Review: What the Wind Knows

Title:  What the Wind Knows

Author: Amy Harmon

Publisher: 1st March 2019 by Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 416 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: women fiction, historical fiction, romance

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

In an unforgettable love story, a woman’s impossible journey through the ages could change everything…

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 Thoughts

Amy Harmon has a new book out! Sign me up! Amy is one of those buy without knowing authors, as her writing is so lyrical and you are always guaranteed to be swept away. ‘What the Wind Knows’ is a wonderful tale of Ireland during the 1920s.

‘I’d often wondered, absorbed in piles of research, if the magic of history would be lost if we could go back and live it. Did we varnish the past and make heroes of average men and imagine beauty and valor where there was only dirge and desperation? Or like the old man looking back on his youth, remembering only the things he’d seen, did the angle of our gaze sometimes cause us to miss the bigger picture?’

The novel was well researched on so many aspects, everything from the clothing worn, to the political unrest, all adding to its authenticity. There are a number of really interesting aspects to this book: the mythical story of Niamh and Oisin, excerpts from Yeats poems, key moments of the Irish Revolution, cameo’s by Michael Collins’ and his fight for freedom and finally, a timeless love story of Anne and Thomas. Bound to be something for any history lover in this book.

What I did find, however, was the balance was not quite right for me between all these aspects. There is a lot of history in this book and sometimes it is to the detriment of the more personal aspects, such as the love story. I would have preferred to learn more of the story between Anne and Thomas. Amy makes a valiant effort to link the history to the people ie. through the inclusion of Michael Collins, but it does not quite fully gel. I feel like there were two distinct tales - one a history lesson the other a love story. So whilst I appreciate the amount of time and research that went into this book , I really wanted to learn even more about the characters, particularly Eoin who was so central but glossed over as an adult. I admittedly skimmed some parts which is shocking for an Amy Harmon book , yet I needed to be more invested in the personal tales that were being told and not the outright historical recount.

If you have never read an Amy Harmon book, I suggest you do (HERE) ... and soon. She has an incredible way with words and I will gladly read anything and everything she writes. This book is not one of my more favoured ones of hers, however that being said, I still loved it and would recommend to those who have a particular interest in Irish history. This is a well written tale with the added bonus of a beautiful, historical, time traveling romance.

“Shh,” I soothed. “’Tis just the wind.”

“What story is it trying to tell?” she murmured, her voice rough with spent emotion.

“The wind knows every story.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release