| Title | : | The Night Travelers |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1501187988 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781501187988 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 368 |
| Publication | : | First published January 10, 2023 |
Berlin, 1931: Ally Keller, a talented young poet, is alone and scared when she gives birth to a mixed-race daughter she names Lilith. As the Nazis rise to power, Ally knows she must keep her baby in the shadows to protect her against Hitler’s deadly ideology of Aryan purity. But as she grows, it becomes more and more difficult to keep Lilith hidden so Ally sets in motion a dangerous and desperate plan to send her daughter across the ocean to safety.
Havana, 1958: Now an adult, Lilith has few memories of her mother or her childhood in Germany. Besides, she’s too excited for her future with her beloved Martin, a Cuban pilot with strong ties to the Batista government. But as the flames of revolution ignite, Lilith and her newborn daughter, Nadine, find themselves at a terrifying crossroads.
Berlin, 1988: As a scientist in Berlin, Nadine is dedicated to ensuring the dignity of the remains of all those who were murdered by the Nazis. Yet she has spent her entire lifetime avoiding the truth about her own family’s history. It takes her daughter, Luna, to encourage Nadine to uncover the truth about the choices her mother and grandmother made to ensure the survival of their children. And it will fall to Luna to come to terms with a shocking betrayal that changes everything she thought she knew about her family’s past.
Separated by time but united by sacrifice, four women embark on journeys of self-discovery and find themselves to be living testaments to the power of motherly love.
The Night Travelers Reviews
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I so loved
The Daughter's Tale when I read it and was really excited to get this one from NetGalley. I loved this one too for many reasons but mostly because I got to know these women so well and the author made me care for them. This book pulls the reads emotions from the touching, loving feeling of a mother for her daughter to the horror of protecting that daughter from persecution to the point of death. There are a lot of books that cover this topic, yet I found this one to be particularly well-written. The writing is evocative and emotional and nearly poetic, but also heartbreaking, given the topic. The storyline is complex enough to hold attention and the author does a superior job conveying both what people do and why. There is a definite feeling of immersion in the story for me.
Such a well-written book that keeps your attention to the end, those times were very hard to imagine but Armando Lucas Correa makes it easy to picture it in your head while reading. I was taken to a different time and place. His passion for the subject shines through. I read this emotionally fraught book in a couple of sittings. The story pulls you in and you want to speed read to find out just how it ends and the pace of the story never lets up. It is sad but heartwarming, gut-wrenching at times. The author does an admirable job of putting us in the shoes of all the main characters, helping the reader to understand the lack of choices. The book shows the strength of all the women it portrays. I am still thinking about this book long after I finished it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.
#NightTravelers #NetGalley -
I thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction book and rate it a solid 4 stars. It is a sweeping multi generational story of four women, beginning in 1931 Berlin, Germany and ending in Berlin in 2015. The 4 women:
Ally, mother of Lilith
Lilith, mother of Nadine
Nadine, mother of Luna.
Luna, who who wants to find out about the past of all of parents, grandparents and great grandparents and why they did what they did.
It is a story of survival and loss, in the midst of war, twisted Na**sm, communism, the failed "science" of eugenics and how they damaged the lives of these 4 women.
Along the way, we see the book characters in Cuba, New York city and back to Berlin.
There is closure at the end for 3 of the 4 women, through the efforts of Luna who connects the dots in the family history. I recommend this book to fans of historical fiction.
Two quotes
Birth of Lilith by midwife: "It's a Rhineland bastard. You've brought a mischling into the world. This girl isn't German, she's Black."
Professor friend to Lilith: "To learn a language, the first thing to dois capture its musicality, untangle your tongue, relax your facial muscles."
Thanks to Katelyn Phillips at Atria Books for sending this eARC through NetGalley.
#NightTravelers #NetGalley -
Publication Date: 10th Jan 2023
3.5 Stars
One Liner: Dark, heavy, and overwhelming in content but lacks the emotional impact
The Night Travelers is the story of four generations of women whose lives change during the Nazi rule, the Cuban Revolution, and the fall of the Berlin wall. The story starts with Ally Keller giving birth to Lilith, a mixed-race daughter, in Berlin, in 1931.
Life in Havana seems happy for Lilith in 1958 until the Cuban Revolution puts her and her daughter Nadine at risk. It’s 1988 in Berlin, and Nadine is a dedicated scientist trying to ignore her family history. Luna, Nadine’s daughter, decides it’s time she knew the truth of the past. But what does it do to her life?
The story comes in the third-person POV of the main characters.
My Thoughts:
The book spans the years covering WWII, the Cuban Revolution, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is rooted in historical events and feels heavy throughout. It’s not an easy book to read (in many ways).
The beginning is wow. It starts strong with Ally giving birth to Lilith in Berlin when only Aryans were considered a pure race. But as the story progressed, the emotions don't register. It’s like watching a movie on the neighbor’s telly. I can’t connect with any of the characters. The writing is kind of monotone, with very little emphasis to make me feel for any of the ladies. I’m not sure if the emotions were lost in translation, but all four of them sound the same, albeit in slightly different ways.
