The Wind Knows My Name, Isabel Allende
The Wind Knows My Name, Isabel Allende
List: $22.50 | Sale: $15.75
Club: $11.25

The Wind Knows My Name

Author: Isabel Allende, Frances Riddle

Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini, Maria Liatis

Unabridged: 7 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/06/2023


Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “The lives of a Jewish boy escaping Nazi-occupied Europe and a mother and daughter fleeing twenty-first-century El Salvador intersect in this ambitious, intricate novel about war and immigration” (People), from the author of A Long Petal of the Sea and Violeta

“Timely, provocative . . . emotionally satisfying . . . [a story about] the kindness of strangers who become family.”—The New York Times Book Review

AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht—the night his family loses everything. As her child’s safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel’s mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin.

Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Díaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Durán, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita’s mother.

Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers—and never stop dreaming.

About Isabel Allende

It is a good person who is a world renowned author, but says her best achievement is not her books, but the love she shares with a few people, especially her family, and having always tried to help people. Such are the thoughts of Isabel Allende, a Chilean author who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Hussein Obama. She has written: The House of the Spirits, and City of the Beasts. Her novels are considered to be the genre of magical realism. They are usually based on her own experiences, historical events, and pay homage to the lives of women. She also uses elements of myth and realism.

Allende was born in Lima, Peru. Her father was a cousin to Salvador Allende, the President of Chile from 1970 to 1973. Her father left her mother, so Isabel ended up moving to many places when her mother married a diplomat. In 1962 Isabel married an engineering student, when she moved back to Chile to complete her secondary education. She then led a dual life as obedient wife and mother, but in public was Barbara Cartland, well-known tv personality, a dramatist, and journalist with a feminine magazine.

Allende had jobs with the United Nations in Santiago, then Brussels and elsewhere. In Chile she translated books from English to Spanish, but was fired because she made some changes on her own (which were not appreciated) and was altering some endings from "happily ever after", to allow the heroine some independence to do good in the world.

She now runs the Isabel Allende Foundation, founded in 1996 to honor the author's daughter Paula Frias, who passed away at age 29. They award life-changing grants to women to improve their care.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Canadian Jen on June 25, 2023

Allende is a master at spinning an epic story. I really wanted this one to speak to me as her others have. Here she attempts to intricately weave 4 stories together.There is a Sam’s story - a survivor of those children sent on a Kindertransport train out of Austria during WW2 in 1938.There is Anita......more

Goodreads review by Terrie on July 14, 2023

The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende is a Blend of Family and Historical Fiction! Two children, eighty-one years apart, are separated from their mother without explanation and under the most harrowing circumstances of their time. In 1938, six-year old Samuel Adler's mother ensures he is on the las......more

Goodreads review by Angela M on May 28, 2023

In two different times, in two different places, under different and horrible circumstances, two children are separated from their families - a young boy during the Holocaust, a little girl during the recent pandemic at the border. Allende beautifully brings them together, when the boy is now an eld......more

Goodreads review by Karen on May 06, 2023

Yikes! I was expecting to love this as I love Allende’s writing .. but this did not hit the mark for me. Too bad.. beautiful title and cover… Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine for the Arc!......more


Quotes

“[An] homage to parents who make unthinkable decisions to save their little ones, and to kids who survive some of the toughest challenges imaginable.”—Associated Press

“This beloved author transports us to two dark periods in history: Nazi-overrun Vienna in 1938 and the current dire situation at the border between the United States and Mexico. . . . Both stories are rich enough to carry the weight of one novel, but Allende expertly intertwines them. Employing her signature touch of magical realism, she wraps us in a compassionate story that reminds us ‘we could all just as easily find ourselves in similar situations.’”The Washington Post

“Allende’s artistry shapes a lyrical romanticism around social political history and global turmoil . . . [Her dialogue is] current, relevant and real. Our civic discourse is centered by a multitude of voices talking about two things—immigration and identity—who belongs and who doesn't, and how to care for the dispossessed. In Allende’s version healing is possible, because empathy is a hopeful, albeit inconsistent, follower of migration.”—NPR
 
“[Allende is] the queen of magic realism.”—BBC

“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. Beautiful and moving . . . draws parallels between humanitarian crises in different times and places in a way that feels deeply personal.”Book Riot

The Wind Knows My Name is a treat for fans of Kristin Hannah, Christina Baker Kline, and Julia Alvarez, all authors who understand that history always affects current events.”Virtuoso, The Magazine

“Allende is always a must read and readers will queue for her latest mix of history, suspense, emotional insight, social commentary, mysticism, wit, and tenderness.”Booklist

“Powerful . . . Allende finds real depth in her characters, especially when portraying their sacrifices. This authentic and emotionally harrowing work is a triumphant return to form.”Publishers Weekly (starred review)