Transatlantic

Based on a true story, utterly gripping and heartbreaking World War 2 historical fiction

By: Julie Orringer

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Soon to be a major 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.

(P) 2019 Recorded Books©2019 Julie Orringer

Critic reviews

Magnificent . . . Brilliantly conceived, impeccably crafted, and showcasing Orringer's extraordinary gifts, this is destined to become a classic

Varian Fry lit a small, bright lamp in a world of darkness, and in the deft hands of Julie Orringer - under the spell of her masterful prose, her feeling portraiture, her classic spy-thriller plotting, and her vivid re-creation of that beautiful and terrible world - I found the radiance of Fry's courage, flawed humanity and steadfast resistance shedding an inexhaustible light on our own ever-darkening time

No book this year could possibly compare with The Flight Portfolio: ambitious, meticulous, big-hearted, gorgeous, historical, suspenseful, everything you want a novel to be