The story moves back and forth and is divided into three acts. The shifting timelines aren’t hard to track. A better way to read the book is to let it flow instead of trying to keep tabs on the period.
One aspect I love about the book is the theme of intergenerational trauma and its impact on people. The hatred for all Germans after the Nazi brutality, the mistrust of Cubans, and ordinary people trying to pick up the broken pieces of their lives, suffering from trauma that wasn’t even theirs, to begin with.
While I admire the research behind the book, I couldn’t understand much of the Cuban track. The writing assumes readers are knowledgeable of the topic to fill the gaps. Though I know enough of WWII and Berlin history, my knowledge of Cuba’s past isn’t that great.
The heavy and sad undertones are so consistent that it’s hard to read more than a few pages without feeling overwhelmed or lost. Even the lighthearted moments are tinged with melancholy and awareness that some devastating is around the corner.
This is a book I want to love, but I can only say I like it in parts. The ending is vague (not my favorite kind), leaving me dissatisfied about the plot but relieved that I could finally complete it.
To summarize, The Night Travelers is an overwhelming historical fiction that spans four generations of women and their lives in the backdrop of wars. This book is not for everyone (contains triggers).
Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
#NightTravelers #NetGalley -
The Night Travellers by Armando Lucas Correa was a moving multigenerational historical fiction saga. It took place during some of the most terrifying and turbulent times in our history. Armando Lucas Correa masterfully transported his readers back to Berlin, Germany in the early 1930’s, to Havana, Cuba during the 1940’s and 1950’s and to The Cuban Revolution to America and ultimately came full circle back to Germany by the end. His writing was impressive and the characters were so memorable. I listened to the audiobook that was brilliantly narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, one of my favorite narrators.
At the heart of The Night Travellers was a special and beautiful bond that wove tightly between several mothers and their daughters, all connected by blood over many generations. Both mothers, Ally and Lilith, experienced the heartache of having to choose separation between their daughters and themselves so that their daughters could be safe and have the opportunity to live a good and fulfilling life. Each daughter, Lilith and Nadine, accepted the sacrifice their mothers made. Neither Lilith nor Nadine could muster many memories of the mothers that loved them enough to let them go. They were so young when each of their mothers made the ultimate sacrifice to let their daughters go with another family so that they would be protected. Their new mothers quickly took the place of the mothers who were left behind. When Nadine, Lilith’s daughter, married and had her own daughter, Luna, extraordinary discoveries were made. Luna was always a very curious child and also possessed a special gift for writing, like her great grandmother, Ally. As Luna grew up she became curious about her mother’s family history. Her research and digging helped pull all the pieces together. With Luna’s efforts that met no boundaries, she helped her mother reconnect with her past and helped to reveal the sacrifices that had been made over several generations.
I had previously read some of Armando Lucas Correa’s books so when I was able to listen to this audiobook through the Libby app I did not hesitate. The women that Armando Lucas Correa portrayed in The Night Travellers were brave, selfless, intelligent, caring, resourceful and strong. There were many themes throughout the book but the main ones were of mother/daughter bonds and relationships, sacrifice, protection, acceptance and regrets. It also touched on war, racism, discrimination, betrayals, loss and closure. It took place during very troubling times. I had not known about Operation Peter Pan, that occurred during the course of The Cuban Revolution, prior to reading this book. The Night Travellers was heartbreaking at times. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy historical fiction. -
Berlin, 1931: Ally is a talented poet, she falls in love with a colored German musician Marcus and she gives birth to a mixed-race daughter she calls Lilith. To protect Lilith, Ally hides Lilith in her apparent in Berlin, when Lilith starts walking she takes her out to play in the park at night and she makes a game out of it. The Germans introduce a Racial Ideology Policy, to create a pure Aryan race, and they start sterilizing people who fail the test. Ally loves her daughter, she makes the difficult decision to send her with a Jewish couple to safety in Cuba and she stays behind in Germany.
Havana, 1958: Lilith is grown up, she was raised by Albert and Beatrice Herzog and they feel they have performed their duty. Lilith left Germany when she was three, she has very few memories of her mother or living in the Berlin apartment. Lilith is in love with Martin, her childhood friend, and she’s looking forward to their wedding. Martin is a pilot, he has ties to the Batista government and he and Lilith are on their honeymoon when the violence begins. When the revolution totally erupts, Lilith and her newborn daughter Nadine, find themselves in danger and Martin can't help them. Lilith has to make the heartbreaking choice to save her daughter, Nadine is smuggled out of Cuba, and sent to America to be adopted.
Berlin, 1988: Nadine’s childhood in America is thrown into turmoil, when her German born mother is arrested and she's taken back to Germany. Nadine attends university in Germany and she enrolls using her real last name, here she meets Anton, they marry and have a daughter. Luna wants to find out her about her families past, she knows it’s extremely complicated, but she has no idea a big secret is about to be uncovered and it will completely stun and shock her mother Nadine.
