the man he becomes. With Anita you see her mother trying escape El Salvador with Anita who is blind. You learn about the struggles with people trying to flee their countries to escape the hell that is their country and get into the US where things will hopefully be better. You meet people who work with these agencies to unite families separated at the border. This ripped from the headlines story is so important for people to read right now because with bad news coming at us 24 hours a day this novel takes one case and makes us understand one person's struggles trying to flee their country. It makes you have empathy for the people involved. Truly appreciative that Ms. Allende wrote this novel. It was a beautiful experience reading this novel even though it is a difficult subject. The more we hear stories like this, maybe the world will be less harsh to people dealing with issues at the border. Also that we have to be careful that we don't allow history to repeat itself with big lessons learned from The Holocaust. Great book for book clubs and groups that care about human rights issues. Thank you to #ballantine and #randomhouse for the ready #netgalley,

Important content to be out there in regards to immigration. I love her storytelling so powerful and touching. It’s hard to read something like this and not come out with so many emotions and wishing for change.