This is a fictional tale centred around Hannah, a young German Jewish girl, escaping Nazi Germany in 1939 along with almost 1,000 others on the all too factual MS St Louis.
I think the tragic story of the MS St Louis is well known and, therefore, do not think there any spoilers in referring to it.
Its Jewish passengers, most of whom were from Germany and were escaping oppression, abuse and inhuman treatment at the hands of the Nazis, were carrying Cuban entry visas, for which they had paid a very high price, issued by the Cuban Immigration Service, headed by the corrupt Manuel Benítez, a close associate of the head of the Cuban army, Fulgencio Batista, who went on to overthrow the Cuban government and establish himself as the dictator of Cuba, until overthrown by Fidel Castro and his rebel movement.
Whilst the MS St Louis was in transit from Hamburg to Havana, the "Benítez" visas were invalidated and less than 40 of the escapees were allowed to land in Cuba; the Captain took his ship to America but the escapees were not allowed to land; then to Canada, where again the escapees were not allowed to land; eventually he returned to Europe; approximately one quarter of the escapees were taken in by Britain and survived the war; the remainder were landed in mainland Europe and died at the hands of the Nazis.
Hannah, who was one of the ones landed in Cuba, survived - to say any more would present spoilers but there is a lot more to it.
This is a powerful, moving, tragic story but told brilliantly.
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