The Wind Knows My Name: A Novel [B2273]

2023 HCDJ in Gift-Worthy condition. 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.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "So many amazing stories being told at once with an overarching theme about the inhumanity of families being separated. Amazing. I had never heard of the El Mozote massacre and it made me sick to read about, but I think it's so important to read books that teach about the heartbreaking things people have gone through. It helps you understand situations people have gone through and empathize with them.";

"Isabel Allende never fails to break my heart. Allende weaves together four different lives, spanning different periods across the last century, and brings them together in a heartbreakingly beautiful way. My mum grew up through the military coup against the democratically voted government in Chile initiated by the CIA, so parts of this story I feel hit quite close to home.";

"This novel is a fiction, but the stories of the people who have influenced it are as real as the metal bars that today hold and terrorize our communities. This novel will be very important in the years to come because it painstakingly details the inhumanity of this immigration system, the development of it, and the felt impact it has on those seeking safety. It bears witness to this moment in time which has been shaped by the pandemic and the Trump Era and will be a reliable source for those who will wonder what it was like for us to live through this moment."