From Booklist
*Starred Review* Sepetys' first novel offers a harrowing and horrifying account
of the forcible relocation of countless Lithuanians in the wake of the Russian invasion of their country in 1939. In the case
of 16-year-old Lina, her mother, and her younger brother, this means deportation to a forced-labor camp in Siberia, where
conditions are all too painfully similar to those of Nazi concentration camps. Lina's great hope is that somehow her father,
who has already been arrested by the Soviet secret police, might find and rescue them. A gifted artist, she begins secretly
creating pictures that can--she hopes--be surreptitiously sent to him in his own prison camp. Whether or not this will be
possible, it is her art that will be her salvation, helping her to retain her identity, her dignity, and her increasingly
tenuous hold on hope for the future. Many others are not so fortunate. Sepetys, the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee, estimates
that the Baltic States lost more than one-third of their populations during the Russian genocide. Though many continue to
deny this happened, Sepetys' beautifully written and deeply felt novel proves the reality is otherwise. Hers is an important
book that deserves the widest possible readership. Grades 7-12. --Michael Cart
Review
"A harrowing page-turner." - Publishers Weekly, starred review
"A gripping story." - School Library Journal, starred review
"Sepetys' flowing prose gently carries readers." - Kirkus, starred review
"Beautifully written and deeply felt." - Booklist, starred review
"A gripping story." - School Library Journal, starred review
"Sepetys' flowing prose gently carries readers." - Kirkus, starred review
"Beautifully written and deeply felt." - Booklist, starred review
Product Description
Lina
is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one
night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated
from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way
north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's
orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.
Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously - and at great risk - documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.
Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously - and at great risk - documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.
About the Author
Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Ruta Sepetys grew up hearing stories of her father's
childhood as a Lithuanian refugee. Realizing this was a story never told in a novel for young adults, Ruta decided to tell
it herself. When not writing, Ruta works in the music industry. Between Shades of Gray is her first novel. She lives
in Nashville, Tennessee.