Winter 1945. As World War II crumbles, thousands of refugees flee across a frozen East Prussia, each carrying secrets and sorrows.
Joana, a nurse. Emilia, a pregnant girl. Florian, a boy with stolen treasure. Strangers on the same desperate journey toward the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship promising salvation from the advancing war.
But safety is fleeting. The Gustloff’s voyage ends in tragedy, one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history. As the ice closes in and bombs fall from the sky, survival becomes the only country they know.
Ruta Sepetys’s Salt to the Sea is a masterfully told story of hope, sacrifice, and resilience in humanity’s darkest hours. Inspired by true events, this is a haunting portrait of war’s forgotten victims and the bonds forged in desperation.
