Salt to the Sea

by Ruta Sepetys

New York Times Bestseller and winner of the Carnegie Medal! "Masterfully crafted"—The Wall Street Journal

For readers of Between Shades of Gray and All the Light We Cannot See, Ruta Sepetys returns to WWII in this epic novel that shines a light on one of the war's most devastating—yet unknown—tragedies.

World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer to safety.

Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people—adults and children alike—aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.

Told in alternating points of view and perfect for fans of Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize-winning All the Light We Cannot See, Erik Larson's Dead Wake, and Elizabeth Wein's Printz Honor Book Code Name Verity, this masterful work of historical fiction is inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff—the greatest maritime disaster in history. As she did in Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys unearths a shockingly little-known casualty of a gruesome war, and proves that humanity and love can prevail, even in the darkest of hours.

Praise for Salt to the Sea:
Featured on NPR's Morning Edition  ♦  "Superlative...masterfully crafted...[a] powerful work of historical fiction."—The Wall Street Journal  ♦  "[Sepetys 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  ♦  "Riveting...powerful...haunting."—The Washington Post  ♦ "Compelling for both adult and teenage readers."—New York Times Book Review  ♦  "Intimate, extraordinary, artfully crafted...brilliant."—Shelf Awareness  ♦  "Historical fiction at its very, very best."—The Globe and Mail  ♦  "[H]aunting, heartbreaking, hopeful and altogether gorgeous...one of the best young-adult novels to appear in a very long time."—Salt Lake Tribune  ♦  *"This haunting gem of a novel begs to be remembered."—Booklist  ♦  *"Artfully told and sensitively crafted...will leave readers weeping."—School Library Journal  ♦  A PW and SLJ 2016 Book of the Year

Praise for Between Shades of Gray:
A New York Times Notable Book  ♦  A Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Book  ♦  A PW, SLJ, Booklist, and Kirkus Best Book  ♦  iTunes 2011 Rewind Best Teen Novel  ♦  A Carnegie Medal and William C. Morris Finalist  ♦  A New York Times and International Bestseller  ♦  "Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both."—The Washington Post  ♦  *"[A]n important book that deserves the widest possible readership."—Booklist

• ISBN10: 0399160302
• ISBN13: 9780399160301
• Publish Date: 2 February 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Random House USA Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780399160301

Reviews

[Marissa Lupe Author]

While I read almost everything, I do have a soft spot for historical fiction... @rutasepetysauthor has just become a new favorite author for me after reading "Salt to the Sea".
The landscape and setting were so vivid in my mind, and the multiple view points from the different characters were so well done and distinct!
A highly recommend from me.

[tweetybugshouse]

This is a historical novel based on a boat sinking and a time in our history when a vast number of people were persecuted for not being the right race or religion. I don’t read a ton of historical fiction or non fiction history either. Everyone once in a while it good to read something that hold some truth at the base of the story. This author choose to share this story through first person narratives of children and young adults. When we read stories like these they are usually written to share something that happened in the past so we can learn from it. I really felt for these characters and i appreciate the effort the author put into sharing this tragic tale. It is written in a way as not to be over whelming with facts but with heart felt truths about people who could of lived and who did live through this tragic event. It spurs us on hopefully to dig further into our history books to read the actual accounts even if they are not well known. It was a interesting read and though it was sad it was intriguing and interesting.

[reveriesociety_]

I can't even with this book. It was insanely good, it made me cry, and you should definitely read it.

[luddite]

Oh, I quite liked this book. Neat, moving, well-researched, and helped by an interesting bunch of characters with good backstories, even if they don't develop all that much in the course of the book. The lack of their development over the course of the book made it feel like a fleeting one.

I quite liked her writing, and all the characters she built. The Shoe Poet was my favourite though. And the Acknowledgements answered the question as to why she picked the children and young adult perspective for such an event.

A good book. I'll be recommending this to my cousins.

[Stephanie]

Ruta Sepetys is without a doubt the best YA historical fiction writer, especially about pieces of WWII history that have gone unnoticed by the modern world. While I liked Between Shades of Grey, this one was far more captivating and beautiful, while being heart-wrenching and horrific. That's all.