I received a copy of The Night Travelers from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia in exchange for an honest review. Armando Lucas Correa has written a historical saga that takes place during three of the most troubling times in modern history and it's about four generations of one family. It highlights the love and bond between a mother and her child, the lengths she will go to and what she’s willing to sacrifice to keep her child safe. Mr. Correa always gives you an in-depth history lesson, this time it spans eight decades and it includes the Nazis coming into power in Germany, the Cuban Revolution and the rise of Communism, Operation Peter Pan and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The narrative is about war, love, discrimination, loss, survival, secrets, betrayal, regret, and finding closure. I really liked the characters of Ally, Bruno, Lilith, Martin, Helena, Nadine, Miranda, Anton and of course young Luna. Four stars from me, the pace of the story did drag a little in places and this might be due to the English translation? -
Berlin, 1931 and Ally Keller was alone after the man she loved, Black musician Marcus, was persecuted and arrested for the colour of his skin. When she gave birth to the baby girl she named Lilith, Ally instinctively knew she had to keep Lilith hidden - a mixed-race child was an abomination, a mischling. As Lilith grew, she and Ally would leave the apartment at night, where they could have fun, playing in the rain, breathing the fresh night air. Lilith was a night traveler. When she turned seven, Lilith had to endure intensive tests to see if she was pure, if she fitted the German ideology of perfection. If she failed, she would be cruelly sterilized. Ally had a plan, a desperate one to save her daughter from the Nazis, but it would break her heart.
In Havana in 1958, an adult Lilith had fallen in love with Martin, a pilot who loved nothing better than to fly above the clouds. Their future looked promising, happy, and when Lilith gave birth to Nadine she had no idea how her life would change. The revolution in Cuba saw Lilith make a decision reminiscent of her own mother's...
When Nadine returned to Dusseldorf, then met Anton and they had Luna, it was Luna in Berlin, 1988, who was instrumental in bringing the history to a full circle. Her great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and Luna were an important part of that history and Luna wanted to know it all...
by night, we're all the same colour...
The Night Travelers is an intense, emotional, heartbreaking story with ripples of hope, love and survival throughout the pages. The journey from Berlin to Havana, to the US then back to Dusseldorf and the spanning of over 75 years is an important tale, and although fictional, the author has used facets of real events to tell this story. The Author's Notes at the end of the book are interesting and detailed. Highly recommended.
With thanks to Simon & Schuster AU for my uncorrected proof ARC to read in exchange for an honest review. -
Four women, four stories, four different time periods.
Three of them - Ally, Lilith, Nadine - mothers who find themselves in similar situations - they had to send their daughters away to protect them because of war and prejudice. The fourth is Luna who never married.
Ally was born in Germany and had to give up Lilith because she was a mixed race child that Germany classified unfit because of the "racial hygiene" laws .
She sent Lilith to Cuba with a German couple where they never heard from each other again, where Lilth married Martin, had a child Nadine, and a child that had to be sent out of the country when the Cuban Revolution happened.
Nadine wants to know about her heritage and goes to Berlin. Nadine has a daughter Luna. Luna wants to help her mother find peace with their pasts, and they both go back to Cuba.
It took a bit to get into the book, but historical fiction fans will devour this very beautifully written, complex read that pulls at your heart strings and shows the power of motherly love and a cruel world.
The alluring, gorgeous cover adds to the captivating storyline. 4/5
This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review. -
I did like this story which followed generations of women dealing with the worst it seemed that life offered. Starting with Ally Keller, in Berlin in the early 1930's, we find a talented poetess who falls for a young Negro musician and becomes pregnant. She knows with the coming of Nazism and the pure Germanic book goal that her mixed race daughter will be shunned and later on sterilized. In order to stop this she sends her daughter with a Jewish family to Cuba. Lilith, the child grows, and then comes the Cuban Communist Revolution where her husband is imprisoned and shot for being a pilot. Her daughter, Nadine, is caught up in the turmoil and her mother, Lilith makes a decision that has Nadine arriving in New York and being adopted by a German Family.
In 1988, Nadine grown to be a scientist living in Germany, dedicated herself to finding the remains of the dead and giving them an honorable and proper burial. She shies away from learning about her own family, She also has a daughter, Luna, who eventually will find the shocking truth and betrayal that led to the tragedies faced by her great grandmother, grandmother, and mother,
The story flips back and forth between time periods but the chapters are clearly marked. My only qualm with the story was its excessive wordiness which often included repetition, but this was a worthwhile story that once again brought home the concept of powerful mother love.
Thank you to Armando Lucas Correa, Atria Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this book due out January 15, 2023. -
3.5 stars
This was my first book by this author and it won’t be my last.
I did enjoy the storyline, its timeline structure and the characters.
I also enjoyed the writing, although a bit repetitive (I’m not sure if it was caused by the translation).
The reason why I did not love this book was because I was not emotionally invested or connected with the characters (perhaps something was lost in translation).
