Salt to the Sea – by Rita Sepetys – independent book review – Historical Fiction (World War II)

Intensely emotional, SALT TO THE SEA is a deep dive into suffering and hardship during World War II, told through the stories of a handful of refugees — all of whom wind up ultimately trying to evacuate aboard the ill-fated and overcrowded German transport ship, MV Wilhelm Gustloff. This is likely a ship you’ve never heard of. Like the Titanic and the Lusitania, the Gustloff also sank – in the waning days of the war – when three Soviet torpedoes hit it on January 30, 1945. But despite the fact that many more people died in the Gustloff tragedy (as many as 9600 died of the 10,000+ military, injured, and civilians onboard), its story is much less widely known. Awarded four stars on Goodreads.

SALT TO THE SEA begins with a small group of strangers who come upon each other while slowly moving across the German countryside, fleeing encroaching Russian troops:

• Joana Vilkas – a young Lithuanian woman in her 20s brings much needed nursing skills to the group. Hoping to reunite with her mother, she is also wracked with guilt.

• Florian Beck – a formerly loyal German who has spent years restoring stolen art, but now feels he has been duped by members of the Nazi command and is eager to take his revenge. A cautious man, he is distrustful of EVERYONE he meets.

• Emilia Stożek– a Polish teenager, with no identification papers, is already acquainted with invading Russian soldiers. She too is hiding a secret.

• Alfred Frick – a lowly-ranked German sailor assigned to the Gustloff, with a passionate attachment to the beliefs of Adolph Hitler. Readers get to know him primarily through letters to his girlfriend back home. For me, his contributions to the story are primarily his wild, officious, and grandiose delusions (aka delusions of grandeur).

There are other members of the group who play a more supporting role.

Author Ruta Sepetys constructs the book using 174(!) short (1-3 pages) chapters, each written from the point of view of one of the four leading characters. I was not a fan of the jumping around, even though the story remains largely chronological, just told from different viewpoints along the way. But the construction does not diminish the power of the novel and the authentic way it immerses you into a wide variety of horrors of war. But also the strength and resilience of human beings and their innate desire to connect with others. It’s not an easy book to read. I found at times I had to set it aside to break the tension.

FYI, this is billed as a young adult novel, though it didn’t strike me as simplified in any way. I recommend the book, particularly for highlighting such an interesting but little known story from the last year of World War II.

You may want to look at the wikipedia page devoted to this book, but PLEASE NOTE it contains spoilers.

More about author Ruta Sepetys.

You may be interested in my review of another book by Sepetys: THE FOUNTAINS OF SILENCE.