Name: Salt to the Sea
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Published: 2016
War torn Germany. Four young people. Four dark secrets. Four teenagers whose lives have been torn apart by war meet, along with thousands of other refugees, in the struggle to outpace the advancing Red Army. All are hoping to board the Wilhelm Gustloff: a ship that promises freedom and safety. But not all promises can be kept.
This brilliant book is the true story of one of the worst maritime disasters in world war two. But I bet you’ve never even heard of the Wilhelm Gustloff. Salt to the Sea tells the tale of Joana, Alfred, Emelia and Florian who all meet by chance in the dark heart of Nazi occupied Germany, 1945. They each have their own dark past and secrets that will shock you. This book will make you laugh and cry (although probably mostly crying!) with its unique perspective of the horror of world war two.
SWEETENER: Ruta Septys has written this book beautifully. It’s written from the point of view of all the main characters, rotating in short chapters between them. It’s effective because the short chapters really enunciate (yes that IS an actual word!) how quickly everything happens and most of them end on cliffhangers… I have loaned this book to quite a few of my friends; they have all agreed that it is pretty ace! I would definitely recommend it for fans of Michael Morpurgo and Sarah Crossan. It also won the Cilip Carnagie Award back in 2017, blah, blah, blah, but that’s still pretty cool as it was only realised in 2016.
MATURE CHEESES ONLY! As the characters are a bit older, the book covers a few more grown up topics. If I had to give an age rating, I’d say around 12+. It also adds to the book as well – nothing is sugar coated. It goes to show the true horror that refugees and civilians were forced to live through in world war two.
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