My Heart Remembers

Because I am a stay-at-home mom, I am rarely away from my children. This past March, I went on a brief trip with my husband while the kids stayed with their grandparents. As we approached the beginning of the trip, I started to worry. My thought process went something like this…

What if something happens to both of us? What if we are in a car wreck? What if our plane crashes?

And so on.

I am sure I am not the first mom to have these thoughts before leaving her babies. Thankfully, we live in an age in which these tragedies happen rarely. We are not too far removed, however, from a time when children frequently lost parents to accidents, diseases, fires, and other disasters; these children were left with no family members to care for them.

In her latest novel, My Heart Remembers, Kim Vogel Sawyer writes about the orphan train children from the later part of the 1800s and early 1900s. These children, usually orphans from cities in the east, were sent west by train to families and individuals willing to adopt. There were over 150,000 orphan train children, including a young girl who eventually became the author’s grandmother.

My Heart Remembers is the fictional tale of three siblings who ride the orphan train to Missouri. After they arrive, they are separated from each other and taken by different families. Maelle, Mattie, and Molly grow up in vastly different circumstances, but Maelle never forgets her siblings and vows that they will be together one day.

Kim Vogel Sawyer weaves the lives of the three siblings together in a way that not only exposes the plight of children during this era, but also explores the hope that remains in the midst of difficulty. It is a touching story that will remind you to cherish your children and to thank God for the providence and care he provides, regardless of the circumstances.

You can read an excerpt from this wonderful book here; and you can win my personal copy by leaving a comment on the My Heart Remembers post at my blog, Baseballs and Bows.

In addition to reviewing books, Lauren blogs about her daily life at Baseballs and Bows.