Kim Vogel Sawyer's My Heart Remembers~ Reviewed

My Heart Remembers
By Kim Vogel Sawyer
Published by Bethany House
ISBN 978-0-7642-0262-9

Back Cover:

United by blood, divided by time, will three orphan-train siblings ever find one another again?

Orphaned in a tenement fire, three Irish-immigrant children are sent to Missouri to be adopted. Despite eight-year-old Maelle's desperate attempts to keep her siblings together, each child is taken by a different family. Yet Maelle vows that she will never stop searching for her brother and sister—and they will be together one day in the future.

Seventeen years later, Maelle is still searching. But the years have washed away her hope...and her memories. What are Mattie and Molly doing now? Will she ever see her brother and sister again?

Review:

Sawyer's an artist with words and she paints an unforgettable tale in My Heart Remembers. One in which the characters truly do leap off the page and into your heart. I was hooked from the first sentence. I only learned about the orphan trains a couple of years ago and soon after discovered a friend's great uncle was an orphan on one. Fascinated, I also discovered not all the stories were happy ones.

Keeping true to history, Sawyer has penned a deeply moving tale of faith and love. And once again, she surprised me with plot twists I didn't see coming. Sawyer never writes the expected, but you can depend on what she does write being exactly right. Each sibling's story was different, each was poignant. I'm hoping there is a sequel because I didn't want this one to end. I've loved all Kim Vogel Sawyer's books, but to date, My Heart Remembers is my favorite. Novel Reviews and I give it our highest recommendation.

Reviewed by Ane Mulligan