What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon – 416 pages

Book Blurb:

Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.
The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.
As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?

My Review: 4.5 stars

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What the Wind Knows was high on my list after reading her amazing 2016 release, From Sand and Ash. Harmon is a marvelous storyteller and excels in historical fiction. Her books usually offer romance and this one had the added bonus of some time-travel.

I read this last year and gave my book to mom, who gave it my sister and somehow, during that time, I forgot to review it. This review comes quite belatedly. I remember loving the Irish history during the early 1920s and how impressive Harmon’s research was. The love story was beautiful and I found myself dog-earring many quotes as I was reading. I think the use of the first-person point of view worked quite well.

The author used many real people in the book that led to quite a bit of googling. And interestingly, the book was based on her great-grandfather’s stories from Ireland, (obviously not the time travel part). I remember picking this up this at a time when I had been in a reading slump and this was the book that snapped me out of it! Great book for historical fiction fans with a twist.

Quotes I liked:

My grandfather told me once that happiness is an expression of gratitude. And it’s never wrong to be grateful.”

“It is one thing to fight for freedom; it is another to condemn the innocent to die in your war.”

“We turn memories into stories, and if we don’t, we lose them. If the stories are gone, then the people are gone too.”