I became connected to the first caharcter, but her daughter became the next focus, then her daughter, and so forth for another generation. I became turesineand I wondered, too, about a possible translater interpreting the book from Spanish? Alas He write in English. New to me topics such as refugees in Cuba came up so I did learn some. ( )

This novel was both interesting and frustrating to read. I found the concept fascinating - a multi-generational story that opens with the birth of a Black girl in 1930s Germany - but I kept getting frustrated with the sudden time shifts throughout the book that made me want to re-organize the entire book. ( )

Ally has given birth to a mixed race daughter, Lilith. As the Nazis rise to power, Lilith’s life is threatened every day. So, Ally does an ultimate sacrifice. She sends her daughter overseas for protection. This would change their lives and destinies forever.

This is a story which spans several decades and several famous events. I especially enjoyed the part set in Cuba. I learned quite a bit about this time period.

I was supposed to physically read this one but I had a good many books due so I decided to get it from audible. I am glad I did. I will be honest, if I had physically read it, I probably would have DNFed it. It is a tad bit slow in places. But, don’t hold that against this book because the ending is the best. And I would have missed that!

Need a good family saga…this is it! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. ( )

Usually, when I put a book down and pick it up and put it down and pick it up, it means that I'm struggling to get through it. That was not the case here. Rather, it meant that I wanted to sit with each few chapters before moving on. The book somewhat lends itself to this approach, as each chapter is a vignette in a character's life, before jumping several months or years in time. Most often, we jump forward, but in the first section, the narrative jumps both forward and back to tell the story of a romance and its consequences. Time moves non-linearly in the last section as well, but in that case, it serves to dish up a few big reveals, and so makes sense. I couldn't quite figure out the reasoning behind the jumping around in the first section.

This is a compelling story, exploring the bond between mothers and daughters, the sacrifices a mother might make to save her daughter, and a daughter coming to understand those sacrifices as an adult. Though the writing is uneven in some places, overall the story flows from mother to daughter, from one year to the next, connecting generations through time and space.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review. ( )

The Night Travelers treads lightly on the familiar ground of The German Girl. Again we have the story of Ally, a mother saving her daughter Lilith from genocide by sending her to Cuba. Lilith repeats her mother’s sacrifice, sending her daughter Nadine from Cuba’s communism for New York, and then Nadine’s daughter Luna returns to Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall to learn about her family. This book takes us through four generations rather than two and seems more appropriate for a mini-series where that one felt like a movie.

The Night Travelers seems as though it would make a good mini-series with perhaps one night per generation. It is possible actors, by dint of being different people, would add more to the characters who are somewhat flat. For example, four different women growing up in different countries and in different eras should sound and act differently. I should be able to know who is speaking by their voice, not their words. Generations are not duplicates, but new castings. There just was too little differentiation in the women.

The plot is interesting, though, already familiar from The German Girl. IAs with that book, his inspiration comes from the voyage of the St. Louis, a refugee ship that was turned away by the Cuban, American, and Canadian governments, forced to return to Germany where many of its passengers died in the Holocaust. Lucas Correa, a Cuban writer living in exile, has been inspired by the stories of the 28 passengers allowed to debark in Cuba. For more about the St. Louis, there is quite a bit at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website. [ Click here to read.]

I received an e-galley of The Night Travelers from the publisher through NetGalley

The Night Travelers at Atria | Simon & Schuster
Armando Lucas Correa author site

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2023/01/19/the-night-travelers-by-ar... ( )