The Girl on the Boat
Emerald Sisters #1
Kate Hewitt
Reviewed by Helen
Fist in a series and based on the true story of the SS St Louis that left Hamburg, Germany in 1939 with one thousand Jews on board, it is a beautifully told story of friendship and determination as we meet four young woman, Sophie, Rosa, Hannah and Rachel, this book is Sophie’s story and it is so very good.
Sophie arrives in Hamburg with her father, step-mother and young half-brother she is filled with hope that their lives will turn around in Havana and being away from The Nazis is just what her father and their family needs.
When she meets three other young woman she is thrilled that she now has friends and plans are made to enjoy this boat trip and that at the end they will meet for cocktails together ready to start a new life but things don’t go the way they planned when the ship is refused entry to Havana, her step mother insists that Sophie leave the ship and go to Washington and where a friend of her father’s is willing to take her in, it is the last thing she wants but she must go, she breaks up an emerald that belonged to her mother into four pieces and all girls have a piece with a plan to meet up in a Paris café one year after the war.
Sophie gets on with her life in Washington, finding work and making new friends as war breaks out in Europe, it has not been easy for her being a Jew and wishing America would join the war, but she goes on worrying about her family and friends who are now in countries affected by war. When she is asked to take on a new role where she works she jumps at the chance to do her bit for the war effort she is determined to help no matter what.
This is an emotional story, I loved Sophie, everything she has gone through and still she cares and stays strong, I am eagerly awaiting book two now and continue this awesome story, I do highly recommend this one to any reader who loved a fabulous historical fiction.
My thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for my digital copy to read and review.
Sophie arrives in Hamburg with her father, step-mother and young half-brother she is filled with hope that their lives will turn around in Havana and being away from The Nazis is just what her father and their family needs.
When she meets three other young woman she is thrilled that she now has friends and plans are made to enjoy this boat trip and that at the end they will meet for cocktails together ready to start a new life but things don’t go the way they planned when the ship is refused entry to Havana, her step mother insists that Sophie leave the ship and go to Washington and where a friend of her father’s is willing to take her in, it is the last thing she wants but she must go, she breaks up an emerald that belonged to her mother into four pieces and all girls have a piece with a plan to meet up in a Paris café one year after the war.
Sophie gets on with her life in Washington, finding work and making new friends as war breaks out in Europe, it has not been easy for her being a Jew and wishing America would join the war, but she goes on worrying about her family and friends who are now in countries affected by war. When she is asked to take on a new role where she works she jumps at the chance to do her bit for the war effort she is determined to help no matter what.
This is an emotional story, I loved Sophie, everything she has gone through and still she cares and stays strong, I am eagerly awaiting book two now and continue this awesome story, I do highly recommend this one to any reader who loved a fabulous historical fiction.
My thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for my digital copy to read and review.
5 stars
February 8, 2024 by Bookouture
