Member Reviews
Taking place during the four different time periods this is a book about four women, each with their own yet interconnected story. This book is for those who both love historical fiction and those who love to read about changing times, impossible choices and overcoming obstacles. The book is a reasonable length, not too heavy on the descriptions and is an easy if not always light in topic, read. Recommend.
I enjoyed this one. I like the story and the author's writing style. I couldn't put this one down.
I have recommended this one to a few people who I thought would like this kind of book.
I love books with stories that cover a lengthy, historical time period and The Night Travellers does just that.
Beginning in Germany in 1931 we find Ally Keller giving birth to her daughter Lilith who's father is Black and this sets up both mother and daughter for Hitler's "racial purity" policy that has horrific aspects in pre-war Germany. We feel the agony of Ally's struggle to get Lilith out of Germany in order to save her life, but also means they will never see each other again. Lilith, just 9 years old, is smuggled out of Germany on a ship bound for Cuba.
The Cuban Revolution is brewing during Lilith's maturing years. As a young adult she marries and finds herself, on a New Years' Eve, giving birth to her own daughter, Nadine. Within days following, her husband is arrested and jailed until his trial which takes three years to begin. Shockingly, Lilith will now follow in her own mother's footsteps and faces having to orchestrate her 3-year old daughter's disappearance from Cuba to New York to escape Communism.
Once settled in New York, Nadine grows up with two Jewish "parents" who hide a secret that will eventually necessitate Nadine leaving New York and finding herself in Berlin where her 'parents' history is revealed and one of them imprisoned. Nadine goes to University, becomes a scientist, marries Anton and eventually Luna is born.
Ally, Lilith, Nadine and Luna. The turbulent, terrifying, war-torn, years of the lives of three of these women are history and it is now 1996. Ally died during WWII, Lilith is trapped in a regime under communist rule, while Nadine and Luna are able to live relatively normal lives in peacetime Germany. Nadine has spent her lifetime avoiding the truth of her family history until an old box of letters is found and her daughter Luna encourages her mother to learn the truth of what her mother and grandmother did in sacrificing life with their daughters.
A shocking betrayal is unlocked, truths are revealed, a reunion brings Nadine love and a peaceful heart while we all learn the power of a mother's love.
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This book was incredibly sad. The heartbreak of having to give up a child to ensure their survival and the ripple effect of loss through the fabric of family descendants is is felt throughout this novel. As a mother this was extremely heartbreaking to read.
I really like how the author went in a different direction over the well trod fictional grounds of the 2nd world war. A refreshing take on the lasting effects of the Nazi regime.
Read if you like: multi-generational family sagas.
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This book follows four generations of women as they grapple with love, loss, and heartbreak. I loved how in the end they start to uncover secrets about their family’s past.
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We get to read and explore Nazi Germany, the Cuban Revolution, as well as Germany during and after the Berlin Wall. I was completely entranced by this story. Overall I loved it, but it did feel like the author tried to pack a lot into this book. I would finally get into one character's part of the story when we would move on to the next. I understand that was the point of the book, but it felt like it just moved really quickly.
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Overall a beautiful story!
Set during four distinctive times in history, The Night Travelers follows four women who are all connected by blood.
I’ve never read anything by Armando Lucas Correa before, but that is definitely changing. His writing style is poetic, unique and full of history. Despite being translated from Spanish, the novel is still so full of the original poetic feeling.
Normally novels set over long periods of time are hard to read, but this novel felt far too short. Starting with Ally Keller in Germany who must make a very hard decision for her daughter’s future, to Lilith who found a home in Cuba and fell for the son of her next door neighbour, Martin. But when Cuba falls, it is now up to her to decide the fate of her child. Nadine comes next, with a hate for her past and a hope that things will get better. But it is really Luna who brings the story to an end, or rather a new beginning.
Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I loved following the four generations and seeing how their lives intertwined. This is my favourite way to learn all of our history.
Thank you to Simon & Shuster Canada, Atria Books and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This story follows the heartbreaking journey of four generations of women from the beginnings of war in Germany, the political upheavals of Cuba and finally ends in the United States. Some of the women experience having to make the same devastating decisions their mothers were forced to make.
