Historical fiction, especially Holocaust fiction, is my go-to read so there was no hesitation in requesting The Forgotten Names. On paper it seemed like another interesting read, the oral narrative of the children who were evacuated from Lyon to escape The Butcher of Lyon.

For me though there was something about the novel that just didn’t grab me. In fact at times, I felt like I was reading an academic text rather than a fictionalised account of a true story.

The research is extensive, but I just could not take to the story. At times I felt like it was reading lists, and it was difficult to follow with lots of people in it from both sides of the story: the nazi sympathisers and the resistance.

For me therefore it’s a two star read and just goes to show that not every novel has the same effect on all its readers.

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

I gave the book a 4 for bringing this story to light. It is difficult enough to read a book where Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, is in his “element,” hunting and killing every Jew he can, but here we have a story of children. I was unfamiliar with this particular effort (highly successful) by the French Resistance. Children whose parents consented to give them up so that they might survive the Holocaust. Resistance Workers who put their own lives on the line to save the children. Valérie arrives in Lyon in 1992 five years after Klaus has been found guilty of war crimes to write her thesis on him only to be given a box with 108 names. Who were they? What had happened to them? Remember, the Americans seized Barbie and used him for counterintelligence and then sent him and his family to Bolivia to live freely. He was found and sent back to France where he refused to admit guilt. But I digress.

Valérie changes her thesis topic and begins the laborious process of finding the 108 names and the events that brought the children to safety. She befriends locals who know of the resistance movements with regards to these children. The story Escobar tells is lacking something. Maybe it is the writing process. Valérie is not a fictional character so it’s not that. Maybe I expected to see the names of the children who were saved. I wanted more of a connection with the book so maybe I’m the problem.

I wasn’t sure about this book, but I am glad I read it. This book pulled at my emotions throughout the story. The characters are well written to the point you can visualize what they are going through although there were at times too many characters to keep up with. The chapters were short which made them easy to follow. The book alternates between 1942 and 1992 and I will say I was more interested in the 1942 parts than the 1992 parts.

The subject matter of this book, about a real-life group of resistance fighters in France who risked their lives to save over one hundred children from certain death at the hands of the Nazis, is moving and inspirational.
The actual story, however, didn’t come across as compelling as one (or at least I) might have expected. It took a little while to get into it, and I found it a bit difficult to keep up with all the different characters.
Thanks to #netgalley and #harpermuse for this #arc of #theforgottennames in exchange for an honest review.

Another great historical fiction for my shelf! I'm not a big fan of the novels that go back in time to tell a story. I prefer the first person narrative in the 1940's timeline but it was still enjoyable to read. It told an important story about the children that endured so much during this time. I would recommend!

The Forgotten Names recounts the little known story of the rescue of 108 Jewish children from an internment camp in Lyon, France. Utilizing a French Vichy law preventing the transport of unaccompanied minors out of France, the novel tells of the efforts to save the children by asking their parents to sign away their parental rights. The kids were then spirited away, and in a race against time, secreted to willing families across Vichy France. The novels also tells of the modern day efforts of Valerie Portheret, who researched the wartime archives so as to be able to give those children back their real names.

This was a well written novel, and the story kept me reading. I have only two minor complaints. The first is that the short chapters made the narrative a bit choppy at times, and it was at times annoying. The other is that so many characters get introduced in such a short period of time that I got confused. Nonetheless, I found The Forgotten Names to be a gripping read.

My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of the novel.

Gut wrenching, heartbreaking, utterly engrossing, The Forgotten Names tells the amazing, courageous story of 108 children destined for murder in a concentration who escape their fate. It starts in Lyon, France, where Klaus Barbie is tasked with deporting a certain number of French Jews to Germany, there to be incarcerated in "work camps". Among that targeted families are many children, who are theoretically exempt from deportation, but the collaborating French authorities can't meet Klaus's goal without deporting the children. This is the story of how those children manage to survive.

The story is told in the present day through the research of Valérie Portheret, a law student, and in the past through the stories of the families and the children. As Valerie does her research she is so taken by what she learns that she abandons a law career, determined instead to find out what happened to those children. Where are they now? How were they saved? This is their story, and the story of the many people who risked their lives to ensure that these children survived. Comprehensive historical notes are included, which enhances their story even more. Truly an amazing story!

