"The Wind Knows My Name": Novelist Isabel Allende on Child Separation from the Nazis to U.S. Border

In an in-depth interview about her work, we speak with Isabel Allende, one of the world's most celebrated novelists, author of 26 books that have sold more than 77 million copies and have been translated into 42 languages. Her books include The House of the Spirits, Paula and Daughter of Fortune, and her latest novel is The Wind Knows My Name, which looks at the trauma of child-family separation, from Nazi Germany to the U.S.-Mexico border, and those on the frontlines helping migrant children. That idea of separating the kids is extremely cruel, but it keeps happening," Allende tells Democracy Now! The Chilean American author says the miracle of literature" is being able to instill compassion in readers who may otherwise see the stories of refugees as abstract numbers. It brings people close. By telling the story of one child, you can somehow connect with the reader and create that sense of empathy that is so often lacking."