I struggled with this emotive and heartrending story. While it was informative and well written the emotional tone was intense and heavy with anguish and tragedy. Combine that with the described abuse, neglect, senseless brutality, and unfathomable atrocities the powerless children and citizens suffered; and it is easily understood why I frequently needed to put my Kindle down and seek out something more pleasant before my heart ruptured.

I confess to being completely ignorant of this period of history as well as of the history of Spain in general. Although I do have a keen memory of seeing a picture of the ruthless dictator Franco while dressed in his resplendent uniform in my 5th grade elementary school textbook and wondering if he was part owner of the canned pasta company that made my Spaghettios. Apparently, history has never been my forte!

Amongst the heinous scenarios of corruption and unobstructed abuse at the hands of the religious figures and institutions set up for their care were gripping storylines that led to profoundly deep and insightful observations, inner musings, and revelations as experienced through the eyes of a young adolescent in untenable circumstances. These passages were written with thoughtful prose that was so poignant it was almost lyrical and caused me to read them several times while stealing my breath and burning my eyes and throat. Mario Escobar broke my heart - he has mad skills.

I have been reading a lot of books about WWll. This one is one of my favorites. I will definitely recommend it to our library patrons.

An enthralling but deeply disturbing read. I had not heard about the Children of Morelia but then again I only have a cursory knowledge of the Spanish Civil War. I cant imagine having my children go through this. Very aptly written. I highly, highly recommend but be prepared for a stab or two or three to your heart.

I picked this book up because I was moved by Children of the Stars and was hoping for something similar. And it is that, a fictionalized account of real history, and real history of roughly the same period.

In other words, I was expecting a story where fiction is the lie that tells the truth – in this case the truth about the very real children of Morelia, the nearly 500 children who were sent out of the Spanish Civil War to Mexico in the hopes that they would be safe.

There are all kinds of versions of safe, however. They were safe from the direct effects of the war – and its immediate aftermath. Many of the children were the sons and daughters of the left-leaning Popular Front government. Which was defeated by Franco and his right-leaning Nazi supported Nationalists. Who brutally suppressed the left after their victory. Which meant that their parents weren’t safe either during or after the war. The children weren’t exactly safe either – but neither were they being shelled.

The Spanish Civil War is often referred to as a dress rehearsal for World War II, as the countries who became the Allies supported the Republican government of the Popular Front, while the Axis supported the Nationalists.

And just as happened elsewhere before and even during that war, parents tried their best to keep their children safe – or at least as safe as possible. That meant that parents faced a terrible choice – to keep their children with them, to do their own best to keep them safe in a country that was the front for war, or to send them away in the hopes that they would be safer far from the battlefield.

The story in Remember Me is the story of those children sent to Mexico under the sponsorship of the Mexican government. And while the experiences of the children of Morelia were not as brutal as the Stein brothers endured in Children of the Stars as young Jewish orphans trekking across a Nazi-dominated Europe that hunted them in order to exterminate them, it was far indeed from the safety and security that their parents had hoped for.

Escape Rating B+: This is a hard book. It’s hard because what happens to the children of Morelia is both all too horrible and all too familiar. On the one hand, this was a history that I wasn’t familiar with in its particulars, although the outline of it is part of many stories that happened during the war, from the children of London shipped to the countryside to escape the Blitz to the Kindertransport that rescued 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany and other countries in the months prior to World War II to the Danish resistance movement’s evacuation of over 90% of the country’s Jewish population to Sweden.

But the rescue itself is only part of this particular story, which is wrapped in the particular circumstances in Spain during and after the Civil War, and of the conditions that the children faced in Mexico.

And quite probably elsewhere, because the story of what the children went through reads like a combination of Lord of the Flies with all the old sayings about power corrupting. Much of what happened read like it could be attributed to people who had power over the children while they were in Mexico either being venal or neglectful or having their own axe to grind. Or multiple axes, as Spanish colonial oppression was not that far in Mexico’s past that there weren’t people who wanted to punish the children for the sins of their figurative grandparents. There was also conflict with the Catholic Church that just added to the issues. Many of the children were secular, having been raised in left-leaning revolutionary families. The Catholic Church in Mexico was very powerful, and there was a fair amount of pious skullduggery involved, with children who still had parents being assigned as orphans to the Church.

