The Wind Knows My Name

Beautifully written, as always, by the very gifted Allende. It's a story that's touching, heartbreaking, maddening and affirming in turns.  In the past, Samuel's family in Austria was destroyed by the Nazis during WWII. He was spared by being taken on the Kindertransport to America, where he was shuffled around until landing with a kind Quaker couple.  The trauma of his experience stays locked away in his memories, as we see the course of his life over many years.

In another timeline, we have Anita, a nearly blind seven-year-old Salvadoran refugee who was separated from her mother at the border due to American policies put in place under the last administration to discourage immigration. She too suffers greatly as she's bounced around to various detention centers, group and foster homes, all without the comfort of even knowing where her mother is.

Our other two narrators are Leticia, a Salvadoran with her own tragic past who helps care for Samuel, now in his 80's, and Selena, a Mexican-American advocate for the Magnolia Project which pairs pro-bono lawyers with undocumented children to establish residency with the courts and hopefully reunite them with their loved ones.

I loved how the characters' stories paralleled and wove together.  The book makes you keenly aware of how many times in history it's been those in power's policy to take children from their parents and how much suffering has resulted from those actions.  On the other side, it's a story of hope, healing and moving forward. It sounds heavy, but the tone is nicely balanced and the ending warmed my heart. I particularly enjoyed Samuel and Leticia’s interactions. Read the author's note if you can - it's a great insight into Allende's motivation for writing the book.

My one complaint is that there was too much telling and not enough showing, which made dialogue feel a little unnatural at times, like an info-dump. I would've appreciated seeing events play out a bit more, so it didn't feel like the story was being fit around the facts Allende wanted to share. That said, I was fully enthralled with the story and despite the heavier themes, truly enjoyed it! If you enjoy a well-written blend of historical and contemporary fiction and can tolerate the political overtones, you may enjoy this. In that respect, this one reminded me of some of Jodi Picoult's writing. Both women are incredibly smart and do their research, and they don't hold their punches!

★★★★ 

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, NetGalley and author Isabel Allende for this digital ARC to honestly review. It’s due to be published on June 6, 2023.

TW: Holocaust, American immigration policy, family separation, rape, femicide, genocide, torture, war, neglect, child abuse and neglect