Between Shades of Gray
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Product Description
Product Description
One night fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother and young brother are hauled from their home by Soviet guards, thrown into cattle cars and sent away. They are being deported to Siberia.
An unimaginable and harrowing journey has begun. Lina doesn't know if she'll ever see her father or her friends again. But she refuses to give up hope.
Lina hopes for her family.
For her country.
For her future.
For love - first love, with the boy she barely knows but knows she does not want to lose . . .
Will hope keep Lina alive?
Set in 1941, Between Shades of Gray is an extraordinary and haunting story based on first-hand family accounts and memories from survivors.
About the Author
Born and raised in Michigan, Ruta Sepetys is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee. Ruta lives with her family in Tennessee. Between Shades of Gray is her first novel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
We have all read many books telling the horrific story of the suffering inflicted on the Jewish population during WW2, but I wonder how many of us know anything about the millions of innocents murdered on the orders of Stalin. It is certainly something I was only dimly aware of. I know more now. This brilliant new book follows the life of a 15 year old Lithuanian girl, who, along with the rest of her family, is arrested and sent to Siberia following the Russian occupation of her country. They are taken from their warm, comfortable home, transported huge distances in lorries and railway trucks and then made to work on the land in freezing conditions, while receiving little food and sheltering in poorly contructed hovels. It is a bleak and tragic tale, but in the midst of such suffering there are astonishing acts of human kindness, friendships are born and even love manages to blossom. An amazing book. Read it!
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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Lina Vilkas is an ordinary teenage girl living in Lithuania, and her favourite means of expression is drawing; she is a keen artist and admires the artist Edvard Munch. As the novel opens she is sitting writing to her cousin Joana, when in the space of a moment, her life suddenly changes forever. Lithuania and the other Baltic States had fallen under Soviet occupation, and one day in June 1941, Lina, together with her mother Elena and her little brother Jonas, is dragged from her home by Soviet secret police with just a hastily packed suitcase, and taken on a long horrific journey with many others, squashed into train carts like cattle, across Russia to a labour camp in Siberia. Thrown together like this, people forge friendships in the struggle to get by, some more surprising and unlikely than others. Throughout this tortuous ordeal, Lina draws whenever she can, and using whatever makeshift equipment for paper and brushes, but she is determined to try and record the people and places and events, in desperate hope of them somehow reaching her father one day; his whereabouts are unknown to the rest of the family when they are taken.
This is an epic tale of sadness, hardship, and endurance, told from the viewpoint of a young girl with a strong will to survive, and there is such a strength of spirit and determination in the face of the cruelty they suffer. It doesn't seem appropriate to say I `enjoyed' this novel, but it is well-written, very convincingly from Lina's point of view, and tells of an aspect of World War Two that I knew little about, having read much less about region and what happened, than novels featuring Germany, England and France during this period.
The author is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee and she lives in the USA, and she wanted to tell this story so that more people would be aware of all those from the Baltic states who lost their lives in Stalin's purges, as even those who survived many years in Siberia and returned to live in Lithuania and the other countries were unable to speak of what happened to them for so long as they were still living under Soviet rule until 1991. She has based some of the events on real first-hand accounts from survivors.
I certainly learned from this poignant novel and am glad so many will read this about know a little about what happened. I loved the ending to the story and what Lina had done.
This is an epic tale of sadness, hardship, and endurance, told from the viewpoint of a young girl with a strong will to survive, and there is such a strength of spirit and determination in the face of the cruelty they suffer. It doesn't seem appropriate to say I `enjoyed' this novel, but it is well-written, very convincingly from Lina's point of view, and tells of an aspect of World War Two that I knew little about, having read much less about region and what happened, than novels featuring Germany, England and France during this period.
The author is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee and she lives in the USA, and she wanted to tell this story so that more people would be aware of all those from the Baltic states who lost their lives in Stalin's purges, as even those who survived many years in Siberia and returned to live in Lithuania and the other countries were unable to speak of what happened to them for so long as they were still living under Soviet rule until 1991. She has based some of the events on real first-hand accounts from survivors.
I certainly learned from this poignant novel and am glad so many will read this about know a little about what happened. I loved the ending to the story and what Lina had done.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
http://www.betweenshadesofgray.com/-please watch it before reading a book.
I am so happy that finally the world has opportunity to know what my nation had to suffer.
Thank you for the author so much-the story is written perfectly!
Thank you,readers, for your comments and please please pass around this book!
Jurgita
I am so happy that finally the world has opportunity to know what my nation had to suffer.
Thank you for the author so much-the story is written perfectly!
Thank you,readers, for your comments and please please pass around this book!
Jurgita
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Very good book but suitable for the younger generation
This book was chosen as our latest bookclub read. It is a very thought provoking book concentrating on the abusive treatment of people during Stalin's rule. Read more
Published 10 hours ago by Jules
An unknown part of our history
Most of the information and books I have read about World War II is focused mainly on Western Europe and the plight of the Jewish people. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Kat from The Aussie Zombie
Powerfully written, heartbreaking and dramatic story based on true...
Although this most impressive novel was written using fictional characters (the plot created) the events on which it is based are most certainly true. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Cynthia Danute Cekauskas, LCSW
absolutly amazing
it is an absolutely amazing book which is very realistic and true. i recomend this book to people 13 and over as its not really a book for younger readers. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Lizzy H xx
Haunting and beautifully written
Alison: [...]
Lina lives a happy life in Lithuania, the daughter of a university professor she enjoys life as any teenager her age would at that time. Read more
Lina lives a happy life in Lithuania, the daughter of a university professor she enjoys life as any teenager her age would at that time. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Big Book Little Book
A book of survival and the triumph of the human spirit
There are many books that detail the horror of what happened in WW2, but very few about the effect that the formation of the Soviet Union had on the inhabitants of the former (now... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ms. J. M. Austin
A Brilliant and eye opening tale...
Between shades of Gray is a fantastic book. One that when I read it I fell in love with. In my opinion, there is something in it for everyone. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Hugo
A moving account of true events
Lina Vilkas is a 15 year old Lithuanian girl when she is deported, with her mother and brother, to Siberia on a cattle truck. Her father is split up from them and sent elsewhere. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Nicola
Fantastic, not my usual read but I absolutely loved it.
Between the Shades of grey is a women's account of what happened to her and her family while Stalin was in power. The description really made me feel like I was there. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Elizabeth
Harsh but beautiful
One of the best books I have read in a long time. I don't do book reviews and in fact this is my first. An amazing story.
Published 4 months ago by JD
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