The money that was intended to support the children was siphoned into multiple pockets, the people put in charge of the children had no idea how to take care of them, and the facility ended up being run by the bullies. Parts of that story, awful as they are – and they are awful – felt both sad and predictable.

Human beings often suck. While wartime may make some rise to the occasion, it also makes the sucky even suckier.

This is reading like a downer, and that feels appropriate. While it ends on a hopeful note, that didn’t feel like the tone for much of the story. And I’ll admit that I am not in a hopeful mood this week, and this was probably not the right book at the right time, as compellingly readable as it is. And it certainly is.

In the end, the book this reminded me of more than any other was not the author’s Children of the Stars but rather The Brothers of Auschwitz. While a bit of that is the period setting, it is mostly due to the way that both stories are unflinching in their look at a terrible history, and in their emphasis on the ongoing cost of that history to its surviving victims.

This book is about the Spanish Civil War, I found it hard at times to get into.

It is a super interesting subject.

I read and really liked Escobar’s prior novel, Children of the Stars, and looked forward to Remember Me. I was not disappointed. Both books are cautionary tales for our times.

Focused on Spain during and after the Civil War, this book, based on true stores, features three fictitious siblings who were part of The Children of Morelia, 450 or so Spanish youngsters evacuated to Mexico to escape the wartime conditions.

Well written (translated), engrossing, thought provoking, sad, scary. The atrocities that man visits upon man in the name of ideologies, although unimaginable, have occurred all too often in history. Yet, through it all, Escobar, as he does in his earlier novel, makes an entreaty for love and humanity.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for sending me a copy of this novel for review.

It would be much easier to grapple with this book if you have an idea of the Spanish Civil War. Else a reader may find himself groping in the dark and trying to work out who is fighting against whom and this may slow down the initial pace of the book.

Though the Spanish Civil War started in July 1936, the novel begins earlier in November 1934, when already trouble seems to be brewing. The home of the Alcade family is ransacked and the parents—active in the revolutionary movement and termed “reds”—are brutally treated. As the situation steadily gets worse, the parents take the painful and difficult decision to send Marco and his two younger sisters, Isabel and Ana, to Mexico.

In the summer of 1937, 460 children between the ages of four and seventeen made the crossing between Spain and Mexico under great duress and suffering to escape the ravages of the Spanish Civil War. Not all the children were sent to Mexico (where the wife of President Cárdenas was the driving force behind welcoming them in a strange land away from family and friends); parents, to safeguard their children sent them to the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France, to name a few countries, as a result of which several never returned home. At the end of the War, the ones who landed up in Morelia were neither Spanish nor Mexican, and felt they had no identity at all.

The description of the sea journey which Marco and his sisters make is tedious and fraught with danger especially in a brewing storm. The treatment meted out to children in Morelia was far from human or humane. There are scenes of torture and ill-treatment, a particularly damning one of a young boy being sexually abused by a priest. Though the children had more to eat than they would have had if they had remained in Spain, they still had to suffer hunger and even kidnapping. The children of the Alcade family are representative of all the children who were deprived of their parents and had to make life for themselves in a new country. Many of them did not return to their home country and continued to live in Mexico.

The parents also suffer vicious treatment in the hands of the Fascists. The description of the train journey and the appalling conditions at the camp are described in great detail. But yet, the novel is not a tale of unending woe. Marco does find a few moments of happiness when he meets Maria Soledad de la Cruz. Their teenage romance and courtship is delicately and sensitively described. There is even a bit of humour where the young Marco, a communist, is forced to attend mass in a catholic church to meet the girl of his dreams.

Marco’s character is well defined. He initially starts off thinking war is a grand game. At that relatively young age, he was not aware of the danger and the suffering that could be the result. He is forced to mature very soon. He ensures that he fulfils the promise which he makes to his mother to take care of his sisters. He is like a knight in shining armour when he single-mindedly searches and rescues his sisters when they disappear.

Though the novel is based on meticulous research, several bits seem to be a far-fetched and difficult to imagine. Some of the scenes are melodramatic especially towards the end and the author often depends on coincidence to a very great extent which tends to stretch the reader’s imagination.

