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Dorothy A. Winsor writes young adult and middle grade fantasy. Her novels include Finders Keepers (Zharmae, 2015), Deep as a Tomb (Loose Leave Publishing, 2016), and The Wind Reader (Inspired Quill, 2018). At one time, Winsor taught technical writing at Iowa State University and GMI Engineering & Management Institute (now Kettering). She then discovered that writing fiction is much more fun and has never looked back. If you visit Winsor's blog at dawinsor (dot) com and sign up for her newsletter, she'll send you a free short story.
Reviewed by Liz Konkel for Readers' Favorite
The Wind Reader by Dorothy A. Winsor is the harrowing journey of a boy trying to get home. The whole trip was Doniver's idea and was meant to be an exciting opportunity for their family. But one sick sailor later, Doniver is left alone far from home and grieving the loss of his father. Struggling to survive on his own and find a way home, he befriends street kids Jarka and Dilly who take him under their wings. Jarka has a talent for telling fortunes by reading the wind and teaches Doniver how to fake fortunes to earn enough to survive. When one of his predictions is accurate, he's taken into the castle and the prince pushes him to read the wind to uncover the danger against the king. Doniver struggles to find a way home and keep his secret as he gets in too deep trying to prevent the assassination of the king.
Dorothy A. Winsor creates a gritty reality for Doniver as he goes from being a farm boy to living on the streets, which tests his honor and what he's willing to do to survive. Though never getting overly detailed, Winsor captures the gritty and rough decisions these kids face daily, not shying away from the conditions they deal with. The two friends he makes are the reason he survives on the streets and they become his support system. Dilly connects with him through their common desperation to return home and she's the one to first form a bond with him. Through her character, Winsor explores different dangers Dilly faces as a girl living on the street versus what Jarka and Doniver experience. Dilly has a strong personality, never afraid to call out her two friends when they need to hear it, and facing her fears with honest bravery. Jarka is the one who teaches him how to tell fake fortunes as a means to survive and thus sparking Doniver into the situation with the Royals. His desire not to lie conflicts often with Jarka, who lies all the time, and the two often find themselves at odds but the friendship between them is genuine. Jarka and Dilly are two people with nothing to give but they give Doniver everything they can.
The Wind Reader is a story of deception, honor, home, and survival with characters that do what it takes to survive in a struggle to maintain hope and humanity. His two friends give Doniver a family thus causing him to become torn between his friends who are struggling and his family, which shows the genuineness of his character and the honest integrity he has. Doniver is constantly driven by his need to return home and the unknown reality waiting for him if he does. The Wind Reader is an amazing story of hope and survival with themes of politics and a dose of magic woven in.