But overall it was a good entertainment, an easy and fast read. -
“By night, we’re all the same color.”
This story is about four generations of TOUGH women, told in four different timelines throughout each of their lives.
Starting in Berlin,1931, Ally Keller is a poet, in love with a German black musician named Marcus. She becomes pregnant but her relationship with Marcus is quickly cut off because he goes missing. He is assumed to have been taken away by the Nazis. She gives birth to their beautiful daughter, Lilith. However, due to Lilith’s mixed race (she is referred to by the Nazis’ as a “mischling” which is having one Aryan parent and one of another race) and the Nazi eugenics policies currently in place, she knows it would be safer for her daughter in another country. So, she entrusts her Jewish neighbors, the Herzogs’, to help her daughter escape with them.
From there, we follow the story of Lilith in Havana, to Lilith’s daughter Nadine in America. Nadine is then sent to Germany where she has a daughter named Luna. Luna is inquisitive about her families past and soon makes a huge discovery that will surprise everyone.
How much history can be packed into one, single book? Apparently, A LOT! There is layer, upon layer, upon layer. Just when you think one family has suffered enough heartache, there is more heartache. Not only did they have to endure the wrath of the Nazis, but also communism in Cuba and racism in every country along the way. It shows that the author did his research about these time periods, and I applaud him. It is fascinating that he was able to tie so much together into one book. I must say it was extremely hard to read the part where Ally had to take Lilith to the Nazi panel to determine if she looked “Aryan” enough or not. I had tears in my eyes and to know that these practices were inspired by the United States’ program of forced sterilization is gut-wrenching.
Then, there is the character development which is remarkable. I had so many favorites from sweet Bruno aka “Opa”, who did everything in his power to be a friend to Lilith and keep her safe to others like feisty Helena in Cuba. You will grow to love these characters and your heart will ache for them and you will root for them the entire way. If you enjoy historical fiction and want a story with a ton of depth, look no further.
This was my first book by Armando Lucas Correa, but will not be my last. Thank you so much to Net Galley and the author for my gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
“We were all babies once, and before we die, we go back to that time when we depend on someone doing everything for us.” -
One final book to close out 2022!
Four generations of women, each a victim of war, sent away and coming back to the beginning to find each other. We start with the poet Ally Keller in 1930's Berlin, she falls in love with a black musician and gets pregnant. Her daughter, Lilith is subjected to the German racial eugenics and she is forced to send her daughter to Cuba to save her life. Except Cuba has its own political turmoil, and Lilith finds herself on the wrong side of the Cuban revolution, and suddenly finds herself in a similar situation as her mother must have been.
My only complaint, was that a few threads were a little too convenient and given how quickly the timeframe moved, it was hard to really truly connect with these characters as much as I would've liked. However, as I close this book, I find myself reaching to research for myself the MS Saint Louis, which is what has inspired Correa's books.
Thank you to Book Club Favorites at Simon & Schuster for the free copy for review. -
The Night Travelers is a multigenerational novel that follows four women in four different time periods. This story opens in 1931 Berlin, Germany during the rise of Nazism.
I love how this novel is all comprised of courageous, strong women. It explores these women as mothers and daughters and shows how the impact of war forced them to persevere through unimaginable obstacles for their families. It was heartbreaking to read at times regarding the dire choices and sacrifices they had to make for the safety of their children.
This also involves the Cuban revolution which I knew little about before reading this story. You can tell the author was well versed due to researching the historical aspects involving Cuba’s revolution and Germany in WWll, all interesting (and unimaginable). This proved to be a heavy-hearted read but was well worth it to learn about these four women. I’m so impressed by this memorable story. 4 stars — Pub. 1/10/23 -
Have you read Armando Lucas Correa’s ‘The German Girl’ or ‘The Daughter’s Tale?’ If so, you’ll want this title that completes his loose trilogy about the survivors of the SS St. Louis.
Correa explores the lives of three women from different times and places who were united in their struggle in making difficult decisions involving family. Ally, Lilith, and Nadine are all forced to make a choice that will keep loved ones safe. For one, it's about ensuring a mixed-race child escapes trauma as WW2 looms, for another it's about keeping a child safe from the grasp of communism and the Cuban Revolution, and for the third, it’s about ensuring a mother is freed from the guilt of her past so that she can enjoy the present and the future.
Have you ever looked at the back side of a tapestry? You’ve probably noticed the chaos of threads and couldn’t imagine that a simple flick of the wrist could turn it over to reveal a beautiful piece of art. It always amazes me. This story is like that. History oozes from the pages of this incredibly rich story. I was unsure how it was all going to work out because of the author’s taut plotting. I had plenty of guesses, but Correa held onto the front side of the tapestry, so to speak, so that I couldn’t see the big picture until he came full circle with his story.
The writing style is different as it utilizes letters and poems in uniting the women’s stories. It’s emotional; the women’s choices are not easy ones to make and the circumstances in which the choice must be made are difficult experiences.
