Description Hide Description- Show Description+
The book that inspired the beautiful Netflix series
1940, France. In the middle of a devastating war, how many lives can you save?
Varian Fry, a young American journalist, arrives in Marseille armed only with three thousand dollars and a list of writers, thinkers and artists he hopes to rescue - so long as the Nazis don't get to them first.
With borders closing around him, Varian tries to track down those on his list; renowned artists like Marc Chagall, who cannot believe that he will ever be unsafe in the country he loves. He smuggles them over the Pyrenees mountains and across the sea hidden in boats, but every day hundreds of ordinary Jewish refugees beg him for help. Does Varian have the right to choose who to save?
At home in New York, making a list seemed hard, but in the middle of humanity's darkest hour, Varian must do all he can to help. And as the Nazis begin to get word of Varian's secret operation, he must dig deep and find the courage to rescue as many innocents as he can.
Even though his own life may be in terrible danger.
An incredibly compelling and heart-wrenching historical novel, inspired by a powerful true story, about the extraordinary courage and friendships forged during humanity's darkest hour. If you loved Schindler's List, All the Light We Cannot See or The Tattooist of Auschwitz, you'll adore Transatlantic, previously published as The Flight Portfolio.
Author: Julie Orringer
Paperback Published 11 April 2023 576 pages
Originally published in the US as a paperback edition 30th June 2020
“A gripping, tender novel.” —The New Yorker
“Magnificent . . . a deeply researched, almost unbearably tense, bruised-knuckle hybrid. Part real history and part love story, it’s also a deeply moral work, asking tough questions about what matters most to us personally—and to the world.” —The Boston Globe
“Sympathetic and prodigiously ambitious. . . . [Orringer’s] Marseille breathes as a city breathes.” —Cynthia Ozick, The New York Times Book Review