Customer Reviews

My Heart Remembers

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is the first book by Ms. Sawyer that I've read, but by the end of the first chapter I'd become a fan.

"My Heart Remembers" is the story of three Irish-immigrant siblings, orphaned in a tenement fire. After traveling on an orphan-train to Missouri, they find themselves split up, taken by three different families. Maelle, the oldest at eight years old, vows to find her brother and sister one day. But time stretches on, and though her promise burns within her, hope grows dim.

Ms. Sawyer weaves a beautiful story. It's a tapestry of heartache, joy, hope, pain, faith and love. As we follow the paths of the now-grown children, we see how even in the midst of trouble, they have never been alone. And out of their pain, God creates something precious and meaningful.

Not many books bring me to tears, but by the last chapter, that's where I was. I highly recommend this moving, lovely book. Long after you read the last line, your heart will remember the Gallagher children and Kim Vogel Sawyer.

I like to read, but when I read this book in two nights I knew it was a winner. When I was young, I heard of The Orphan Train but didn't understand exactly what it was. Thanks to this book, now I have a better understanding. The author did a fantastic job describing the plight of these young children. As I read, my heart bled for them.
The characters came alive in this book as you see God work, in His timing, and in response to their great faith. Anyone that read My Heart Remembers will laugh, cry....and grow spiritually. This is historical fiction at its best!

Maelle Gallagher and her little brother, Mattie and baby sister, Molly have just been orphaned in a tenement fire. As recent immigrants from Ireland, they're put on an "orphan train" and sent west to Missouri to find new parents and a new home. As the oldest, Maelle had been charged by her father to "look after the wee ones." Maelle does her best, but her little siblings are literally torn from her arms by the separate families who adopt them. But Maelle will never forget them and will never stop searching for the only family she has ever known.

This is another heart-tugging story from best-selling author, Kim Vogel Sawyer. It bounces from Maelle to Mattie to Molly and tells their plights. Each story has its own conflict as they all three come together at the end. It's great entertainment, very touching, and fans of Mrs. Sawyer will devour it. I'm only hoping there's a sequel, because I really loved the character, Matt, and I want to read a romance with him as the hero!

Even though this isn't necessarily a romance, there is some happily-ever-after kind of stuff. I highly recommend it.

A very good book. The book is about 3 children who become orphans in a tenement fire in New York City in the late 1880's. They go to an orphanage and then later are shipped west on an orphan train. They are eventually split up. Seventeen years later, the oldest, Maelle, is still looking for her brother and sister.
I enjoyed learning about some of the struggles of orphan children from this era. The book held my interest for the entire book. A good read.

I believe this is Kim's best novel yet. I was a little concerned when I realized she intended to take me on a journey with three different storylines... but she did it well.

At a tender age, Maelle, Mattie, and Molly Gallagher's parents are killed in an apartment fire. The three orphans are put on a westbound train to be adopted out. Their only ties to home are the family Bible, a photo, and a stack of letters exchanged by their parents. When the three siblings are separated, will they ever be able to find each other again?

Molly is adopted by a weathly family who gives her the name Isabelle. She's never told anything about her past until her adoptive parents die and her brother, who always resented her, disowns her. Forced to work as a servant for a family in Shay's Ford, Missouri, Isabelle can't believe how her life has changed. Then she meets Aaron Rowley, a shopkeeper's son, who opens her eyes to the plight of local orphans. Can Aaron open her eyes to her need for a Savior? Will she find room in her heart for this man who she would've previously considered below her station?

As a kid, Maelle pretended to be a boy - Michael - in order to stay with her brother at the orphan's home. Now she's all grown up, but "Mike" still wears trousers. After inheriting her adoptive uncle's travelling photography studio, Maelle made it her mission to find her long-lost brother and sister. When she arrives in Shay's Ford, Missouri, she has no intention of staying, but a local lawyer, Jackson, changes her mind. Is he interested in her just for the promotion she can provide through her pictures of working children from across the country? Or could Jackson be interested in her for another reason?

Mistreated as a child, Mattie left Missouri and never planned to return. But when his job in Texas goes away, he has no choice but to take the job offered to him - in Shay's Ford. Will his return be a disaster, or could it be a godsend? Will he find the family he has always longed for?

And could God have a plan to reunite these three siblings?

I absolutely loved this book. Could not put it down. Kim does a great job with all three storylines. Both of the girls' storylines have a bit of romance in them, which I loved, but it doesn't overpower their own character arcs or the overall story of the family trying to find each other.

