May in the Park - The Wind Knows My Name

This month we will read "The Wind Knows my Name" by Isabel Allende and then get together to discuss in the park.

Potluck We will make this a potluck event - bring a dish to share (finger foods or if you prefer something else, please also bring plastic wear/plates etc.) Also plan on bringing a camp chair. Note if it’s raining, we can still meet and will gather under a large, covered area with open sides.

Event Fee: I have started collecting a suggested amount of $3 per person at each event. This helps offset the meetup fees charged to me as the organizer, now nearly $400 a year. Thanks to all who have donated in the past.

A reminder about RSVP'ing: Please be considerate to others and don't hold a spot if you are not sure about attending, as changing to a no last minute does not allow people on the waiting list enough time to read the book. I will give priority to regular members with a good attendance record.

*** The Wind Knows my Name - Isabel Allende: 272 pages
(Amazon Rating 4.3, Goodreads 4)

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.