As a reader, I like to believe that authors have a higher calling in life. Some use their talents to whisk us away on tales of adventure and transport us to a place of newfound imagination and wonder. Then, there are writers who see the realities of our world and the stories that have taken place within our limited existence and gravitation. I've come to consider Mario Escobar an author who is able to read the chapters of our human history. Instead of seeing the individuals of our past as just phantoms of a world that is no more, Escobar sees the children of the stars, mirrors of the soul, an Auschwitz lullaby, and the stories that lay within the corners of our hearts.
As the Alcaldes children, Marco and his younger sisters Ana and Isabel, come to discover, war has impossible faces. The thrill of change first sparks the air with revelry and celebration until futures end on cold stone and young hearts beat no more. Blood seems to call for blood and people forget that we all hold the same red drops of life. When the Alcaldes family is forced to separate because of the civil unrest that propels Spain in 1934, Marco becomes the head of his family as he and his younger sisters make their way to a promised safe haven in Mexico to escape the Spanish Civil War. With the migration across towns, cities, and countries, home becomes an illusive word of fleeting childhood where Escobar chronicles the story inspired by the Children of Morelia.
This is a work that draws from the facets of the soul and allows us to go back to a past near to us and the faces who have blended with history. The surviving pictures of the Children of Morelia reflect eyes which tell stories of innocent lives that sought refuge from war. Their names, histories, families, or ensuing existence in the aftermath of the war are collected stories on yellowed pages.
Still, their lives whisper: Remember Me.
About the Book
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.
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About Mario Escobar
Mario Escobar Golderos (Madrid, Spain) has a degree in History, with an advanced studies diploma in Modern History. He has written numerous books and articles about the Inquisition, the Protestant Reformation, and religious sects. He is directs the magazine Nueva historia para el debate, in addition to being a contributing columnist in various publications. Passionate about history and its mysteries, Escobar has delved into the depths of church history, the different sectarian groups that have struggled therein, and the discovery and colonization of the Americas. He specializes in the lives of unorthodox Spaniards and Americans. Books.
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