The Night Traveler

A Novel

By: Armando Lucas Correa

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Four generations of women experience love, loss, war, and hope from the rise of Nazism to the Cuban Revolution and finally, the fall of the Berlin Wall in this sweeping novel from the bestselling author of the “timely must-read” (People) The German Girl.

Berlin, 1931: Ally Keller, a talented young poet, is alone and scared when she gives birth to a mixed-race daughter she names Lilith. As the Nazis rise to power, Ally knows she must keep her baby in the shadows to protect her against Hitler’s deadly ideology of Aryan purity. But as she grows, it becomes more and more difficult to keep Lilith hidden so Ally sets in motion a dangerous and desperate plan to send her daughter across the ocean to safety.

Havana, 1958: Now an adult, Lilith has few memories of her mother or her childhood in Germany. Besides, she’s too excited for her future with her beloved Martin, a Cuban pilot with strong ties to the Batista government. But as the flames of revolution ignite, Lilith and her newborn daughter, Nadine, find themselves at a terrifying crossroads.

Berlin, 1988: As a scientist in Berlin, Nadine is dedicated to ensuring the dignity of the remains of all those who were murdered by the Nazis. Yet she has spent her entire lifetime avoiding the truth about her own family’s history. It takes her daughter, Luna, to encourage Nadine to uncover the truth about the choices her mother and grandmother made to ensure the survival of their children. And it will fall to Luna to come to terms with a shocking betrayal that changes everything she thought she knew about her family’s past.

“A stunning multigenerational story” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Night Traveler reveals the power of self-discovery and motherly love.

Critic reviews

"Edoardo Ballerini is in excellent form as he provides a gripping performance that captures the backdrop of historical events. Lilith is born into the omnipresent terror of Nazi Germany. Her mother eventually makes the heartbreaking choice to send her, alone, to Cuba, for the possibility of a better life. Once there, Lilith embarks on a second life, never knowing what happened to her mother while becoming a mother herself. Correa's audiobook covers a great deal of intergenerational detail, creating a listening experience that feels epic in scope. Listeners are transported from Germany to Cuba and New York City before reaching the conclusion. Ballerini’s masterful presentation enhances the emotional impact of the final passages."

"Edoardo Ballerini is in excellent form as he provides a gripping performance that captures the backdrop of historical events. Lilith is born into the omnipresent terror of Nazi Germany. Her mother eventually makes the heartbreaking choice to send her, alone, to Cuba, for the possibility of a better life. Once there, Lilith embarks on a second life, never knowing what happened to her mother while becoming a mother herself. Correa's audiobook covers a great deal of intergenerational detail, creating a listening experience that feels epic in scope. Listeners are transported from Germany to Cuba and New York City before reaching the conclusion. Ballerini’s masterful presentation enhances the emotional impact of the final passages."

Good but…

the story jumps back and forth in time sometimes making it a little hard to follow. An interesting story but too much information packed into too short a book. It might work better as a series with more developed characters.

Sad, Poignant, Uplifting

This wonderful novel covers many of the calmer emotional categories. The prose is often beautifully lyrical. But the plot development is sometimes a little slow.

Too many characters

This book gave me whiplash, time would jump ahead months and years, then look backwards. Also too many characters, double sets of parents, etc. Glad when it was over.

It was ok

Way too long and too much history and the story kept going back and forth and place to place that it was hard to follow.

Decent Writing- Historically Interesting- OK

Historically Interesting, but characters are only weakly developed for the genera. Also, plot is driven by the protagonist's poor choices in Lillith plot in a way that reduced credibility-- e.g. not leaving Cuba when it was obviously the best choice and was still feasible. Mostly it seemed like a bunch of brief synopses of events without a lot of details or dialog to make the reader care about the characters. It would be a great way for someone to get a sense of WWII historical atrocities if they were unfamiliar, but isn't overall a masterful piece of literature. It was both rushed and boring at the same time.