Salt to the Sea

Product Information

We can’t bring the girl with us. Her coat is splattered with blood. She’s clearly in trouble. And she’s Polish.” Salt to the Sea is a 2016 historical fiction young adult novel by Ruta Sepetys (book cover illustration and design by Matt Jones i UK). It tells the story of four individuals in World War II who make their way to the ill-fated MV Wilhelm Gustloff. The story also touches on the disappearance of the Amber Room, a world-famous, ornately decorated chamber stolen by the Nazis that has never been recovered. These four unlikely characters meet in 1945 as three of them flee Soviet advances as the Nazi regime collapses.

Salt to the Sea - Wikipedia

Salt to the Sea is a young-adult historical fiction novel published on February 2, 2016. It is Ruta Sepetys’s third novel. Like Sepetys’s other three novels, Salt to the Sea explores the lost and forgotten stories of history. In particular, it focuses on the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff during Operational Hannibal, which took place during WWII and was the largest sea evacuation in modern history. During Operation Hannibal, over two million Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, ethnic Germans, and residents of the East Prussian and Polish corridors were evacuated. The majority of the Gustloff’s passengers were civilians, with an estimated five thousand being children. Thank you, sailor.” Her warm whisper lingered in my ear. She was quite pretty and smelled like fresh eggs, but there have been many grateful and pretty girls. Oh, do not be concerned. You and your red sweater are foremost in my thoughts. How fondly, how incessantly, I think of my Hannelore and red-sweater days. Joana is a survivor. She survived while other members of her family and other passengers on the Wilhelm Gustloff died. All she wants to do is help those around her. Yet as the Gustloff sinks she helpless in the face of such a terrible tragedy. All she can do is watch thousands of people die around her. As they make a long and difficult trek, the refugees suffer many physical ailments. However, while Joana can cure the blisters, wounds, and frostbite of her fellow travelers, she has no treatment for their fear. Despite the physical troubles the refugees experience, fear is what ails them most. Throughout Salt to the Sea, Sepetys indicates that while war's physical impacts are terrible, it is often the psychological consequences of war that are the most permanent and difficult to deal with. While the characters may recover from their wounds, they will likely live with their trauma forever.The talented narrators excel in capturing the tone of their characters…. [They] work together to create a vivid and well-rounded reading experience, [and] bring forth the truth of the wartime experience.”– Booklist, starred review characterization - I know some reviewers couldn't connect with the characters, but I most certainly could! I really liked how Sepetys used four alternating POV (with four separate narrators on the audiobook), each with their own secrets that had "Aha!" moments for me as they were revealed.

You Shouldn’t Skip WW2 Novel, Salt to the Sea Why You Shouldn’t Skip WW2 Novel, Salt to the Sea

Emilia Stożek: A 15-year-old Polish girl from Lwów who was raped by Russian soldiers not far from Nemmersdorf. She is caught in an illusion that a boy named August, a member of the family she was working for, was the source of her pregnancy. She planned on finding him after the war. She gives birth to a daughter, Halinka, whom she saves and hands over to Florian during the sinking before dying and being washed up in Bornholm, Denmark. War is catastrophe. It breaks families in irretrievable pieces. But those who are gone are not necessarily lost." Clara Christensen, p. 413Sepetys is] a master of YA fiction…she once again anchors a panoramic view of epic tragedy in perspectives that feel deeply textured and immediate.”— Entertainment Weekly CW: Rape, child death, teen pregnancy, and violence Hesitant To Read Salt To The Sea By Ruta Sepetys? The sinking of the Gustloff is the largest maritime disaster, yet the world still knows nothing of it. I often wonder, will that ever change or will it remain just another secret swallo

Salt to the Sea | BookTrust

Ms. Sepetys does a wonderful job of shedding light on the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a maritime disaster that claimed more than 9,000 lives and remains an overlooked part of history. Admittedly, I had never heard of this disaster until reading this book. Perhaps this is the result of a world that was less than sympathetic to German pain and loss following the end of WWII and the unveiling of the Nazi atrocities. Whatever the reason, I am glad that Ms. Sepetys brought this piece of history into the light. This story needed to be told. Unfortunately, you know that not everyone will make it–this is historical fiction based largely on true accounts. The youth starve and handle near-fatal injuries while trying to find light in a simple berry or abandoned fireplace dance. Why are you so nervous?” said Eva. “You know you’re getting on a boat. You told me you’ve got a letter.” Trapped between deadly leadership, Emilia, Florian, and Joana make their way to the port, looking for safe passage to Kiel, Germany. Along the way, they add to their entourage of refugees a giant woman, blind girl, shoe poet, and parentless child. Quite the motley and lovable crew. Throughout this WW2 novel, we realize how much bigger the world is and our small part in it. War takes away personality–with the goal to dehumanize–just like salt blends and dissolves into the sea.

Customer reviews

What a group we were. A pregnant girl in love, a kindly shoemaker, an orphan boy, a blind girl, and a giantess who complained that everyone was in her way when she herself took up the most room. And me, a lonely girl who missed her family and begged for a second chance.” A friend of Emilia’s father, Martin Kleist owns a farm near Nemmersdorf, in East Prussia. The Kleist family takes Emilia in during the war and Martin promises Emilia’s father that they’ll take care of her. Erna Kleist