My favorite book that I read this year was Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. Its genre is historical fiction. I know this because it takes place at the end of World War 2 and also takes place at the sinking of a ship that really happened but it has fictional characters. Salt to the Sea takes place in January 1945, during the final days of WWII. The Allied forces are gaining ground both to the west and the east, and so German civilians are evacuating, fleeing violence and running towards the Baltic Sea where the German navy will transport them to safety.

The story is told from four points of view: Joana is a Lithuanian refugee who was allowed to resettle in Germany; Emilia is a pregnant teenager who escaped the genocide that wiped out many of her fellow ethnic Poles and is trying to remain off the radar of roving German soldiers; Florian is a former art restorer from Prussia who is smuggling a priceless statue he has stolen from the Nazis as revenge after they killed his father; Alfred is a delusional Nazi soldier working on the Wilhelm Gustloff. Emilia meets Florian in a potato cellar, where he saves her from a Soviet soldier’s attempted assault. Emilia becomes attached to Florian, whom she sees as her “knight,” and begins to follow him on his journey out of East Prussia. That evening, the two hideout in a barn, where they meet Joana and her fellow travelers—Klaus, Eva, Ingrid, and a man called “the Shoe Poet.” Although the other refugees distrust Florian, Joana is a nurse and feels obligated to help him. She removes shrapnel from a wound on his side and stitches the site closed. In the morning, Florian slips out, and Emilia follows him. The next day, Florian and Emilia accidentally run into Joana again when they all decide to spend the night in the same abandoned Prussian mansion. Although Florian’s wound has begun to heal, Emilia is now clearly sick. Joana examines her and realizes that, although only fifteen, she’s almost nine months pregnant. Joana worries the pregnancy is the result of rape, but Emilia assures her that the father of her child is a man named August, whom she loves and is on her way to meet. The two groups decide to travel together. They walk for another day until they reach the coast, at which point they must cut across a frozen bay. As they begin to cross the water, Allied planes shoot through the ice and Ingrid, who had been the first to cross, falls into the water and drowns. Shocked by the death of their friend, the group nonetheless makes it across the bay, where they encounter a German soldier. Florian has altered his identification papers to make it look as though he is on a personal mission for Erich Koch, and so the soldier offers to take him by boat wherever he needs to go. Joana and the rest of the refugees convince Florian to let them tag along, and so the group is transported to the city of Götenhafen, a port town where they will be able to board a ship and, they hope, sail to freedom. In Gotenhafen, the group meets Alfred, who is working on the Wilhelm Gustloff. Everyone but Eva manages to get a boarding pass for the same ship—Joana by trading her expertise as a nurse for safe passage, Florian by forging his. Joana begins to work in the maternity ward. There, she cares for Emilia, who gives birth to a baby daughter, Halinka. As she goes into labor, Emilia reveals that Halinka is not August’s child, but the result of rape at the hands of Soviet soldiers. Initially unable to face the prospect of motherhood, Emilia eventually warms to her daughter with the encouragement of her friends and fellow travelers. Two days after boarding the ship, it finally sets sail. That same day, however, Allied torpedoes pierce the hull and cause the Wilhelm Gustloff to begin to sink. Joana, Klaus, Florian and Halinka make it onto the deck and onto a lifeboat. Emilia asks Florian to carry her baby into the lifeboat. Meanwhile, Florian asks Alfred to briefly hold his pack (which contains a priceless stolen artifact, the amber swan), but then the lifeboat is lowered into the water, and Emilia is separated from her child, and Florian from his belongings. To find out what happens you have to read it!

I choose this book because I hate reading but this book is so thrilling that I enjoyed it. First of all, since it is told from four points of views you get to see what each main character is thinking and you get to see four sides of one story. Another reason is that it has a lot of action and stunning moments. One last reason it’s my favorite book is that it takes place in history which is always interesting to me. If you like history or World War 2 and like action then this is a book for you.