The German Girl sweeps from Berlin at the brink of World War II to Cuba on the cusp of revolution, to New York in the wake of September 11th, before reaching its deeply moving conclusion in the tumult of present-day Havana. Based on a true story, this wonderful novel gives voice to the joys and sorrows of generations of exiles, forever seeking a place called home. Before everything changed, Hannah Rosenthal lived a charmed life. But now the streets of Berlin are draped in swastikas, and Hannah is no longer welcome in the places she once considered home. A glimmer of hope appears in the shape of the St. Louis, a transatlantic liner that promises Jews safe passage to Cuba. The Rosenthals sell everything to fund visas and tickets. At first, the liner feels like luxury, but as they travel, the circumstances of war change, and it soon becomes their prison. Seven decades later in New York, on her twelfth.