The topic of this story was interesting but I didn't like the way the story was written. The formatting of the book was the other thing that killed my enjoyment it was strange and made it difficult to read- not sure if that was due to it being an arc or what. I gave it 2 stars and would read another by the author in the future.

The author brought tears to my eyes. I was vividly able to connect to all the characters, there struggles and there heartache. There are many names that have likely been forgotten during the war. This is a book that reminds you they all had a name and they all mattered.

Mario Escobar writes beautiful, heart-rending stories that relate episodes in history that most of us have either forgotten or never knew. The Forgotten Names is such a story and tells of the remarkable rescue of 108 Jewish children from the Vénissieux internment camp on the outskirts of Lyons in 1942. The treatment of these children and their families during their internment is described in shocking detail and the sense of fear carries throughout the book. At the same time, the bravery of a group of Lyonnaise social workers and priests and their devotion to saving as many children as possible from certain death is inspiring. The story is written in two timelines, the first during 1942 as the rescue takes place and the second in the 1990’s during which Valérie works to find and reunite the surviving children and highlight their incredible story as part of her major academic work. I found the first timeline truly gripping but for me the second didn’t flow quite as well, even though it created a sense of completion to the children’s stories. This book is interesting, shocking and devastating and certainly an eye opener. For me it was compelling reading.

Mario has written an incredible novel about little known history. This is a story that will stick with you for a long time thinking about motives and values behind all individuals involved in the rescue. Thanks for the ARC! I loved this novel

As hard as these stories are to read, I think they are so important! Not only so we never forget the atrocious period of time but also the “helpers” that risked their lives for what they believed in. This book was equally heartbreaking and heartwarming. I went through an entire range of emotion while reading this. It was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My thanks to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

Loved this book as it was a first hand book of the stories of real humans. While there was much leeway, the story was real. Having a family background of members who either perished in Auschwitz or escaped, this story touched my heart.
There were many righteous people who helped during this time, but the religious aspect was most interesting.
And the researcher aspect, to me was the most interesting.i enjoyed the follow-ups with the actual persons from the story.
Well written and kept my interest throughout the entire book.

WWII Historical Fiction is one of my favorite book genres to read, and no matter how many books I read in this category, there are so many stories to hear and learn.  The Forgotten Names by Mario Escobar explores a little known yet extremely powerful story of good rising from the midst of darkness.

Told in dual timelines, The Forgotten Names is placed in France during WWII as well as the 1990’s.  In the earlier part of the story, French parents face the impossible choice during the Holocaust: allow their children to be transported to Germany to die in concentration camps or sign over their rights to save them.  With the courage and assistance of the French resistance including clergy and civilians, over 100 children were able to escape the fate of death at a German concentration camp.

Fast forward to 1992 when Valérie Portheret, a doctoral student, stumbled upon the story of these children in Lyon, France and made it her mission to give them back their identities.  Over two decades she worked, unwavering, solid and determined, to help these children turned adults remember their past. 

This is a good story.  In the horror of war and destruction, the reader catches a glimpse of the good, the brave, the strong.  While this good rises from the ashes, the story is still extremely difficult and heartbreaking.  But it is also important to read, remember and honor these children, their families and the heroes that helped saved them.  Escobar really did his research and brought this story to life.  I am thankful for the opportunity to learn this incredible story.

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

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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