Remember Me: Book Review

Review at a Glance

• Remember Me
• My Rating: 4
• Genre: Historical Fiction
• Format: ARC*
• Publication Date: September 15, 2020
• Author: Mario Escobar

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Book Blurb

Amid the shadows of war, one family faces an impossible choice that will change their lives forever.

Madrid, 1934. Though the Spanish Civil War has not yet begun, the streets of Madrid have become dangerous for thirteen-year-old Marco Alcalde and his younger sisters, Isabel and Ana. When Marco’s parents align themselves against General Franco and his fascist regime, they have no inkling that their ideals will endanger them and everyone they love—nor do they predict the violence that is to come.

When the Mexican government promises protection to the imperiled children of Spain, the Alcaldes do what they believe is best: send their children, unaccompanied, across the ocean to the city of Morelia—a place they’ve never seen or imagined. Marco promises to look after his sisters in Mexico until their family can be reunited in Spain, but what ensues is a harrowing journey and a series of heartbreaking events. As the growing children work to care for themselves and each other, they feel their sense of home, family, and identity slipping further and further away. And as their memories of Spain fade and the news from abroad grows more grim, they begin to wonder if they will ever see their parents again or the glittering streets of the home they once loved.

Based upon the true stories of the Children of Morelia, Mario Escobar’s Remember Me—now available for the first time in English—explores the agony of war and paints a poignant portrait of one family’s sacrificial love and endurance.

AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE | INDIEBOUND

My Thoughts

Remember Me is a stunning novel about the families torn apart during the Spanish civil war and the refugee children forced to flee to Mexico without their parents.

These children were known as the Children of Morelia, which I confess, I did not know anything about. They were forced to flee their war torn homeland only to seek refuge in a country that their own ancestors had previously oppressed through the Spanish Empire. Still feeling the pain of imperialism, it’s not difficult to imagine the children were not entirely welcome in their new homeland.

The breadth of emotion dealt with in Remember Me is staggering. Not just the trials of war, the uncertainty and fear of starting a new life in a foreign country, but of the agony of separating a child from its parents.

I personally can’t imagine giving up my children and the pain of this separation reverberates through the novel. You can hear its echoes through every page, in every twist and turn within the story. The wound continues to hurt even as they attempt to live in spite of it.

I thought it was particularly clever for Mario Escobar’s storytelling to mature with the children. I felt like as the characters grew so did the complexity of their thoughts and the readers ability to understand the subtilties of their situations.

Escobar showed the starkness of the children’s realities through his writing. He does not sugar coat the realities of war and being a refugee, but instead tells their story with brutal honesty.

This wasn’t an easy read, but it was beautiful and captivating. Definitely recommend to any historical fiction fan.

*Special thanks to Mario Escobar, HFVBT, and Thomas Nelson for providing a copy of Remember Me in exchange for an honest review.