'This is the story of how I became a man ...'

In May 1939, the SS St. Louis left Hamburg for Havana, carrying almost a thousand refugees from Hitler's Germany. Over the following weeks, the ship criss-crossed the ocean, buffeted alternately by hope and disappointment, as it sought asylum in a friendly port and war drew inexorably closer. Based on actual events, Michael Arditti's enthralling new novel is the memoir of one of the passengers, fifteen-year-old Karl, heir to a department store fortune. He recounts both the horror and excitement of the trip, along with his personal voyage of discovery, as he learns the truth about his family, battles Nazi crew members and plans mutiny. Most momentously, he describes his first, passionate love affair with the beautiful young Johanna.

'A fine example of how resonant fiction based on real events can be' Economist

'Arditti succeeds in creating fiction that is morally serious, moving and intense' TLS 

'Tender and perceptive... a totally absorbing read' Daily Mail 

'This moving rites-of-passage tale is as readable as it is profound' Express 

'A famous story, retold by Arditti with warmth, vividness and gentle wisdom' The Times

'A moving and heartening story in which spirit triumphs over political barbarity' Edna O'Brien

'Brilliant use of a momentous journey . . . A gripping and adroit fusion of history with personal drama' Rose Tremain