First published 2019
Deborah Heiligman chronicles the tragic voyage of SS City of Benares in September 1940. As German bombs rained on Britain, thousands of families made an agonizing choice. Wealthy parents sent their children abroad independently. Poor families relied on CORB, the government evacuation program. One hundred children boarded the passenger liner bound for Canadian safety. The ship sailed into dangerous Atlantic waters with naval escorts providing protection. When those warships turned back, a German U-boat struck. The torpedo attack sank what history remembers as the Children's Ship. Heiligman documents how ordinary passengers and crew transformed into heroes during the disaster. She reveals the human stories behind this wartime tragedy through meticulous research and compelling narrative.
Genres: history, 20th-century, world-war-ii, non-fiction, military-history
Vibes: emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: based-on-true-events, historical-narrative
Setting: Atlantic Ocean, Britain, Canada
Period: 1940
292 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Content warnings: death, war