Mattie's story of overcoming his fears and his past while becoming the man God intended him to be just warmed my heart.

Kim's well-written characters will make you love them and root for them the whole time. This book was just incredibly done and I highly recommend it.

I first became acquainted with Kim Vogel Sawyer when I read the three books that now have been republished as Kansas Weddings. Her courage and skill in addressing difficult subjects such as mentally disability and alcoholism made me seek her out again.

My Heart Remembers tells the story of three siblings who traveled west on one of the "orphan trains" and were separated. Others have written orphan train stories, but rarely so well. Hope, love and joy flow in spite the hardships that the oldest two children endured, and the betrayal that the youngest experienced.

Predictably, the siblings reunite by the end of the book, but road they each travel and the dreams God gives for the future make it well worth reading.

If you are already one of Kim's fans, delve into her latest story. If you have not yet read anything by Kim, My Heart Remembers is a great place to start.

In 1886 New York City, the tenement fire killed Ma and Da Gallagher, leaving their three offspring orphaned. The oldest eight year old Maelle has no time for grief as she watches adults split the trio into different families. She gives the new parents of baby Molly the family bible; and she gives her brother Mattie the family photo. She vows to them to one day find them even as everyone calls her Mike as her short haircut leaves her looking like a boy.

In 1902 Louisiana, traveling photographer Mike Watts continues her search for Mattie and Molly. Mattie has spent a lifetime being discarded by one family after another as he currently lives in Texas. Teenaged Molly was too young to remember the fire, her siblings, her biological parents, or even her birth name as the only family Isabelle as she is called ever had was the Standlers of Kansas City and they just died; but her older Standler brother scornfully informs her who she truly is.

Although the plot device of having siblings separated via the orphan trains with one eventually seeking the others has been used a lot, Kim Vogel Sawyer refreshes it in MY HEART REMEMBERS by rotating the story line between the three lead characters. Thus the audience obtains a deep look at what happened to the trio a decade and a half after the fire radically changed each of their lives. Historical fiction fans will appreciate the saga of the three Gallaghers.

Harriet Klausner

Kim Vogel Sawyer has hit another home run with this latest historical novel. Three orphaned Irish-immigrant children become separated when they are sent to Missouri to be adopted. Maelle, age eight, remembers her father's last words, "Watch the wee ones." But circumstances have ripped her siblings from her sight. Seventeen years later, she still longs to find them. She wonders if she will ever see Mattie and Molly again. Matt remembers he had two sisters, one older and one just a baby. His adopted life has meant a series of temporary homes--some good and some abusive. He hopes to find a new life when he accepts employment as a ranch hand. Molly only remembers her name as Isabelle, the loved daughter of a wealthy family. When her parents die, she is unwilling to accept her brother's story that she was adopted and is the youngest of three orphaned Gallagher children.

With the years, hope of a reunion seems impossible. But whispered prayers and a faith that sustains proves to be greater than the obstacles.

Kim Sawyer has weaved another heart warming story. She has taken a little known piece of history, the Orphan trains that churned their way out West form 1854 to 1929, the desperate solution to find homes for the thousands of children who crowded city orphanages, and brought the plight of thousands alive in the hearts of three unforgettable characters.

It is hard to say anything bad about this book. Of the Christian fiction I have read recently, Kim Vogel Sawyer's My Heart Remembers is the best. It is the story of three orphans whose stories diverge when their parent's die and converge through a bit of magic, but the magic doesn't hurt the stories. The writing is solid and enjoyable.

Kim Vogel Sawyer has managed to write yet another heartwarming tale about love and family that stands out among the rest.

In My Heart Remembers, three Irish-immigrant children, Mattie, Molly, and Maelle, are put on an orphan train to find new homes after disaster strikes their family. When they are separated, Maelle, the oldest, vows she will find her brother and sister no matter how long it takes.

In this wonderful historical novel, Kim Vogel Sawyer knits a moving story that is both fresh and meaningful. She even manages to shed light on the many injustices shown to poor and orphaned children in the 18oo's without disrupting the flow of the storyline.

Woven with rich, fascinating historical details, and filled with captivating characters, romance, faith, and a compelling story that will keep the pages turning, this novel is destined to become a favorite on CBA lists. My Heart Remembers will will touch the hearts of readers and fill them with hope and inspiration.