Salt to the Sea

 This was the second book I have read by Ruta Sepetys and I enjoyed it as much as I did The Fountains of Silence.  This book was about a lesser known maritime disaster that occurred during WWII.  The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff was something I was unfamiliar with but it was an intriguing aspect to this historical fiction book.  I appreciated the variety of the characters, including some you did not like.

I enjoyed how the book was written in chronological order but was told by alternating narrators.  Sepetys does a wonderful job of revealing each of the narrators' back stories and secrets.   The ending had a twist to it that was intriguing and wasn't all sunshine and roses which made for a more realistic outcome.  

I will definitely continue to work my way through Sepetys' catalogue of works as I enjoy her blending of historic facts and a fictional story.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this historic fiction book based upon the little know sinking of the Wilhelm Guatloff. Sepetys writes a good YA book that appeals to adults. Her characters are well developed and have aspects to their personality that make them like able and unlike able. The story is well written by different narrative voices while on the same timeline. There is a nice build up to the back stories of each character and a nice twist at the end. There is a good balance of happy ending with tragedy as well. Rather than everything coming out perfect it mixed both outcomes. I look forward to reading more by this author

View all my reviews

√

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

Possible prompts

I will decide as the year goes along which prompts I use it for on several challenges since it meets multiple criteria within the challenge.

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #39
2. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes  Prussia
3. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2021   Book #47
4. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #53
5. Historic Fiction  #histficreadingchallenge   Book #6
6. PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #6 A book with a gem, mineral, or rock in the title 
7. Around the Year in 52 Books #6 a love story
8. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub2021  #28
9. Monthly Book Awards #AwardReadingChallenge  Audie winner 2017
10. Book Voyage  #bookvoyagechallenge  yes Prussia
11. Beyond the Bookends    Read/listen to Audie Winner
12. Backpacking Bookworm  #bbReadingChallenge2021 teaches you something new