One essential ingredient was missing that would have made this a great book - emotional depth. With so much death, loss and sadness, I expected characters who dug deep to find other emotions to focus on or, at the very least, a strong response to their experiences. The writing came across as too emotionally detached. I also would have loved to have had more distinction between the characters; a unique voice or tone. Is this a personal preference or a shortcoming of writing in third person? I’m not sure. You’ll need to find out yourself!
This book will have you contemplating one of the character’s declarations, “By night, we’re all the same color,” and questioning how far society has really progressed with respect to acceptance.
I love a title that makes me think. I don’t want to be handed everything on a silver platter. There seems to be a trend of simplistic, tell-all titles out there. Congratulations!
I was gifted this copy by Atria Books and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review. -
"The Night Travelers" is a multi-generational story that follows 3 women who live in separate periods and places in time, but share in their traumas and struggles. Told from a third person perspective, we begin with Ally Keller's story - she's forced to raise her young daughter Lilith alone in Berlin, and on the cusp of World War II, must deal with the fact that her mixed race child isn't accepted in society. When the danger becomes too great, she sends Lilith with trusted friends to Havana, Cuba, in hopes that she will simply be seen as a Jew fleeing for safety.
Years later, Lilith grows up in Cuba in the midst of a difficult political climate leading up to the Cuban Revolution. Her childhood sweetheart Martin can't escape his loyalties to the dated Batista government, and after Fidel Castro's successful coup, she's also forced to give birth to her daughter Nadine, alone. Nadine is sent to New York City to live what he hopes is a healthier and safer life, but as an adult, Nadine returns to Berlin to continue her work as a scientist and oversee the eventual final home of the victims of the Holocaust. Her own daughter, Luna, forces her to confront her own past and the stories of her own family.
There was a lot that I wanted to love about this book; Correa clearly did some extensive research into these historical periods and events, and I appreciated how he highlighted the treatment of those who were not of Anglo-Saxon descent within Germany in the period of time before World War II as well as the affects of the Cuban Revolution. He's painted compelling stories of these different women who were forced to make difficult and near-impossible decisions for their daughters, and the way historical and political events shaped their lives. It's not a happy story, but it's an accurate one.
What I struggled with, however, was the writing. The tone and voice, even across all three women, was completely monotonous and flat. Even during moments of extreme emotional depth and loss, the writing glossed over the impact and focused more on just the events that unfolded. I found it difficult to personally connect with any of the women because of this, and had difficulty getting through the pages even though the storyline itself was compelling. All in all, I found this novel to have a strong storyline that was unfortunately muddled by surface-level writing.
Thank you Atria Books for the advance copy of this novel! -
Prachtig, emotioneel boek. De schrijver heeft veel research gedaan naar verschillende grote gebeurtenissen in nazi Duitsland en de revolutie op Cuba.
Aan het einde nog een aantal plottwists die ik niet aan zag komen, maar die ik ergens toch nog had gehoopt.
Dit boek vind ik wel een aanrader voor een ieder die van historische fictie boeken houdt! -
Overall: ☆☆☆☆(4.0)
Writing style: ☆☆☆☆
Entertainment ☆☆☆☆
Characters ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot: ☆☆☆☆
Ending:☆☆☆
First and foremost, I would love to thank Net-Galley, the author, and publishers for allowing me the opportunity to obtain an ARC copy of this novel for my honest opinion and review.
Immediately from reading the synopsis I knew there was such an opportunity for a real, raw, and powerful novel about the unrelenting love of a mother and the power it has to overcome war and separation.
This novel was so powerful and unlike any other historical fiction I generally read. Most historical fiction that centers around nazi Germany, will only contain the historical information that ravaged the country of Germany and the Jewish people.
However, this author was able to take it a step further, and additionally show how communism and war ravaged another country, shortly afterwards.
Additionally, they were able to apply it to one family, who must overcome the tyrannical leaders of their country, and provide better lives for their daughters.
The story follows Ally Keller, in Berlin, who gives birth to her daughter Lilith; and must save her from the the eugenics sterilization that was taking place in order to make a more pure German country.
Lilith was sent to Havana, where we then follow her story as she lives in the Cuban country that will also soon face a Communist war; In which she must save her daughter Nadine from.
After Nadine is sent to America to live in a country not ravaged by war, she finds herself back in her grandmother's country of Germany, as her adoptive family faces allegations of War crimes related to nazi Germany.
This eventually leads to her and her daughter Luna, who began to unravel and decipher where they have come from and what their past may still hold.
Many times this book brought me to tears and absolutely ravaged me. I will admit, during the Lilith portion of the story, it seems to be more plot development, and slows down drastically; which did lose my attention for a small portion of the novel. However, the author quickly grabs the attention back when you realize that she is following in her own mother's footsteps of having to save her daughter by giving her up and abandoning her.
