Great Reads for Great Readers

 

Salt to the Sea, by Ruta Sepetys.                      Young Adults.

 

            On January 30^th 1945, German passenger liner the ’Wilhelm Gustloff’, was attacked by torpedoes from a Russian submarine as she sailed for Kiel in Northern Germany.  The ship was carrying thousands of evacuees from the Baltic and East Prussia, mainly women and children, plus hundreds of wounded German troops, on the run from the approaching Russian Army.

            The ship sank within an hour, with an estimated loss of 9000 people, 5000 of whom were children.  It is the worst maritime disaster in history, dwarfing the Titanic and Lusitania disasters – but the least known.  Until  Author Ruta Sepetys (of Lithuanian ancestry) decided to write a novelised version of this dreadful event:  the characters she has chosen to tell the story are heartbreakingly, appallingly real enough for us to care deeply for them and their goal, which is to eventually board a converted ocean liner at the Polish port of Gotenhafen, thence to Kiel, and safety in Der Fuehrer’s Germany.

            Emilia:  Polish, but trying to hide the fact, for everyone knows what Germans think of Poles:  they are subhuman.  Well, this subhuman has already met the advancing Russians, was brutally raped and is now pregnant.

            The Wandering Boy:  he comes out of the trees to walk with their growing numbers.  He is 6 years old and ‘his Oma didn’t wake up’.  His name and a Berlin address is pinned to his coat.

            Florian:  a young restorer of fine art, (with a clever, hidden talent for forgery) who has also committed the theft of one of the most precious pieces of art from the art thieves he worked for.  He rightly trusts no-one.

            Joana:  a compassionate Lithuanian nursing assistant, who feels perpetual guilt for leaving her family behind – as they all do:  uppermost on everyone’s mind is the fate of their loved ones caught up in this cruel, inhuman maelstrom:  will they ever see each other again?

            More people join them, wounded, suffering, but buoyed by the hope of eventually being evacuated to Germany – even though the news they hear on the road is ominous:  the Fatherland is obviously losing the war, but the main objective is to keep ahead of the Russians.  Terrible tales have been told of their brutality.  And they’re all true.  Still, the evacuees are in front,   There will be no-one left to slaughter;  they’ll all be gone by the time those beasts arrive.

            This novel reads like a thriller.  Ms Sepetys ratchets up the tension with every chapter, but her characters never lose their authenticity or humanity.  It was a privilege to read this book, and it should be read by everyone, not only Young Adults, as a testament to the goodness of people, as well as to their worst excesses.  SIX STARS.