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Find out moreArmando Lucas Correa is an award-winning journalist, author, and the editor-in-chief for People en Espanol, the top-selling Hispanic magazine in the United States. Correa is the recipient of various journalistic awards from the National Association of Hispanic Publications and the Society of Professional Journalism. The German Girl is his first novel. Please visit ArmandoLucasCorrea.com.
October 2017 Debut of the Month This ambitious and powerfully moving debut tells the true story of one of the lesser-known tragedies of WWII, when Jewish passengers aboard a transatlantic liner expecting to be given refuge in Cuba were refused entry. Hannah Rosenthal lived an enviable life in Berlin until the Nazis took hold, but a ray of light comes when her family are successful in their scramble to secure tickets and visas to board the St Louis liner. The sense of the passengers’ initial hopeful elation – the brilliant descriptions of lavish balls and fine dining – rapidly plummets when news filters through that that the governments of Cuba, America, and Canada are planning to deny them entry. After days anchored off-shore, a mere handful of passengers are permitted to step onto Cuban soil. The few who are allowed to remain will be all but alone in a strange land, separated from their loved ones, in the knowledge that they’ll most likely return to meet their deaths. Slip forward to New York seven decades later and Hannah’s great niece, twelve-year-old Anna Rosen, receives a parcel that will lead her to Havana to learn heart-wrenching truths about her family’s past. A poignant story that needed to be told, told with much heart and humanity. ~ Joanne Owen
For readers whose hearts were broken by The Tattooist of Auschwitz 'Correa's prose is atmospheric, but what's most fascinating about this novel is his portrayal of terrified yet strong female characters' New York Times New York City, 2015: Eighty-year-old Elise Duval is a French Catholic who arrived in New York after the Second World War. When a woman from Cuba visits with letters written in German to Elise from her mother during the war, her world is forever changed as she remembers a time and country she'd long since forgotten and seven decades of secret unravel. Berlin, 1939: Bookstore owner and recent widow Amanda Sternberg is fleeing Nazi Germany with her two young daughters. She heads towards unoccupied France, but with such a hard fight for freedom, a peaceful life of safety is hard to find. Based on true events, The Daughter's Tale chronicles one of the most harrowing atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis during the Second World War: the 1944 massacre of all the inhabitants of a small, idyllic village in the south of France. Heartbreaking and immersive, The Daughter's Tale is a beautifully crafted family saga of love, survival, and hope against all odds.
Before everything changed, Hannah Rosenthal lived a charmed life. But now the streets of Berlin are draped in swastikas and Hannah is no longer welcome in the places she once considered home. A glimmer of hope appears in the shape of the St Louis, a transatlantic liner that promises Jews safe passage to Cuba. The Rosenthals sell everything to fund visas and tickets. At first the liner feels like luxury, but as they travel the circumstances of war change, and it soon becomes their prison. Seven decades later in New York, on her twelfth birthday Anna Rosen receives a package from Hannah, the great-aunt she never met but who raised her deceased father. Anna and her mother immediately travel to Cuba to meet this elderly relative, and for the first time Hannah tells them the untold story of her voyage on the St Louis. Based on a true story, this wonderful novel gives voice to the joys and sorrows of generations of exiles, forever seeking a place called home. 'The German Girl tells a horrific story in profoundly human terms, and one ends up totally gripped and absorbed in the history' Julia Neuberger, author of On Being Jewish
Before everything changed, Hannah Rosenthal lived a charmed life. But now the streets of Berlin are draped in swastikas and Hannah is no longer welcome in the places she once considered home. A glimmer of hope appears in the shape of the St Louis, a transatlantic liner that promises Jews safe passage to Cuba. The Rosenthals sell everything they have to fund visas and tickets. At first the liner feels like luxury, but as they travel the circumstances of war change, and it soon becomes their prison. Seven decades later in New York, on her twelfth birthday Anna Rosen receives a package from Hannah, the great-aunt she never met but who raised her deceased father. Anna and her mother immediately travel to Cuba to meet this elderly relative, and for the first time Hannah tells them the untold story of her voyage on the St Louis.
Before everything changed, Hannah Rosenthal lived a charmed life. But now the streets of Berlin are draped in swastikas and Hannah is no longer welcome in the places she once considered home. A glimmer of hope appears in the shape of the St Louis, a transatlantic liner that promises Jews safe passage to Cuba. The Rosenthals sell everything to fund visas and tickets. At first the liner feels like luxury, but as they travel the circumstances of war change, and it soon becomes their prison. Seven decades later in New York, on her twelfth birthday Anna Rosen receives a package from Hannah, the great-aunt she never met but who raised her deceased father. Anna and her mother immediately travel to Cuba to meet this elderly relative, and for the first time Hannah tells them the untold story of her voyage on the St Louis.
Before everything changed, Hannah Rosenthal lived a charmed life. But now the streets of Berlin are draped in swastikas and Hannah is no longer welcome in the places she once considered home. A glimmer of hope appears in the shape of the St Louis, a transatlantic liner that promises Jews safe passage to Cuba. The Rosenthals sell everything they have to fund visas and tickets. At first the liner feels like luxury, but as they travel the circumstances of war change, and itsoon becomes their prison. Seven decades later in New York, on her twelfth birthdayAnna Rosen receives a package from Hannah, the great-aunt she never met but who raised her deceased father.Anna and her mother immediately travel to Cuba to meet this elderly relative, and for the first time Hannah tells them the untold story of her voyage on the St Louis.
A stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel, perfect for fans of The Nightingale, Schindlers List, and All the Light We Cannot See, about twelve-year-old Hannah Rosenthals harrowing experience fleeing Nazi-occupied Germany with her family and best friend, only to discover that the overseas asylum they had been promised is an illusion.Before everything changed, young Hannah Rosenthal lived a charmed life. But now, in 1939, the streets of Berlin are draped with red, white, and black flags; her familys fine possessions are hauled away; and they are no longer welcome in the places that once felt like home. Hannah and her best friend, Leo Martin, make a pact: whatever the future has in store for them, theyll meet it together. Hope appears in the form of the SS St. Louis, a transatlantic liner offering Jews safe passage out of Germany. After a frantic search to obtain visas, the Rosenthals and the Martins depart on the luxurious ship bound for Havana. Life on board the St. Louis is like a surreal holiday for the refugees, with masquerade balls, exquisite meals, and polite, respectful service. But soon ominous rumors from Cuba undermine the passengers fragile sense of safety. From one day to the next, impossible choices are offered, unthinkable sacrifices are made, and the ship that once was their salvation seems likely to become their doom. Seven decades later in New York City, on her twelfth birthday, Anna Rosen receives a strange package from an unknown relative in Cuba, her great-aunt Hannah. Its contents will inspire Anna and her mother to travel to Havana to learn the truth about their familys mysterious and tragic past, a quest that will help Anna understand her place and her purpose in the world. The German Girl sweeps from Berlin at the brink of the Second World War to Cuba on the cusp of revolution, to New York in the wake of September 11, before reaching its deeply moving conclusion in the tumult of present-day Havana. Based on a true story, this masterful novel gives voice to the joys and sorrows of generations of exiles, forever seeking a place called home.
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