Beautiful characters, amazing development, and quite the imagery. I thoroughly enjoyed this one! -
Interessant verhaal. Soms was het wat traag, maar doordat ik het wel interessant vond wilde ik het toch uitlezen. Het verhaal zit goed in elkaar en ondanks alle tragische dingen is het geen heel zwaarmoedig verhaal. De Cubaanse invalshoek en de link tussen Cuba en Duitsland in de Tweede Wereldoorlog vind ik ook erg interessant. De schrijver heeft meer van dit soort boeken geschreven en die wil ik ook zeker lezen. Hoewel ik wel iets wist over de Cubaanse geschiedenis heb ik door dit boek ook zeker nieuwe dingen geleerd. Mijn man en ik hebben Cuba een aantal jaar geleden bezocht tijdens een vakantie. Daardoor leefde het verhaal voor mij ook wat meer, ondanks dat ik niet alle plaatsen uit het boek bezocht heb. Een aanrader. En omdat 4,5 ster niet kan heb ik het naar boven afgerond. De enige reden om geen volle vijf sterren te geven is de traagheid van het verhaal. Daardoor miste ik soms de drang om het boek weer op te pakken om verder te lezen. Maar verder vind ik het een goed boek. Ik was afgelopen vrijdag met mijn moeder bij haar bibliotheek en toen zag ik dit boek daar in de kast staan en zij heeft het ook meegenomen.
-
The Night Travelers was a very sad book, story after story of many losing their hope and life in a war that was full of inequality, racism, horror, discrimination, lack of empathy, and a bunch of ignorant people acting like animals or better said worst than animals.
This is the story of many, especially women who had to give up their daughters or sons to be able to survive a senseless war without a cause, Ally knows she has to hide her daughter when she finds out she is mixed raced, the Nazis are on the rise hunting anyone who doesn't look like their pretty evil standards.
Havana s living under a communist regimen taking every single thing out of their habitats, they have their own evil going on on the island, at first many were being saved by the government many escaping the flames and war machine of the nazis only to discover that they were not going to be free as they imagine.
Many stories are intertwined and transcend many years and situations, but in the end, all of them behave the same way, committing many atrocities that sooner or later will come to hunt them down, this is the case of Federico Laredo Bru, a Cuban politician who did the worst thing you could ever imagine, I hope he spends eternity in hell!!! Together with the whole Cuban government and the Nazi losers!!! the ignorant Canadian government and also the gringos to all of them for not allowing refugees from WWll to disembark.
Can you imagine sending thousand and thousand of KIDS yes you read that right KIDS!!!! far away from the Nazis to be rejected and denied entrance by every government only to return to the Nazis and be killed!
so yes the book was sad and the story was very sad, I don't hold any candle to anyone involved in this terrible atrocity a story that even Cubans still say "that karma will ever hunt them after Federico's brilliant mistake"
it was a good book but
Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for the advanced copy of The Night Travelers in exchange for my honest review -
This story follows four generations of women. Ally has a mixed race daughter in 1939 Germany and to protect her from the eugenics program she sends her to Cuba with a Jewish couple. Lilith has a daughter, Nadine. This is during the revolution and after the arrest of her husband Lilith, with the help of the Catholic Church, sends her out of the country to live with a German couple in New York City. Nadine and her family subsequently go back to Germany to live where she has her daughter, Luna.
There was a lot to be covered in about 350 pages, Germany in the late 1930's just when Hitler is coming to power. Lilith's time in Cuba covers the revolution and Castro's coming to power. I really don't know much about the history and wasn't explained in detail. I never quite connected with any of the women except perhaps Ally. The others were children and then they were adults. Lilith and Nadine didn't grow up with loving families and it had to be confusing for them moving to very different cultures and needing another language. Nadine was a scientist and her job was identifying the remains of people killed during the war. Again, that would have been fascinating but just barely touched on. Luna's story was particularly confusing for me as her and her mom are discovering the past so all the names from the beginning are coming back into play and Ally is sometimes referred to has grandmother if Nadine is talking and great-grandmother if it is Luna's perspective. I found it best to just read and hope it all fell into place. I found the ending kind of blah. It's not a bad book. I felt like it could have been great but it just kept missing the mark.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Atria for providing me with a digital copy. -
Um daqueles livros que se devora muito facilmente, em que a história nos absorve do início ao fim.
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Thank you to netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was such a different WW2 historical fiction book than what I have read before as it is about a mixed race baby that is born in Germany just before the Nazis have taken over. I don’t want to ruin the story but it was interesting to learn more about other mixed race children and what life was like for them in the author’s note.
Pick up this book you’ll be glad you did. -
This is my first book by Armando Lucas Correa, and I'm so glad I found it. This is another excellent piece of historical fiction that ticks all the boxes as it follows four generations of women from Nazi Germany to the Cuban Revolution, and to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1980s Germany.
Mother/daughter relationships are at the heart of the novel with each mother making difficult - heartbreaking - decisions to help save their respective daughters. The story is told in very linear fashion as we follow as each woman and then her daughter as they struggle to find their place in societies that are not always welcoming.