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

Wow. Just one word. Wow. Salt to the Sea was more emotional than I could have imagined. Telling the story of a little known World War II Maritime disaster involving the Wilhelm Gustloff. Expertly told from 5 different points of view Septeys gives each character a unique voice and a unique story. For 4 of the 5 stories, their escape from the Nazis may mean life and freedom. For me, the 5th character was one of the few stories I’ve experienced from a Nazi soldier’s point of view and it chilled me to the bone.

Salt to the Sea shines as each character shares their backstory and their observations about the other narrators. Their short journey binds them together in an unexpected way and while the characters presented are fiction, their journeys provide a wonderful lesson about caring for others and helping those who are in need even when you are in need.

Audiobook readers will be pleased to know that each character has his or her own narrator. This added to the intimacy of the story being told. It feels like each character was sitting next to you sharing some of their deepest darkest secrets.

As is often the case when I read historical fiction, I will, at some point, head out to the Internet and start doing my own research. Salt to the Sea had me entranced, I didn’t do any outside research until after the novel was done as I didn’t want to be spoiled. There was a pivotal point in the novel when I realized there was only one way the story could end and I was crushed, but I kept listening, hoping there would be happiness when the story finally came to a close.

World War II is one of my favorite time periods to read about. Finding unique, untold stories from this era is always a treat for me and Salt to the Sea fits the bill. Sometimes the best stories are found on the losing side of a battle and Salt to the Sea tells part of that story in way that allows the reader to connect with an otherwise silent part of history.
This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews

[lizarodz]

Quite the Novel Idea http://quitethenovelidea.com http://quitethenovelidea.com/liza-reviews-salt-sea-ruta-sepetys/

 

Wow. Salt to the Sea was my first book by Sepetys and what a way to start! I was absolutely breathtaking, heartwrenching, difficult to put down and fascinating.  Please forgive me from not writing this review sooner as I finished it back in May, but I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I love historical romance, but I tend to shy away from anything based on WWII because its SO heartbreaking - I'm not going to lie, it is that - BUT it is SO good too that I couldn't help falling in love with it.

“The books, raped and rummaged of their dignity, lay in heaps on the floor.”

Salt to the Sea is based one of the deadliest shipwrecks in history. The Wilhelm Gustloff was packed of sick soldiers, families and specially children fleeing from the Russians at the end of war.  There are four POVs to the story and our main characters happen to be in the Gustloff on that tragic day. I think that all of these were prime examples of different situations and views of the German and they made the book a lot more interesting. The characterization was supreme, not only on the MCs, but all of the characters, including the less likable ones.

“I wanted to stay locked away from the pain and destruction. I didn't want to be strong. I didn't want to be the 'smart girl'. I was so very tired. I just wanted it all to be over.”

Joana fled from her family to train as a nurse and be "safe" from invading troops.  She has papers and has a big heart that goes out to those in need of her or in pain.  She's so

Florian is a great artist that was taking in with the praise of bad people and learned too late that he was blind of what was going on around him.  He's in a mission to get revenge, but encounters problems, persecution and Emilia.

Emilia's story is the most heartbreaking of the lot.  I cannot spoil the book for you, so I won't go into details. Just know that I felt so sad for her and so proud of her for being so brave.

Alfred was crazy.  Sorry, but there's no other way to describe the brainwashed, delusional Hitler youth.

“Mother was comfort. Mother was home. A girl who lost her mother was suddenly a tiny boat on an angry ocean. Some boats eventually floated ashore. And some boats, like me, seemed to float farther and farther from land”

I'm still trying to find a way to describe the loss of life and normalcy, the cruelty of war, the hunger, the desperation for a sense of safety, the fear, the guilt, it is just sad, and harrowing.  These characters have been trough a lot and have dealt with their losses and their pain in different ways.  The writing is sublime, so pretty and poetic.  The story itself is action packed, fast paced and filled with a sense of urgency.  The story develops at a comfortable pace as we get to know our four MC's stories bit by bit.