Remember Me is a story of intense hope, extreme resilience, unbearable pain, invincible love and the separation of family during the Spanish Civil War. Mario Escobar has again written an emotional book based on real life experiences that took place in Madrid and Mexico from 1934-1941. It is based on true stories of individuals who lived during the Spanish Civil War. Escobar’s own family was in Spain during this time and you can feel the passion in his writing.

Historical fiction will always remain my favorite genre because it seems that every book I read I learn something new. Remember Me is about the Morelia children. Marco and his two sisters were three of the 500 Morelia children that were sent by boat from Spain to Mexico by request of the Mexican government. Parents sent their children alone to Mexico in order to protect them from one of the bloodiest wars fought on Spanish soil. Many of these children were orphans or became orphans never to see their parents again. The children were forced to live under a military like discipline never being hugged or loved.

“During war we fight to live even though life is unbearable.”

“We were fueled by the greatest strength a human being can experience: the invincible power of love.”

“Nothing is greater in this world than the gift of life.”

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Mario Escobar and Thomas Nelson for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This one is not to be missed. I will look forward to reading the next book that is written by Escobar, I have not been disappointed yet.

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

Frankly when I begin this book I wasn’t sure how well I was going to like it. I tend to be more of a reader of mysteries and thrillers. Knowing that this was a story based on real life experiences of people and really wasn’t what I considered a mystery or thriller, But I am so glad that I read it. It was fascinating and very moving and kept me totally engaged. Having been to Spain many times, the very first thing I did was get out the map to see where the locations were that were being described so I could orientate myself. Certainly the author did a very good job of painting the various bad situations that were encountered by this particular family. I was secretly distressed by the way the nuns and priests were described in the book. I know that they can be good or bad but there just wasn’t much good described. The author did a very good job also of handling some situations which were very distress.

I had hoped that the book would have more of a Christian emphasis. And that the family would encounter someone who could help them knowing more about God. It’s understandable that given the hard existence they had, turning to God would not be something they would naturally do. But I know that God has put people in our lives to be witnesses to us even in the toughest of times.

I would like to think the author and the publisher for my copy of this book. The thoughts in this review are my own.

Marco, Ana and Isabel Alcande are all children as the Spanish Civil War infiltrates Madrid in 1937.  Their father fights tirelessly against the fascist regime in an attempt to save lives, their culture and freedom.  Their mother, an actress, helps the fighters when she can, but places her family's safety first.  When the fighting gets too close. their mother makes the heartbreaking decision to send Marco, Ana and Isabel to Mexico.  Known as the Children of Morelia, the siblings join a transport of other young refugees to venture to the unknown land of Mexico.  The children are placed in desperate situations, away from the dangers of war, but exploited in other ways.  Through it all, Marco keeps his promise to his mother to keep his sisters safe and remember his homeland and parents. 

With heartfelt compassion, Remember Me, tells the very important story of the Children of Morelia.  I did not really know anything about the Spanish Civil War before reading this and especially did not realize how the outcome bled into allegiances for Spain during World War II. The story is told from Marco's point of view and quickly drew me into the scene with the dangers in Spain and the uncertainty of Mexico.  Escobar deftly recreates the stories from many actual survivors of the Spanish Civil War and Children of Morelia into one smooth storyline.  Most of all, Marco's story conveyed the emotional toll on the families and children at this time.  From attempting to understand the world at war around them, to their parents decision to send them away, to the uncertainty on the ship and in Mexico, to the gradual understanding of the way of the world around them and the joy of reunion, each moment was captured with an amazing and expressive style.  Overall, a sincere story about a very difficult time in history and the people who survived it. 
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley & Thomas Nelson for gifting me a copy of this book. These opinions are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars

“...I understood that suffering is our only lifelong, faithful friend. At every moment it reminds us we’re mortal and that around every corner we could lose all our happiness and long to curse the day we were born.”

