The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa

The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa tells the story of the Rosenthal family, who fled Berlin in 1939 and headed to Cuba on the Saint Louis (a real ship which was turned around by the Cuban government, who only let a handful of the 900 plus passengers disembark). Their family is split apart by this decision, with 12 year-old Hannah and her pregnant mother allowed to stay, and her father and close friend Leo sent back to Europe. The story is obviously a tragic one, as the passengers who made it to England survived, while those who landed in France, her father included, did not. This little known snippet of the sad state of the world in the antisemitic mid-twentieth century is reason enough to read this book and marvel at the fact that we have come so far, and yet not, considering the treatment of ships full of present day refugees in the Mediterranean.

As a story it feels a little like The Orphan Train meets All the Light We Cannot See, which is not necessarily a bad thing, as it's one of those books that can engage both young and old audiences. It also has its own twists, and it incorporates a lot of Cuban history, following the descendants of Hannah's family and the tragedy that continues to befall them. All in all a worthy read.  

Fractured by Catherine McKenzie

Fractured, by Catherine McKenzie, is her finest book yet. Told in two timelines, it follows a year in Julie Apple's life after she moves to Cincinnati to escape a stalker, and a 12-hour day at then end of that year where a grand jury trial is taking place because someone has been killed. Who that person is and how it came to pass is a mystery which slowly unfurls throughout the novel, but it's not a slow read, and you'll find yourself racing through to the next chapter to try and pick up more clues as to what eventually happened and why.

A big theme in this book is the nasty way we can treat each other even as adults. Julie moved her family across the country because someone had it out for her, only to land in a new neighborhood where mean and petty behavior ran rife. With all of the current focus on grade school bullies, we often forget that adults can be bullied (and bully) as well. You'll identify with Julie if you feel like you're trapped in a high-school-like circle of friends, and want to smack some sense into the mean-girl neighbors of hers. Is that what Julie did? Or were they the ones to gang up on her? You'll have to read to the end to find out!

On a side note, the character of Julie Apple is an author who had a bestselling book called The Murder Game, which is part of what drew the attention of her stalker to her. That book is also being released in a couple of weeks in a fun book within a book way.