Mangione, Jerre Gerlando The Ship and the Flame

Set in 1939 after the beginning of World War 2 as the neutral Portugese liner SETUBAL, filled with European refugees, sails through the Caribbean looking for a country which will honor the refugees’ transit visas. The novel’s plot is patterned after the real-life Hamburg-Amerika line ST. LOUIS episode, which occurred earlier in 1939 (and in an interesting plot twist, several of Mangione’s characters make reference to the ST. LOUIS debacle). Though most of the passengers eventually find at least temporary refuge in Norfolk, Va., where the ship puts into port after encountering a hurricane, the story nevertheless is a grim, depressing one. For another fictive take on the voyage of the ST. LOUIS, see James Yaffe’s VOYAGE OF THE FRANZ JOSEPH, listed below.