This is the first book I’ve read about the Spanish Civil War. I’m going to be honest, I went into this knowing nothing about this time period in Spain’s history. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about The Spanish Civil War, the Children of Morelia, and Spain’s impact at the start of WWII. This was such a terrible time for Spanish citizens and I enjoyed that the story was written from the perspective of a child. The writing was well done (especially when you realize it’s been translated from Spanish), with enjoyable characters and heart wrenching realities that Spanish citizens faced both during and after the Civil War.

I wish there was a bit min more of the wars backstory given. The beginning of this book starts off with Madrid already in the middle of the civil war. Since I had no prior knowledge of this war, it was a bit confusing trying to puzzle out who was who, how it started, etc. This forced me to do my own research to help fully grasp what was going on (which I didn’t really mind). There were also a couple small moments that I questioned Mario’s decisions and wondered how realistic his decisions were.

I’m so glad that I picked this book up, I’d definitely like to learn more about this period of Spanish history.

But what did I just read? An amazing book! It is the story of Marco Alcalde, a boy who lived with his parents and sisters in Madrid, Spain. The conflicts in Spain are becoming more and more violent. Marco's mother fears for the safety of her children. So she makes the difficult decision to send her children away from Spain, to a faraway land, Mexico. Marco and his sisters, along with other children, board the Mexique ship that will take them to a new country and another reality. These children travel in the hope of returning to Spain as soon as the war is over. Nobody at that time could imagine that another war was coming. This book is a story that captivated me from the first page. The author describes in such detail the events and problems that happened in Spain. I did know that the president of Mexico of the time, Lázaro Cárdenas, had received Spanish children to save them from the atrocities of the Civil War. Thanks to this novel, I was able to learn more about the experiences that numerous persons lived during that time. This book made me feel joy, intrigue, concern for children, but above all, an immense curiosity to know what was going to happen next and how it was going to end. It is a fabulous book that I highly recommend for its enchanting narrative and precious contribution to today's literature. I thank NetGalley, and Thomas Nelson--FICTION for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I had very little background knowledge about the Spanish Civil War, and found this book intriguing as it expanded that knowledge. The book's dedication demonstrates the depth of the author's connection to the children and families impacted by this war. He writes with a strong first person voice that connected me as well. Children living in exile and removed from their parents; brothers and sisters struggling to remain together; adults who should be protectors being negligent, abusive, or both: these are the things that tug hard at the reader's heartstrings.

Mario Escobar is a very talented writer whose books I seek out. I highly recommend them to all who appreciate well-written, well-researched historical fiction built on themes that matter. I am grateful to have received a complementary copy of Remember Me from Thomas Nelson via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

First remember this book is historical friction but based on true facts happening at that time. After you finish the book take the time to read the notes at the end which gives you the actual facts and the literary liberties taken.
Reading the book I realize how little I knew about the Spanish revolution. The book was well written and is easy to read even with it been a difficult subject. Looking in from the outside it is easy to second guess or determine certain actions shouldn’t have been taken but then we don't know how we actual would proceed if put into that position. The story shows us love, hate, betrayal, desperation and many more at a time that we were very close to the start of World War II. Nothing could have been harder for a parent then to send their kids to a faraway foreign country. Not knowing if they ever will see them back..

I knew I just HAD to get a copy of Remember Me as soon as I saw that it was a Spanish Civil War novel. I've always had a special interest in Spain and its history, and I've studied the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath during my Uni years... I actually did hear of the Children Of Morelia already, although I had forgotten about the exact details and I thought this story would be the perfect way to refresh my memory as well as see those historical details combined into a historical fiction read. While I did end up having mixed feelings about this story, both the fact that it's based on historical events and its incorporation into the plot were probably the strongest element of this story.

Remember Me has multiple international settings as we follow Marco Alcalde and his sisters on their journey. It all starts in Madrid, a city that has a special place in my heart after having lived and studied there for eight months... The mentions of different places within that city brought back memories of my time there and really made the setting come alive for me. I also enjoyed reading about their journey and their time in Mexico, and I loved the fact that I was able to improve my knowledge about this part of Spanish history in general.

