Refugee

During the Atlantic crossing in 1939, Josef’s bar mitzvah ceremony is about to take place in the ship’s social hall. Beforehand, the officiating rabbi asks that Hitler’s giant portrait be taken down. Josef's father refuses to leave the cabin, thinking the gathering is a Nazi trap. Despite his father’s absence, Josef is pleased to see 100 men gathered to perform the ritual with him. Later, Josef overhears two crew members saying that their ship might be turned away when they reach Cuba if the country is already too full of refugees Josef wonders, “[i]f he and his family didn’t make it to Cuba, if they weren’t allowed in, where would they go? (80).

North of Havana in 1994, the boatful of emigrants is celebrating their departure with food, drink, songs, and dancing. They all chat about how their lives will be different when they get to America, and everyone is in a good mood. However, the festivities are short-lived because “the motor spluttered and died, and the music stopped” (86).

At the Turkish border in 2015, Mahmoud and his weary family wait in line for permission to enter the country. They had walked for two days in the company of other Syrian refugees: “Together the shambling throng of refugees was ignored by the American drones and the rebel rocket launchers and the Syrian army tanks and the Russian jets” (88). Once the family is cleared at the checkpoint, they find themselves in a tent city. Mahmoud’s father learns of a smuggler who can get them from Turkey to Greece, but they must set out immediately.

Aboard ship in 1939, the captain gives Josef and a group of children a tour of the bridge. When Josef asks him about the rumors that their ship is racing two other vessels to get to Cuba first, the captain seems uncomfortable but denies the gossip. A petty officer then leads the children down to tour the engine room. They encounter drunken, abusive Nazi crew members below decks who make Josef feel uneasy: “It was a different world below decks […] outside the magic little bubble he and the other Jews lived in above decks on the MS St. Louis. Here, below decks, was the real world” (98).

In the Straits of Florida in 1994, Isabel’s companions struggle to get the boat’s engine started again. An argument breaks out, and Isabel’s grandfather declares that they should never have left Cuba. He says that Isabel will lose her connection to her homeland forever. Isabel counters that her father will be arrested if they go back: “No—as much as she feared the loss of her music, her soul, she wouldn’t trade that for her family” (103). The argument ends abruptly when Isabel sees a tanker bearing down on the small boat.

After four days in Turkey, Mahmoud is frustrated that his family still hasn’t left the country. Every day, the smuggler promises that a boat will come tomorrow, but none appears. Because all the hotels are full, the family is forced to take refuge in an abandoned shopping mall. They are running low on funds, and there is nowhere else to sleep.

There is a shipboard funeral as Josef’s family crosses the Atlantic. At first, his father refuses to attend because he believes that the Nazis murdered the dead man. When Landau is reassured that the old man died of cancer, he decides to leave the cabin for the first time and attend the ceremony. One of the Nazi stewards objects when the body isn’t draped in the swastika flag as the law demands, but the captain overrides the complaint. Josef’s father whispers, “[a]t least he didn’t have to be buried in the hell of the Third Reich” (115). 

In the Straits of Florida, a huge tanker is bearing down on Isabel’s boat, which is still dead in the water. Darkness has fallen, and the tanker’s crew can’t see the tiny craft. The passengers are afraid to signal the ship to rescue them because they would be forced to return to Cuba. The ship misses them by inches just as someone gets the motor to start. Afterward, they are nearly swamped in the ship’s wake, and Señor Castillo falls overboard. Without a second thought, Isabel dives in to rescue him.

After several more days of being stranded in Izmir with the promise of an incoming boat, Mahmoud is ready to throw a tantrum. That night, when his weary family returns to the mall to sleep, two thugs tell them that they need to pay rent to spend the night there. After the family leaves, Mahmoud impulsively flags down a car for help. The driver is a former Syrian refugee who offers to let them sleep in his shop. Just then, Mahmoud’s father receives a text from the smuggler that their boat has arrived.