An unforgettable story
Five years after the trial of Klaus Barbie, Valerie, a student, decides to do her doctoral thesis on him. She changed her mind during her search when she met with holocausts survivors who told her about the 108 children who disappeared from Venissieux during the occupation of France.
This is a very emotional story that shows that some people were trapped in a job that they didn’t want to do but still managed to help where they could, at great risk to their own lives. The Germans had as a rule that all children had to be on the transport. The French found the loophole that unaccompanied minors would be exempt. The only way to accomplish this, parents had to sign away their parental rights. Not an easy thing to do for either the person asking or the parent. Some parents refused which is understandable, who can better safeguard a child than its parent right? Too bad in this circumstance that was far from the truth. Most children accompanied by a parent never made it out the concentration camp alive.
Some parents even risked the whole operation by trying to pull the child out once the whole operation had started. The risk the resistance people took was great. If caught it surely would mean torture and dead. We see the involvement of a catholic priest and nuns trying their upmost for these children to find good homes outside the immediate area. Farms tend to be an excellent choice. Generally, not a close neighbor and plenty of hiding places. I highly recommend this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Forgotten Names" and all opinions expressed are my own. I listened to the audiobook. This was interesting and I think for me better listening to it. I like to know more about history and historical times. Overall I liked the book and the narrator was good.

I rarely read books about WWII and the Holocaust. This one was an exception. It was about the Jewish children in France who were in danger of being exterminated by the Germans. The book is written from the perspective of someone researching this topic in 1992, fifty years after this devastating event. The book outlines the individual and group heroism of people trying to save these innocents. Recommend the book highly.

Ultimate Sacrifice

Mario Escobar is an excellent author of WWII historical fiction. This is one of those stories he writes. They are all so sad, but they reflect the history as it happened with true events and times as can be in fiction writings. True historical fiction always has some real people and events intertwined with fictional characters and happenings.

This story is of an event which is not so well known but was horrific in its entirety. As the Nazi’s rounded up the foreign Jewish population in France, a town called Lyon resisted. A group of resistance and some catholic priests risked their lives to save 108 Jewish children from certain death.

At the time the Nazi’s were allowing any unattended child to be exempt from the transport to the German Concentration camps. The resistance workers worked well into the night to find all the parents and children in the Venissieux transfer camp. The then had to talk the parents into signing over their parental rights so they could save their children. This was the ultimate sacrifice for these parents. Lose their children forever to save their lives.

Fifty years later a university student Valerie Portheret decides to do her thesis on the life and death of Klaus Barbie “The Butcher of Lyon”. As she is researching and talking to survivors of the war during the holocaust she hears the story of these children which were saved and decides to find every one of these lost children.

It is a sad story, but one which needs to be told. We hear of the horrible deeds of the Nazi’s but not as much of the courageous people who risked their lives to save some of the Jewish population. Many turned their eyes away and some helped the Nazi’s, but there were those few brave souls that knew what was right, moral and saved those they could.

This is the story of the 108 children that were saved in one night from certain death , the people that saved them and the student that was brave enough to tell their story.

Thanks to Mario Escobar for writing another great story, to Harper Muse for publishing it and to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to read and review.

The Forgotten Names by Mario Escobar
This is the 2nd book I've read by this author. I can't wait to read more. I really appreciate all of the research that goes in to his stories and the stories that he relays.

This is a dual timeline story which takes place mostly in 1942 France and 1992. This story tells about the many people it took to try and save Jewish children that were supposed to be deported to Germany. So many risked their lives to do what they could to save as many as they could.

It is so hard to imagine what the people in this story had to go through. What the parents had to go through and what the children had to go through. I highly recommend reading this story.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and so glad I was able to read it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This is non-fiction, based on the true story of Valérie Portheret. In 1992, Portheret began writing her thesis on the infamous Nazi, Klaus Barbie. Barbie had been living in Bolivia, and was tracked down in 1972. In 1983, Bolivia extradited him to France to stand trial. Although previously tried in absentia and sentenced to death, Barbie again went to trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes against humanity, and died in prison in 1991. While doing research, Portheret learns of the story of 108 Jewish children who were smuggled out of a nearby French camp literally minutes before their scheduled deportation, and certain death, to a German camp. Barbie is furious, and vows to hunt down not only the children but all those involved in the escape. As the rescuers know Barbie will stop at nothing, they realize they have less than 24 hours to place these children in homes. Portheret spends the next 25 years searching for these children who were given new names and lives, in order to reunite them with their heritages.

