# Salt to the Sea

**Author:** Ruta Sepetys
**Lexile:** 560L
**Grade range:** Grades 8–12
**Age range:** 13–18
**First published:** 2016
**Page count:** 416
**Genre:** Historical Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780142423622`
**ISBN-10:** `0142423629`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/salt-to-the-sea
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

In the final winter of World War II, four young refugees converge on the Wilhelm Gustloff, the overloaded ship whose sinking was the deadliest maritime disaster in history. Ruta Sepetys rotates among their voices to recover a largely forgotten tragedy. A grades 8-12 historical-fiction selection, it pairs short, propulsive chapters with rigorously researched history.

## Themes

- war
- survival
- refugees
- Holocaust
- hope

## Content notes

- war
- death
- sexual assault

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