I really enjoyed this book told in each women's voice about the life and decisions they made. The one thing this story showcases is the love of a mother and the sacrifices she is willing to make to save her child. Even through the heartbreak of their stories, there is also love and life lived that brings light to their stories.
Great characters that come to life with each page read.
Wow. I couldn’t put this book down. It was a very emotional and sad read. Beautifully written with wonderful characters and a backdrop of rich and horrific history. There was love and loss, betrayal and surprise. Each generation had a strong story that pulled on my heartstrings. A lot of different history was covered from WWII to the Cuban revolution to the berlin wall. If you like historical fiction at all I would strongly recommend.
Spanning four generations of women across the brutality of the Nazis to the Cuban revolution, this is an engrossing, well written historical novel. Their struggles for survival and happiness revolve around sacrifice and love. Well worth the read!
I really enjoyed this, the characters were memorable and well written and the plot was unique and interesting. I liked the twists and the settings and how real the emotions and everything felt.
This impecably researched 20th century saga spans the lives four generations of one family's women from pre-WWII Germany through the present day.
First and foremost, it's a great story chronicling events in Germany, Cuba, the United States and back to Germany. There aren't many smiles but it's got all the feels. It was easy to become wrapped up in the stories and fall in love with the heroic women of Correa's saga, but this book is so much more.
It's packed full of themes and images and begs the indepth analysis of a modern literature undergraduate course or literary book club. There's just so much here to look at.
Highly recommended whether you're looking for scholarly reading or just a really good read.
I really wanted to love this book. It started off really slow and while it did pick up, it wasn't enough for me to be really excited about it.
The character development was good but that was about all that was good for me. The plot felt unnatural but i did push myself to finish it. Maybe it was just me but this one missed the mark for me
Sadly, I'm abandoning this one for now. I've picked up and put it down so many times but I just can't connect with the characters or the plot from the get go. Hopefully I can be inspired to pick it up another time- I was really looking forward to this because I loved The German Girl so much! Middle star rating because I can't accurately give a rating for the whole book.
Correa was born in Cuba and now lives in NYC. This is his third historical fiction novel, the first two being "The German Girl" and "The Daughter's Tale". Set in Berlin and Havana from 1931 to near present day, the story tells the tale of four generations of women affected by war. In order to protect their daughters a few must make incredible sacrifices. It deals with the Nazis eugenics program, the MS St. Louis refugee ship from Germany to Havana, the Cuban revolution and Operation Peter Pan in which the Catholic Church successfully evacuated over 14,000 minors to the USA after the revolution. This is a fascinating read and a good recommendation for fans of historical fiction.
I love historical fiction and the plot of this one was very interesting., focussing on mothers and daughters, their sacrifices and the echo of their actions across three generations. However, I found it hard to really connect to the characters and the pacing was slow at times. It may well have been my mood while reading this so please take this with a grain of salt and check this one out. Mine will be a minority view, I’m sure.
I loved this epic tale which followed four generations of one family moving from Germany, Cuba and New York. This book was very moving, sad and beautiful. This is the type of story which will stay with the reader long after they have turned the final page.
Delighted to include this title in the January edition of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction, for the Books section of Zoomer magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)
What a beautiful story about strong women and impossible choices. I learned so much about the history of Cuba as well as a few things about Nazi Germany that I didn’t know. I love the way genetic traits filtered down through the generations and physical characteristics that skipped one generation showed up in a later one. Thank you to the author, NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Canada and Atria for the ARC.
The Night Travelers by Armando Lucas Correa is a great historical fiction that follows 4 generations of women from Nazi Germany to Cuba and back to Berlin, Germany in modern times. It is a powerful story about the sacrifices mother's will go to, to save their children.
The heartbreaking story starts out when a mother of a mixed race child in Nazi Germany must make a very difficult decision to save her daughter. Also it shows the deception of some of the people that you thought were trusted allies. Throughout the book tough decisions must be made and loved ones are affected by these choices.
This emotional and sweeping novel will for sure appeal to fans of historical fiction. Beautifully written with strong and well developed characters that will not disappoint.
Thanks to Simon and Schuster, and NetGalley for sending me an advanced copy of this book.