The writing of each chapter is clear and concise, but the chapters are very short. As soon as I learned some names, we were off somewhere else and it was hard to keep track of all the people, places and organizations. The author does a very good job of portraying the heartbreaking decision that faced the parents of these children. In order to make the plan work, they needed to relinquish parental rights. Hearing their arguments for and against was gut wrenching, and this is an emotional read. The book focused primarily on the event, and only a little of the aftermath of that night and there isn’t much in the way of follow-up. I want to believe that these children survived, found their heritage, may have been reunited with family and lived the best lives they could, so I was a bit disappointed at the abrupt conclusion.

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I like to read stories that are set in the WWII period, so when I saw this one I had to read it. It is my first book by this author and it won't be my last.
Narrated across two timelines, this true story is both heart-wrenching and engrossing. It skillfully captures our attention and compels us to read on. The narrative transports us to a time when Klaus Barbie, the infamous German officer, tyrannically controlled Lyon, France, and resorted to torture without hesitation. The graphic scenes are vivid and impactful. Naturally, this is not an easy read; the persecution of the Jewish community and the wrenching separation of children from their parents to save them is profoundly moving.
While the dialogue is fictionalized and the chronology might occasionally seem disjointed, the characters are based on real individuals, and the events are thoroughly documented. For those who are not fans of non-linear storytelling, the occasional shifts do not disrupt the narrative's rhythm. The chapters are concise, and the storytelling is dynamic. "The Forgotten Names" is eloquently composed and executed.
I extend my gratitude to Harper Muse for providing this digital ARC through Netgalley.

1992: Valerie Portheret is working on her thesis and intends to write about “The Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbie, who was head of the Gestapo in Vichy, France during their occupation in WWII. Though she knows, his story is morbid and filled with terror and worth remembering if only to insure it never repeats itself, she finds herself drawn the stories of 108 innocent Jewish children who were saved from deportation to Germany one fateful night instead. These children were all given new names and identities and in a matter of hours saved from certain death in concentration camps. Across twenty-five years, one by one, Valerie finds the children to hear their stories, and in some cases inform them of their true identities.

Told in a series of flashbacks to the French resistance members who helped save these children and Klaus Barbie’s own memories as he hunted them across France, we learn about the dangers these men and women encountered to save innocent lives. The details of Barbie’s horrendous acts are hard to hear, but as this story is based on truth, it it’s important to listen. Escobar obviously took great care in his research for this novel, and after several chapters I finally had a handle on the many characters he includes. I’m unsure if it’s because of translation, or if he simply likes to jump right into a story, but I felt there could have been a bit more background on the resistance members to help keep them straight. Once again Saskia Maarleveld does an outstanding job narrating; I could listen to her voice all day.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins Focus, and author Mario Escobar for the advanced copy of the audiobook. The Forgotten Names is out now! All opinions are my own.

Everything Mario Escobar writes, I buy. He’s a remarkable author and a gem for the historical fiction genre. I loved this newest book for its profound wisdom, plethora of information, and format (short chapters, multiple POV, dual timeline). I immediately started annotating and never stopped. Additionally, his ability to describe the pain and agony of mothers surrendering their children is almost unmatched.

All that being said, I do think it’s important to note some drawbacks. For one, the writing is often dry and stilted, reading like a thesis more than a novel. Furthermore, while I’m all for multiple POVs, there were a bit too many, which could easily lead to confusion and a lack of connection to the characters. For the most part, they all end up connecting, but some of them felt rather superfluous despite their beautiful stories. Finally, as the book went on, there were often entire paragraphs in which every sentence is just restating the one before it in another way. So though this book is worth reading, these detractors might mean it doesn’t resonate with the masses.

