REVIEW: What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

Sandy M’s review of What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon
Historical Fiction Time Travel audiobook published by Audible 01 Mar 19

When my friend and I, on our way to Colorado, decided to listen to this audiobook, I didn’t have much hope for it, because we had just finished listening to a Nora Roberts book. For me, any book that follows Nora Roberts usually doesn’t stand much of a chance. And because I had never read/listened to Amy Harmon before, I really had my doubts.

I’m happy to say, however, Ms. Harmon is on my very short list of authors who have no problem measuring up to the Queen of Romance.

Ann Gallagher has been raised by her grandfather, Owen. At the beginning of this story, Owen is coming to the end of his life and has extracted a promise from Ann to see his ashes taken back home to Ireland. He requests a couple of cryptic things from her, and then with her broken heart, she finds herself in the land of her ancestors where her life will take on a very unexpected and different direction.

Learning about her grandfather as a young boy gives her some peace, as does the family history she gleans from those who still live in his small village and those who know their genealogy as well as hers. Then comes the time when she rows herself to the middle of the loch to respect Owen’s last wishes, and she suddenly finds herself in a very dangerous situation in a very different time than her own.

As Ann comes to terms with her new life, she gets to know those who came before her in real time instead of word of mouth. It is assumed, because she looks so much like Owen’s mother, that she is, indeed, that woman who has returned from the dead during 1920’s Ireland’s battle to free itself from British rule.

And that’s as far as I’m going to go with this review. This book is one every historical fiction and romance reader should pick up for themselves. Between trying not to change the future, dealing with those people and situations she knows from her history, and finding the love of her life, you are kept on the edge of your seat, trying to figure out if it was all meant to be and will Ann stay in the past for the rest of her life.

I will be listening to this book again, only because listening to it in the car on a long trip, I am sure I missed a few things here and there. So I know I will discern those things and more on a second go-round. And I look forward to it, revisiting Ann and Owen on a spectacularly adventurous journey. One of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to.

Grade: A+

Summary:

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?

No excerpt available.