the novel refugee by author Alan gratz the follows three families generations apart as they escape from their dangerous homelands separated by history and geography they nonetheless all shared the desire to be free from oppression the main characters are joseph landau a 12 year old jewish boy who lives in germany in 1938 his family flees from the nazis by selling to havana joseph is preoccupied with what it means to become a man in order to protect his family isabel fernandez an 11 year old Cuban girl living under Fidel Castro's communist regime in 1994 desperate to become
free and escape poverty she and her family and friends flee to Miami Isabel must leave her passion for playing the trumpet behind as she tries to save her family Mahmud Bashara a 12 year old Muslim boy who lives in Syria in 2015 after bombs from the raging Civil War destroy their home Mahmud and his family flee to Germany he tries hard not to attract attention that would put his family at risk the novel starts with Yosef waking up to the Nazis invading his family's home in Berlin it is the night of Kristallnacht or night of
broken glass when Jewish families and synagogues are attacked his father is arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp six months later Yosef his mother and sister meet his father in Hamburg after he is released from Dachau they are all forced to wear their Star of David armbands Joseph's mother has booked them on a passenger ship to Cuba Yosef is shocked to see his father as thin paranoid and severely traumatized Isabel is playing her beloved trumpet in downtown Havana when a violent riot erupts people are starving under Fidel Castro's regime Isabel's father and grandfather are
among the protesters and isabel rushes to protect her father as he is beaten by police Isabel and her family leave Cuba the next day Isabel secretly sells her trumpet in exchange for gas to make the journey to Miami her mother father and grandfather joined her best friend Ivan and his parents on a rickety homemade boat as they are pushing off from shore Ivan's older brother and his girlfriend both police officers unexpectedly rushed from the beach to join them they narrowly escaped gunshots when other policeman fire at them Mahmud is living with his family in war-torn
Aleppo Syria when a missile explodes in their apartment they barely escaped unharmed Mahmud father decides that they will flee to Germany traveling by Road from Aleppo the family abandons both their car and their possessions when bullets tear into the side of the vehicle they trekked by foot for several hours to the Turkish border by following a map on their cell phone meanwhile back in 1939 Joseph's family has settled on a ship with other Jewish families they feel safe for the first time in years Joseph even has his Bar Mitzvah onboard but soon discovers there are
a few outspoken Nazi sympathizers among the crew when the ship arrives in Cuba the passengers are not allowed to disembark soon after Nazi crew members ransack Joseph's family cabin pushing his father to the brink of insanity in desperation he jumps overboard but a Cuban police officer the young Mariano patron who will one day be grandfather to Isabel jumps in the water and saves him from drowning Isabelle is still on the boat with her family and friends when the motor stops a large tanker barrels toward them and their boat capsizes from the waves Isabelle rescues Ivan's
father who nearly drowns everyone survives but the boat begins to take on water blown off course and landing in the Bahamas the refugees are forced to turn around and then decide to continue on to Miami each takes turns hanging on to the outside of the leaking boat so it won't sink Ivan bleeds to death after being attacked by a shark in Turkey Mahmud and his family hire a smuggler to take them to Greece they board an inflatable raft with other refugees that pops in a storm Mahmood's mother on the brink of drowning surrenders the baby
Hannah to a passing boat the family is eventually rescued Mahmood's mother is devastated by the loss of Hannah in lesbos Greece the family desperately and unsuccessfully searches for her they move on for hundreds of miles but they are robbed by a Serbian taxi driver at gunpoint then at the Hungarian border they are arrested and taken to a detention center outside the Havana port the Jewish passengers are refused entry however Joseph's father is allowed to remain in Cuba to convalesce the captain sells the refugees to Miami but the US turns the ship away and they all
must return to Europe Joseph joins a group of Jewish mutineers onboard the captain who is sympathetic toward their cause promises he will try to get them safely to England if they ceased their mutiny finally Joseph and his family find refuge in France and yet they are barely settled before the Nazis invade and they must flee yet again eventually the Nazis apprehend them and force Yosef smother to choose which of her chil to save as their boat sinks Isabelle and her family finally see the lights of Miami the US Coast Guard closes in on them while
Isabelle's mother goes into labor her grandfather suddenly has a flashback to 1939 when he saved Yosef father from drowning in Havana but is remorseful for doing nothing to help the other Jews on the ship he decides to sacrifice himself for his family by jumping in the water to distract the Coast Guard knowing he will be sent back to Cuba as Isabel's mother gives birth Isabel and the others evade the Coast Guard and paddle to shore as Isabel's story ends she is playing a trumpet in her new band class at school her mother and father have
found temporary housing and jobs back in Hungary Mahmud courageously bypasses the detention center guards and flees with his family and other refugees he leads the March to Austria in solidarity Mahmud and his family finally arrive in Germany where they are given asylum in the home of an older Jewish German couple the older woman is Ruthie Landau Joseph's sister she tells Mahmud how Joseph offered himself to be taken in 1940 and how she had survived the war as a little girl after being rescued by a French woman when the Nazis took her mother and brother after
hearing Mahmud retell his own story Ruthie promises to help find Mahmood's baby sister Hannah who was lost in Greece the novel ends with Mahmud feeling at home you