Overall, Salt to the Sea is a story of survival, war, loss and redemption that will leave the reader thinking about it for a long time to come. 

 



I love that this book uses a different narrator for each of the POVs in the story.  It is always so welcomed when this happens and it makes the audiobook a priceless experience.  I previously listened to a book narrated by Crouch and loved it, but the rest of the narrators were new to me.  I think they all did a perfect job and make the experience much more enjoyable, I highly recommend the audiobook for Salt to the Sea.This review was originally posted on Quite the Novel Idea

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

Salt to the Sea is totally not the kind of book I would usually read. I read a lot more fantasy and dystopian fiction than I do historical fiction (as in I can't remember the last historical fiction I read), but the shipwreck angle of this book really caught my attention. I'm a sucker for disaster stories, so I figured this might be up my alley after all. Basically, I went in expecting to read a book about a ship sinking, but this turned out to be so much more than that!

There are four main characters in Salt to the Sea - Joana, Florian, Emilia, and Alfred - each with a unique story. I absolutely adored Joana, Florian, and Emilia. The way their stories wound together was incredible. Usually I have a really hard time connecting with characters in historical fiction, but Ruta Sepetys did a fantastic job of making these characters sympathetic and at times I felt maybe too much for them. Alfred made my skin crawl, but I also felt sorry for him, which is not something I think just any author could have pulled off. Although there is romance in Salt to the Sea, it is both subtle and extremely well done. You will not find insta-love in this book! The relationships in the book form slowly and realistically, especially amongst such extraordinary circumstances.

The narration of this story is split between all four of these characters. I don't usually care for split narration, but it actually worked really well in this case. Each character is hiding big secrets and bringing a different perspective to the events that are taking place and I don't know if that could have been achieved as beautifully had this story been told from a single perspective.

Obviously, this story is set during World War II, a time period I don't often read about, so I felt like I was being introduced to a somewhat new setting and the author did an amazing job of setting the stage. I felt like I could picture the bleakness that each of these characters was facing, despite which side they were on in the bigger picture of the war. The maritime tragedy mentioned in the synopsis doesn't actually come into play until fairly late in the book and everything up until that point is about braving a country ravaged by war. The conditions these four people face are brutal and Sepetys does nothing to sugar coat it.

My favorite thing about Salt to the Sea is that I feel like I learned something about history that I may have never learned otherwise and even got to share it with a few other people. As a teenager I was a Titanic junkie and devoured everything I could find about that and other great sea disasters, so I was extra shocked to find out that there was one even worse that I'd never even heard of. The history this book tells is incredible and heartbreaking and has shockingly been overlooked by (at least American) history teachers.

The only small complaint I have about this book is that it moved a little slower than what I usually prefer. Had I not been listening to the audio, it's very possible that I might have put this back on the shelf to be continued later. Luckily I WAS listening to the audio and was able to feel the full emotional effect of reading it all at once.

Ruta Sepetys has seamlessly combined history and fiction together In Salt to the Sea to create a heartbreakingly brutal story. I've already recommended this book to several people who I know enjoy historical fiction and will continue to do so.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

[readingwithwrin]

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
"Joana still had her mother. Reuniting with her mother was her motivation. She would slay dragons to get to her. Mother was anchor. Mother was comfort. Mother was home. ”



If you’ve been following me for a while then you’ll know that I have loved Sepetys other books, and she is an auto-read author for me at this point. Every one of her stories is accurate to the time period and the way she writes the characters makes you feel like your right there with them.

We follow four teenagers
Florian – A “german” who is caring a secret, a secret that could not only get him killed but those he is now traveling with as well.
Emilia – A young girl who is lost, parentless, pregnant, and terrified of most men in general now.
Joana – A nurse who is taking care of Ingrid, the shoe poet, Eva, and the wandering child (Klaus). Not only does she feel responsible for these four people, but she also wants to help as many others as possible and get back to her mother to try and right the wrong she feels she has done that caused her extended family to be sent away by Stalin’s soldiers.
Alfred – A German Sailor who lives more in his head than in real life.


