Scan barcode
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Violence, Racism, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Pregnancy, Ableism, Confinement, Genocide, Death of parent, Dementia, and Homophobia
kelly_e's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
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
🔖 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."
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
🔖 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."
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Antisemitism, and Grief
Moderate: Racism, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Violence, Murder, Torture, Pregnancy, Genocide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Dementia, Abortion, and Suicidal thoughts
okiecozyreader's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
I might give this one 4.5. I love that it is translated from Spanish and that the author edited it to convey what he wanted in English. He is so delightful to talk with and I’m grateful I got to discuss this with him and @bookfriendsbookclub.
This is an interesting, under the radar pick. It begins in Germany during WWII with Ally Keller, a poet who has a daughter Lilith, fathered by a black German musician. When he disappears, she moves on with her life with the help of a professor. When her child is declared a bastard and doesn’t meet the Aryan purity, she sends her to Cuba with a Jewish couple they know seeking refuge. As Lilith grows up, she marries the son of a president, who becomes a target when Castro takes leadership, sending her young daughter Nadine to NYC through the Catholic Church. Nadine ends up back in Europe when the only mother she’s known is arrested.
So many generations of trauma from a Cuban perspective at times (from his family’s memories). Even though it covers many hard topics, it is beautifully written and our bookclub loved it (it got all 4.5 and 5 votes). It’s so interesting in how it covers these memories relating to this time period of WWII in Cuba and how these generations of people hid and lost their families.
Titled The Night Travelers, originally because Ally and Lilith couldn’t travel safely during the day (because her hair gave her away as being black and less-than), they felt safer at night. Ally wrote a poem mentioned throughout the book likewise called The Night Travelers. And I loved how each generation carried this through as night travelers.
Night travelers are full of light. —RUMI
“the night belongs to us, to me and you. The night is ours.” Ch 2
“she, who had always been a night traveler. By night, we’re all the same color,” Ch 18
“She had abandoned her daughter to save her. We give up what we love. We forget as the only means of salvation. It was her daughter’s turn to be the night traveler, just as she had once been.” Ch 20
“This was when the little girl realized: she was destined to live in the night. She and her grandmother Lilith were daughters of the moon.” Ch 26
“She’s realized I’ve spent my whole life forgetting, ever since I was born, and now she wants to remember everything.” Ch 26
“There’s no better way to welcome someone than with books.” Ch 26
“You had to be born so that I could understand my mother.” Ch 33
“Perhaps they’d left the world knowing that their lives weren’t as hopeless as they’d believed. “You can’t leave life carrying a heavy load,” she had heard her grandmother Ernestine say on more than one occasion. “To get to the other side, you must travel as lightly as possible.” Ch 35
This is an interesting, under the radar pick. It begins in Germany during WWII with Ally Keller, a poet who has a daughter Lilith, fathered by a black German musician. When he disappears, she moves on with her life with the help of a professor. When her child is declared a bastard and doesn’t meet the Aryan purity, she sends her to Cuba with a Jewish couple they know seeking refuge. As Lilith grows up, she marries the son of a president, who becomes a target when Castro takes leadership, sending her young daughter Nadine to NYC through the Catholic Church. Nadine ends up back in Europe when the only mother she’s known is arrested.
So many generations of trauma from a Cuban perspective at times (from his family’s memories). Even though it covers many hard topics, it is beautifully written and our bookclub loved it (it got all 4.5 and 5 votes). It’s so interesting in how it covers these memories relating to this time period of WWII in Cuba and how these generations of people hid and lost their families.
Titled The Night Travelers, originally because Ally and Lilith couldn’t travel safely during the day (because her hair gave her away as being black and less-than), they felt safer at night. Ally wrote a poem mentioned throughout the book likewise called The Night Travelers. And I loved how each generation carried this through as night travelers.
Night travelers are full of light. —RUMI
“the night belongs to us, to me and you. The night is ours.” Ch 2
“she, who had always been a night traveler. By night, we’re all the same color,” Ch 18
“She had abandoned her daughter to save her. We give up what we love. We forget as the only means of salvation. It was her daughter’s turn to be the night traveler, just as she had once been.” Ch 20
“This was when the little girl realized: she was destined to live in the night. She and her grandmother Lilith were daughters of the moon.” Ch 26
“She’s realized I’ve spent my whole life forgetting, ever since I was born, and now she wants to remember everything.” Ch 26
“There’s no better way to welcome someone than with books.” Ch 26
“You had to be born so that I could understand my mother.” Ch 33
“Perhaps they’d left the world knowing that their lives weren’t as hopeless as they’d believed. “You can’t leave life carrying a heavy load,” she had heard her grandmother Ernestine say on more than one occasion. “To get to the other side, you must travel as lightly as possible.” Ch 35
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content, Violence, War, Pregnancy, Abortion, Abandonment, Deportation, and Genocide
More...