The descriptions of the historical situation and escalating violence and struggles during the Spanish Civil War set the right tone for what should have been an emotionally devastating and heartbreaking read. And here is where things went wrong for me... I can't deny that the events described and the struggles Marco and his family have to face are horrifying, and they do give you an accurate description of the hardships people had to face during and after the civil war. BUT. Sadly, I just couldn't find any real character development or personality in any of the main characters. I couldn't for the life of me describe any of the characters by their personality; it is as if they were just tools to describe what happened to the children of Morelia in general and they just lack any characteristics to make them feel unique and real. This made it extremely hard to connect to them and feel for their situation in particular. And I think that if I weren't so interested in anything related to the Spanish Civil War, I probably would have struggled to make it to the final page. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad read, but it feels more like a summary of the historical events related to the Children of Morelia rather than a historical fiction novel with properly developed characters and emotions. While I feel sad that I wasn't able to enjoy the story better, I'm still glad I read it for the things I learned about the Spanish Civil War alone though... So I guess Remember Me can go both ways for you depending on how much you care about properly developed and believable characters and/or if you prefer a focus on the historical details instead.

4.5 ⭐️’s
Happy Pub day to Remember Me 🎉

“That day I understood that people can be right and still lose; that courage is not enough to defeat evil; and that the strength of weapons destroys the soul of humanity”

This book had quite a few beautifully written sentences that had me sitting and thinking. The writing was just beautiful in this novel, even if the story itself was ugly and brutal.

I honestly couldn’t tell you a single thing about the Spanish Civil War before reading this novel. This is one of the many reasons I love historical fiction. History should continue to be discussed until the end of time. We have to learn from our ancestors actions and people who have walked the Earth before us in order to keep the horrors from repeating.

Marco, Isabel and Ana’s childhood broke my heart. I can’t imagine being their mother and making the choice to send them to Mexico in the hopes of keeping them safe from the war in Spain. Then for them to experience the atrocities that also happened to Spanish children in Mexico broke my heart. How people are capable of hurting children, I will never understand. Pure evil.

If you haven’t read a story surrounding the events of the Spanish Civil War, I suggest picking this one up for the views of the children’s journey. I would love to find another one that involves the actual war in Spain, if anyone has suggestions!

Thank you to @netgalley and @thomasnelson for the advanced copy for my honest review! It’s a wonderful book!

I’ve truly enjoyed sitting down to read Mario Escobar’s latest novel, Remember Me. This novel brings to light the unknown history of the children who lived through the Spanish Civil War. I think the Spanish Civil War has been often overlooked since it occurred after WWI and before and into WWII. Escobar has picked up this thread of history in order to create this work of fiction about a family that lived through the ravages of this period of time. This is a story that really stuck with me as I learned and experienced a wide range of emotions as I lived through what the children and families endured.

Remember Me focuses on what the Spanish children lived through before, during and after the civil war. The first third of the book dealt with the lead up to and the war in Spain. The second third was the story of how about 500 Spanish children were evacuated to Mexico (and this is where the story really picked up its pace). The final third of the story (my favorite part that I couldn’t put down) followed life in Spain after Franco assumed power.

Overall, I’m so thankful that I read this book and learned about a period of time in Spain I really knew nothing about. This was a well written and researched novel that I can recommend to historical fiction junkies like me!
Possible triggers: Suicide, abuse and wartime atrocities.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction, First Editions for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange my honest review.

This was a great piece of historical fiction focused on the Spanish Civil War, which I didn't know much about before reading this. The author captured the internal struggles of the children sent away due to the war and the frustration of them and their parents when World War II prevented them from returning for a long time.

I just spent most of yesterday and this morning reading Remember Me by Mario Escobar. I have read a few books about the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s but had never heard the story of the 500 children sent to Mexico known as the Morelia children. Imagine as a parent putting your children on an ocean liner in the mid 1930’s. On the trip, Marco, age, 13 and his two younger sisters Isabel and Ana make this journey. Their parents opposed Franco and sent the children for their safety. Separation, sea sickness, and a hurricane are part of their journey. Escobar did a lot of research as evidenced at the end of the book, and wrote a fictional account of this family based on stories of many orphans on the trip. These kids are exposed to many horrible situations before the trip, during their time in Mexico, and when they return to Spain. They also met with the kindness of many strangers. I learned so much about this moment in history, and I really appreciate Escobar’s attention to detail Thank you Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.