As always, I loved the historical aspects of this well-researched story. From the eugenics program undertaken by Hitler to "cleanse" society to the SS St. Louis that transported hundreds of Jewish families to Cuba and potential freedom, only to be sent back to Germany after only a handful are allowed to remain in Cuba. The Cuban Revolution also plays heavily in the story as tragedy plays out over the years of unrest and violence.
I especially liked the perspectives and personalities of Lilith as she grows into herself in Cuba and her granddaughter Luna, who is raised in Germany after mother Nadine moves there when her adoptive mother is arrested in the US and tried as a Nazi war criminal. As the story unfolds, we learn more and more about these women, both past and present.
I did find the ending to be long and drawn out and some emotional depth lacking. But the historical aspects of this story were fascinating. I would definitely like to go back and check out Correa's other stories, The German Girl and The Daughter's Tale to compare them all.
Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for the digital ARC of the Night Travelers. -
Title: The Night Travelers
Author: Armando Lucas Correa
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: January 10, 2023
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for sending me physical ARC in exchange for an honest review. #gifted
T H R E E • W O R D S
Ambitious • Layered • Powerful
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Berlin, 1931: Ally Keller, a talented young poet, is alone and scared when she gives birth to a mixed-race daughter she names Lilith. As the Nazis rise to power, Ally knows she must keep her baby in the shadows to protect her against Hitler’s deadly ideology of Aryan purity. But as she grows, it becomes more and more difficult to keep Lilith hidden so Ally sets in motion a dangerous and desperate plan to send her daughter across the ocean to safety.
Havana, 1958: Now an adult, Lilith has few memories of her mother or her childhood in Germany. Besides, she’s too excited for her future with her beloved Martin, a Cuban pilot with strong ties to the Batista government. But as the flames of revolution ignite, Lilith and her newborn daughter, Nadine, find themselves at a terrifying crossroads.
Berlin, 1988: As a scientist in Berlin, Nadine is dedicated to ensuring the dignity of the remains of all those who were murdered by the Nazis. Yet she has spent her entire lifetime avoiding the truth about her own family’s history. It takes her daughter, Luna, to encourage Nadine to uncover the truth about the choices her mother and grandmother made to ensure the survival of their children. And it will fall to Luna to come to terms with a shocking betrayal that changes everything she thought she knew about her family’s past.
💭 T H O U G H T S
I was initially drawn to The Night Travelers thanks to the beautiful cover, and was convinced by the unique synopsis despite not having heard very much in the lead up to publication.
This novel is a multi-generational saga following four generations of women from Germany to Havana to the United States and to Germany again. I commend Armando on his expectational character development, although I did need to draw myself a family tree in order to keep track of everyone. Not only does this book provide extensive historical detail, but it's a novel of self-discovery, of sacrifice, and ultimately motherly love. The beginning was incredibly strong, but as the story progressed the writing felt monotonous, which took away a layer of emotion I desperately wanted.
This book covers A LOT of ground offering an in-depth history lesson spanning decades and including the Nazis rise to power, the Cuban Revolution, the rise of Communism, Operation Peter Pan and the fall of the Berlin Wall. A couple of aspects I really enjoyed were learning about the eugenics program (Ally's sacrifice for her mixed-race daughter), and I was unaware of the Jewish refugees fleeing to Cuba. While I appreciated everything this book covers, at times it felt overly detailed, which detracted from my connection to the story and characters.
The Night Travelers is a unique book in that it's the first book I've read that has spanned not only decades but continents, and yet everything came full circle. It's a tad-long winded at times, but I can understand it needed to be in order to tell this story. Overall, a solid historical fiction novel from a distinct voice in the genre.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• WWII historical fiction fans looking for something a little different
• readers who enjoy a good motherly love narrative
⚠️ CW: death, death of parent, grief, genocide, hate crime, torture, racism, racial slurs, suicidal thoughts, violence, murder, war, antisemitism, medical content, medical trauma, blood, abortion, dementia, pregnancy
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"By night, we’re all the same color."
"'There's no better way to welcome someone than with books.'"
"I learned that sometimes the only wat to save what you love the most is by abandoning it." -
This is my first by this author. I will definitely be reading more of his work.
This is a very emotional story. It takes you to different lands, time, people, and wars. It touches your heart in a way that you won't soon forget. This author reminded me of some times that I had forgotten. A time when I was a child and had no idea what was going on mostly. His writing is sad but beautiful. The way the words are written captivated me. Took my heart and would not let it go. I literally wept for these characters and what they went through. It was so realistic. Based on true times. True events. Things that actually happened. How sad war is. How horrible the Nazi's and the Cuban revolutionaries were. Things that happened were atrocious. So horrible that we can't begin to imagine. I'm glad we can't but we also need to remember that it did and it very well could again. Things are happening around us that are horrible. War is something that we need less of no matter what country you live in.
