The Passengers: A near-future thriller with a killer twist

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The Passenger is a gripping novel that plunges the reader into the gloom of Nazi Germany as the darkness was descending. It deserved to be read when it was written. It certainly deserves to be read now.

The Passengers: Shortlisted for The Rathbones Folio Prize 2023 The Passengers: Shortlisted for The Rathbones Folio Prize 2023

Should I risk ten years in prison for a currency offense? But what other choice is there? Without money I'd starve out there. Every road leads to ruin, every single one. How am I supposed to fight against the state?

I wanted to run-away on those trains — escape my own discomfortable restless life — in the same way our protagonist — Otto Silberman - was trying to escape from Nazi persecution. This novel was written in 1938, before the start of WWII, but when anti-Semitism was not only on the rise in Germany, but had become openly acceptable. Sadly, the author died in 1942, but, thankfully, this book has now been rediscovered and republished. It gives the reader a real sense of what being Jewish meant in Germany at that time and the sense of hopelessness and despair that people felt, as their own country turned on them. This German author died at age 27. At age 20, he had escaped to England, where he was held as a military prisoner. Later, he was deported to Australia but was allowed to return to England by ship in 1942. He never got there; the ship was torpedoed by the Germans and he was killed along with 361 other passengers.

The Passengers - Penguin Books UK

This resonated for me in this book. This is a powerful book. It is tense, heavy, and also reminds readers of the author’s own journey. i also really enjoyed the little ties to my fave JM book, ‘the one.’ it was a lot of fun to see that both stories take place in the same world and overlap.The Passenger was fast paced, thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. The account presented by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz gave a first hand account of how terrorizing it must have felt to be Jewish during the early rise of the Nazis and the start of Jewish persecution. This book was a remarkable and gripping discovery in the history of literature. Being based on the personal experiences and truths of the times and circumstances of the author, the reader was presented with a compelling, heartfelt and even humorous account of what it was like in those early days that followed The Night of Broken Glass. I highly recommend this book. The book's singular achievement is its unrelenting tension, mixed with an omnipresence of dread and paranoia. We're pretty much in Otto's head throughout, in real time; the sense of urgency is more than palpable. In the right hands, this is material that could make a heart-stopping film.

The Passenger: Lost German novel makes UK bestseller list 83 The Passenger: Lost German novel makes UK bestseller list 83

Clinging to his existence as it was just days before, Silbermann refuses to believe what is happening even as he is beset by opportunists, betrayed by associates, and bereft of family, friends, and fortune. As his world collapses around him, he is forced to concede that his nightmare is all too real.

With some real jaw dropping moments, it was an edge of your seat read that even surpassed The One ' - Claire Allan, bestselling author Her Name Was Rose Waarheen, dacht hij bang. Waarheen? Ik lijk wel gek, ik had met Löwenstein mee moeten gaan. Maar ik ben het reizen zo zat!