Truly, this novel must have been an incredible undertaking, and I’m so glad to have read it.

For more reviews and bookish posts visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

The Forgotten Names by Mario Escobar is a historical fiction story of a woman who is trying to find the original names of Jewish Children in France who were hidden from the Nazis. Mr. Escobar is a historian, a published best-selling author, a writer, and a director of an NGO.

Valérie Portheret, a French law student, is writing her thesis on the notorious Nazi, Klaus Barbie (the Butcher of Lyon). During her research, Valérie finds a list of 108 names. Investigating further she finds that those are names of Jewish children who smuggled from under the nose of the Nazi occupying regime, giving them new names and hiding them in plain sight.

Valérie takes on a new mission, to find these kids, if they’re still alive, and gift them their old name. As a historian, she also wants to hear their stories.

The Forgotten Names by Mario Escobar tells two true stories, that of the operation to save 108 Jewish children during World War II, and that of a French student researching the operation in 1992. I have read several books, fiction, and non-fiction on this subject. Several of the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, whose residents banded together to save as many of their countrymen as they could.

The Night of Venissieux, the efforts of about 500 French citizens to save 100 or so Jewish children from deportation to Lyon is now well documented. The senior Catholic clergy in Lyon, Archbishop Pierre-Marie Gerlier, supported this effort which was headed by Father Alexandre Glasberg. Mr. Glasberg was posthumously awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in recognition of his work saving hundreds of Jews in Vichy France during World War II.

Mr. Escobar took an inspiring story and wrote a powerful book about it. He looks evil in the eye, and what makes good people stand up to it. Even those who were ideologically anti-Semites, could not stand by.

This was not a simple operation; it took sacrifices by everyone involved. Not the least from the parents who were asked to give up their children and put the rescuers in mortal danger. This is a short book, but dramatic, well-written, and extremely interesting. I will certainly put Mario Escobar on authors whose books I’m going to be looking out for, unfortunately my Spanish is not good enough to read the ones I eyed on his website.

"What have we done to deserve this?"

Valerie Portheret, a doctoral student in France chose to write her thesis about the "Butcher of Lyon", Klaus Barbie. In 1992 it has been five years since his Nazi war trial. She stumbled upon a paper with a list of unexplained names. That rare list caused her to change her mind which switched her to a twenty-five-year search for 108 children who were rescued from the Venissieux camp in August 1942.
Mario Escobar writes well researched historical novels based on true events. This translation of his story focuses on the fact that Jewish parents, mainly mothers who allowed their children to be taken by rescuers who changed the young one's identities to save their lives. Valerie was able to track down adults who in general didn't know their true names or backgrounds.
I received a copy of this book from the author, Harper Muse and NetGalley and this is my own unsolicited opinion of it. The stories, the truths, of the Nazi Holocaust has been a part of history that deeply touched me from my Junior High days forward.
The book is written in two time periods. the 1992 Portheret portion and the 1942 desperate rescue of children saved from deportation to Germany and execution. It also touches upon the cooperation of the French government with the Nazi's in a misguided belief that it would make things better for citizens. There are definitely some intense 'scenes' in the story. The characters devotion to rescuing the children add such emotion to the story. I just can't imagine how horrible it really felt to know that lives were in their hands. Many children and parents from the camp were lost.
There are a few possible triggers, imprisonment, rape and torture are mentioned but handled with a writer's care, nothing graphic.
Stories need to be told. An evil criminal like Barbie, his name became famous, but his victims became faceless statistics. Valerie Potheret saw to it that some names weren't totally forgotten.
I liked reading this book, despite understanding yet again the tremendous losses. It's not perfect but I certainly got the importance of the story.

Told in two time frames, this book chronicles the way some Jewish children were given up so that they could escape the Nazis, as well as a woman in the 1990s coming upon a list of names while preparing to do her thesis.

This was a story that I very much wanted to read. So much is left out of the history books that are taught in school. It was interesting to read about the children being found, and connected to their names. I believe everybody should read this story. I also believe that all of our history should be embraced and remembered so that hopefully it will not be repeated, especially the bad parts. This is a new to me author, but I will definitely be looking for more of his works.


I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.