Each chapter is only a few pages long, and as we get towards the end of the book it gets to just a few sentences as we switch back and forth between the characters. I got so attached to most of these characters ( I found Alfred’s part a little annoying with his mental letters he was constantly writing). By the time they got on the boat and you could tell that the end was near I didn’t want the story to end, I didn’t want the boat to leave port, and when the torpedo’s hit my heart broke for all of the people on-board.

“The Wilhelm Gustloff was pregnant with lost souls conceived of war. They would crowd into her belly and she would give birth to their freedom.”


The water was freezing, and there weren’t enough life boats (only 12) once again, and the ones that were on board weren’t filled to capacity due to panic. When the few survivors were picked up surprisingly considering they were surrounded by Russian Submarines, they were taken to safety, and towards the start of their new lives.


I also really loved the connection this book had with Between Shades of Gray with Joana being Lina’s cousin. If anyone knows of any other books about this tragedy or Lithuanian’s during the WWII please let me know.

I'll leave you with, the authors note from the acknowledgement

Every nation has hidden history, countless stories preserved only by those who experienced them. Stories of war are often read and discussed worldwide by readers whose nations stood on opposite sides during battle. History divided us, but through reading we can be united in story, study, and remembrance. Books join us together as a global reading community, but more important, a global human community striving to learn from the past.

What determines how we remember history and which elements are preserved and penetrate the collective consciousness? If historical novels stir your interest, pursue the facts, the history, memoirs, and personal testimonies available. These are the shoulders that historical fiction sits upon. When the survivors are gone we must not let the truth disappear with them.

Please, give them a voice.
This is why I love Historical Fiction and Ruta Sepetys books, she always reminds you that these books are based on real stories and that this is what some people's lives were really like during this time period.

See reviews first on my Blog

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

Salt to the Sea was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Ruta Sepetys has completely delivered three times in a row now, meaning that her spot on my auto-buy authors list is well deserved. Her writing style is captivating and contains the perfect blend of description and emotion, which then toys with my emotions and causes me to become so attached to her stories that I want to hit people in the face with her books. In a loving way, of course.

Salt to the Sea is marketed as being set on an overcrowded ship during World War II, and I have to say that that's a little bit of a white lie. Very little of the book is set on the ship itself, as the first couple of hundred pages follow the various characters as they try to get to the ship to escape war-torn East Prussia. This isn't necessarily a negative, but since I hadn't actually heard of the Wilhelm Gustloff before reading this book (more on that in a minute), I wasn't expecting the characters to be wandering around in the woods so much.

One thing I'm not used to with Sepetys' books is having more than one point of view. There are a lot of POV characters in this book, and I am pleased to say that it all worked really, really well. The book wouldn't have been the same with just one viewpoint, as each of the characters provided their own unique view and experience in regards to the war and their countries.

I loved all of the point of view characters, apart from Alfred. He certainly added to the story, but as a character he... well, he wasn't one of the good guys. I really struggled with his chapters at times, and I think a lot of readers will as well. That said, he was intriguing, and I enjoyed getting into his head, even if I didn't understand him and his actions at all.

So, Salt to the Sea features the Wilhelm Gustloff, the sinking of which marks the greatest and most fatal sea 13disaster in history. And yet, I had never heard of such a ship. Why? Because people covered it up. Nearly ten thousand people died on the Wilhelm Gustloff alone, and that's not taking the other sunken ships of the Baltic into account, and no one knew about them. So I have to thank Ruta Sepetys for bringing this sea disaster to my attention.

Also, can I just say that that Sepetys' author's notes are always awesome? I love how much she cares about the victims of history, and about telling stories that people need to hear.

Obviously, I loved Salt to the Sea. I loved the characters. I loved the subject matter. And I loved that there was a mention of Lina from Between Shades of Gray! It was unexpected and wonderful. I encourage everyone to give Sepetys' books a go because, like I said above, she's an auto-buy author for me and she might make it onto your list as well.