Refugee

The novel opens with dual introductions: Josef watches his father be taken away again by Nazi officers the night before they plan to board the MS St. Louis, while Isabel navigates food shortages and political tension in Havana as Cuba teeters on the edge of another exodus.

Mahmoud's story begins in Aleppo under bombardment, where invisibility is survival strategy. Meanwhile, Josef's family boards the MS St. Louis and encounters the ship's unsettling luxury — a floating world of Jewish refugees pretending the crisis isn't happening — while Isabel's family launches their homemade raft into shark-infested waters.

All three children face crises on the water that force impossible choices. Josef must manage his unstable father while Cuba considers the passengers' fates. Isabel navigates a police encounter and a storm. Mahmoud's family reaches Turkey and crosses the Aegean on a dangerously overcrowded dinghy.

Josef's ship is turned away from the United States after Cuba refuses the passengers. Isabel reaches Florida but faces the terror of wet-foot/dry-foot policy. Mahmoud's family moves through the Balkan corridor, facing fences, police violence, and the daily cruelty of borders.

Josef faces the choice of what to do when his father is about to be forcibly returned to Germany. Isabel loses Iván in a terrible accident and must decide whether to abandon her grandfather. Mahmoud makes the devastating decision to give baby Hana to a stranger on the shore.

Josef's fate in wartime Europe. Isabel builds her new life in Miami. Mahmoud's family reaches Germany and begins the process of claiming asylum.

The three timelines begin to connect across decades. Josef's story reaches its devastating historical conclusion. Isabel's family in Miami is revealed to have a connection to what happens in Mahmoud's present. The novel moves toward its structural resolution.

Josef's sacrifice reverberates across generations. Mahmoud receives asylum, and the novel closes with an act of recognition across seventy years. The lost baby Hana's fate is revealed.