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“How foolish to believe we are more powerful than the sea or the sky.�

Salt to the Sea is a devastating, all-consuming novel. It will tear out your heart and you may never recover, but it’s beautiful, and the tender, happier parts balance the story so well.


It is about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a tragic event in history you probably have never heard of before. There were over 9,000 lives lost - making it the greatest maritime disaster in history - yet rarely anyone knows about it.


And that’s really what it is; it’s tragic. Everything about it is tragic. It follows four different characters: Emilia, Florian, Joana, and Alfred. They all have extremely poignant and distinguishable perspectives, and they are all fleeing towards this ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff, which they hope will bring fresh starts and new hope. Little do they know the disaster that waits for them.


There’s a sense of inevitable doom that laces every page. We know what will happen by the end, although not how, but the characters we’ve grown to care for? They have no idea. We read as they fight for their lives, the only thing keeping them going being their faith in this ship. And then it all is taken away from them instantly. It’s heartbreaking.


The characters were three-dimensional and realistic. Through their perspectives, Ruta Sepetys crafted a masterpiece. You get to know them so well, and it adds so much more to the narrative. I loved them and hated some; but even the ones mainly just one I hated, it was easy to admire how well-written they were.


Emilia is a fifteen-year-old Polish girl plagued with secrets from her past and dealing with a pregnancy while trying to escape. Her story made me cry the most, I think. Florian is a mysterious and intriguing Prussian man with a passion for art. He is such a believable character, because of his flaws and dialogue, so I really loved reading about him. Joana is a young Lithuanian woman who has valuable nursing experience and a heart of gold. She cares so much about everyone around her, and I love how compassionate and clever she was. Alfred is a German boy convinced of his own self-importance and who adores Hitler. I despise him. I absolutely despise him. However, he was so incredibly well-written. He is attention-starved and lives for validation.


I have no words. Actually, I have a lot, but none would come close to describing the emotion I felt while reading. The writing was lyrical, the plot was engaging and I couldn’t put it down, the tone was dark. It’s perfect, and it wrecked me, and I think I will never be the same. It’s haunting and gorgeous at the same time, and it’s still weighing on my heart.


So many people suffered through this just to be safe, and instead lost both their lives and their stories. They might have been forgotten by history if not for this book. Despite being fictional, many of these things actually happened to people. And it’s important to learn from it, so that we prevent it from happening again. Salt to the Sea is the kind of book that everyone should read, so please do.


5 stars.




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"DNF at 80%.
When people said to leave The Blood Trials as a stand-alone and not to follow up with this book, I should’ve listened.
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