Salt to the Sea, by Ruta Sepetys

In 1945, the German passenger ship Wilhelm Gustloff was targeted by Russian torpedoes, resulting in the deaths of thousands.  It's not a well-known story from WWII, but Ruta Sepetys made a name for herself in the previous novel Between Shades of Gray by exploring those stories that need to be told.  Needless to say, one doesn't open this book expecting a happy ending; we all know what's going to happen.  But we don't know who will survive or who will perish, and because Sepetys is so skilled at making us invested in her characters, you'll find yourself desperately flipping the final pages of the book to find out what happens.

Salt to the Sea begins with a road trip on foot.  A group of ragtag refugees is journeying in the cold to the sea, hoping to find passage out of western Germany before Russia overtakes them.  Sepetys switches between four perspectives: Florian, a German soldier on the run, harboring a secret; Joana, a nurse from Lithuania; Emilia, an unmarried, pregnant Polish girl; and Alfred, a young Nazi sailor working the Wilhelm Gustloff.

I will admit that it took me a while to warm up to this novel.  I personally am not a fan of novels that employ multiple narrators, and Sepetys keeps each chapter incredibly short.  At the beginning of the book, I found this to be irritating.  It's hard to form connections with the characters when we aren't given much time to invest in them.  However, patient readers will be rewarded, as Septetys slowly pulls back the layers on each character.  Everyone has secrets, and everyone is more complicated than they initially let on.

I suppose Salt to the Sea could be seen as a companion book to Between Shades of Gray - Joana is cousin to Gray's Lina - but it stands on its own.  Another success for Ruta Sepetys.