Book review What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

In today’s edition book blogger Kimberly Foreman reviews a highly rated novel just in time to get people reading ahead of the Gibraltar Literary Festival.

Genre: Historical fiction / romance / time-slip fiction

To get you in the mood for the long-awaited Gibraltar Literary Festival next week, I’m bringing you a wonderful novel by the lovely Amy Harmon – What the Wind Knows. It has a rating of 4.36 (out of 5) on Goodreads. If you use Goodreads, you’ll know this is an incredibly high score. I predicted this book was going to be something special—and oh, how I was right!

Anne Gallagher is devastated when her beloved grandfather Eoin passes away. Determined to fulfil his dying wish, she takes his ashes to his childhood home in Ireland. But as Anne scatters his ashes over Lough Gill, a strange thing happens… a peculiar fog rolls in, enveloping Anne in its grey swirls.

Suddenly, Anne finds herself transported to 1921, and so the magic begins! In 1921, Eoin is still very much alive—just a young boy, and Ireland is on the brink of civil war. Tensions run high…

Anne gets sucked into this new world when she gets to know Dr Thomas Smith. She starts to develop feelings for the dashing doctor, but Anne has to make a life-changing decision—to stay in 1921 where she doesn’t belong or return to 2001 and risk losing her Thomas.

These Irish poems and Irish words spoke to me, tugged at something deep inside me (maybe it’s the part-Irish blood in me), no... but more than that, it’s the way Harmon writes so eloquently of a bygone era, one where women wear flowers in their hats and men are chivalrous and gentlemanly. I just fell in love with the characters and the atmospheric setting. Harmon’s style of writing is beautiful and elegant—the way she describes a war-torn Ireland and the characters’ emotions.

“Don’t go near the water, love.
Stay away from strand or sea.
You cannot walk on water, love.
The lough will take you far from me.”

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