This book is told in three parts. The first, the beginning, is Ally's story. It's Berlin, March 1931. She gives birth to her baby girl Lillith. One line in this era that really jumped out at me was: "BOOKS ARE NO LONGER SEEN AS USEFUL IN THIS COUNTRY. WHO CARES ABOUT READING THE CLASSICS THESE DAYS?" That was the beginning of the end for the Jews in Germany. Banned books. Banned human beings. Treating people as though they are nothing but scum. Sterilization of children who may carry a gene that is not perfect. Killing or messing up these children forever. All in the name of one man. One horrible little man who was by far not perfect. It's amazing to me how people will follow a man no matter what he is doing. Praise him no matter what. Excuse the horrors no matter what.
What would you do to keep your child safe? Would you give that child away. Send them to a safe place and go on living your life without them? Could you? In the name of love maybe? That is what this story is about. A woman named Ally. A poet who gave her child away to keep her safe. Because this child was a mixed race child. She had a defect. She was a Black German. That was her defect. To keep her safe her mother was willing to give her up. Send her to a new country with almost strangers.
This book is about four women. Four fairly strong women who do what they have to to survive and to keep their families safe. Through generations these women are connected. It starts in Berlin in 1931 and goes through Havana, Cuba 1942 and the US in 1975 and circles back to Berlin in 2015 where it all comes together. A family with so much loss and finding again. So much heartache. The years are all mapped out perfectly. Jumping ahead and then at times back again. You will learn everything you need to about this family.
I loved the characters in this story. All of them. I tried to hate one but I finally felt sorry for that one. My heart broke for the women and what they went through. What they endured in the name of love. Even with the men who loved them were not strong enough it seemed. Generations of heartache and love. This is one historical that will keep you turning the pages and patting your eyes. Tears and lots of them will be shed.
This book leaves nothing undone. Every aspect is covered. A few surprises are along this ride also. Things I certainly didn't expect. I was glad though. I was happy about these. This is one book you just can't miss if you love a good historical.
Thank you #NetGalley, ArmandoLucasCorrea, #AtriaPublishing for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
5 huge stars from me. I highly recommend it and that you have tons of tissues as you will need them. -
THE NIGHT TRAVELERS
This book is the story of four generations of women covering the time period from 1930 to 2015, set in Berlin, New York, and Havana. Each of their lives is shaped by major political events of the time, including WWII, the Cuban Revolution, the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is the story of mothers and daughters and their search for understanding.
The story begins in 1931 Berlin with the birth of Lilith, child of Ally and Marcus. She is a mischling; of mixed race. With the advent of WWII and rise of the Nazis, the new racial laws put Lilith’s life in peril. The difficult decisions made to insure her safety ripple on through the next few generations.
With one of the very few fortunate travelers on the MS Saint Louis, the story continues on in Havana. The upheaval in the overthrow of Batista by Fidel Castro again pushes the fate of the next generation. With the birth of Nadine on January 1, 1959, the political involvement of her father has a determining effect on her life path.
Leading up to the birth of fourth generation Luna in 1989 Berlin, events involving Nazi war criminal trials and the reunification of Germany leave their mark on her upbringing. As she matures, a search for understanding leads Luna to delve into her ancestry and many unresolved issues of abandonment and betrayal within the family are confronted.
I thought the author did a wonderful job of painting the political and historical landscape as each woman’s life is seamlessly revealed. I very much enjoyed the emphasis on the historical context and the depth of information presented. I felt as though I could actually feel the pain that these women felt while living through these very difficult times in history. It was a serious but lovely book and not at all sappy.
There were a few times that I struggled to distinguish between the women, as the time and place move around quite a bit. But each chapter is clearly labeled and it was worth the effort. The book also includes a terrific bibliography.
I would like to thank NetGalley, Armando Lucas Correa, and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book. -
Compelling, rich, and moving!
The Night Travelers is a heartbreaking, alluring tale that transports you between Germany, Cuba, and the USA from 1931 to 2015 and immerses you in all the oppression, tragedy, emotions, memories, racism, and scars that mar and define the multi-generational women of the Keller family.
The prose is fluid and expressive. The characters are wounded, selfless, and intelligent. And the plot is a tender tale about life, loss, love, grief, forgiveness, sacrifice, friendship, courage, hope, romance, the unbreakable ties that bind us as family, and the horrors of both WWII and the Cuban Revolution.
Overall, The Night Travelers is an atmospheric, absorbing, heartfelt tale by Correa that does a beautiful job of highlighting his exceptional ability to portray complex, memorable characters and historically troubling times in such a way that is not only impactful but stays with you long after you finish the final page.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review. -
De noche, todos tenemos el mismo color…
Primer libro que leo de este autor y me he enamorado de su pluma!
Conecté con cada una de las mujeres del libro y le aplaudo al autor la fantástica forma de unir la ficción con faros históricos. -
Another great book by Armando Correa. I love how he captures the love mothers have for their children and the sacrifices they are willing to make to keep them safe. This book made me cry (not an easy feat!) and I will be thinking about these women for a long time!
Thanks to Atria books, NetGalley and the author for the ARC (and the handwritten note!)
