This story broke my heart.
How something like this could happen and go untold for so long is unthinkable.
While the characters and the majority of the story may be complete fiction, the last 100 pages contain a true story about how 10,000 people were packed onto a ship during the evacuation of East Prussia; how that ship, mostly civilians and 5,000 children, was torpedoed by the Russians and sunk; how more than 9,000 people perished during the sinking. It is the largest maritime catastrophe in modern history and people don't know about it.
How is that even possible?
If you've read to the end of this I highly recommend going a picking up a copy of this book. It was educational, an easy read, and absolutely heartbreaking. But it makes you feel something. You feel for the characters, their losses, their pain, their triumphs. You feel for what happened. You feel more informed for knowing this happened and you feel better knowing you can spread this piece of untold history to others.