Between Shades of Gray Paperback – April 3, 2012

In 1941, three countries disappeared from local and world maps. The Russian invasion had begun. Stalin’s Russia. Terror reined.This is the story of Lina, a 15 year old Lithuanian girl and the horrific years she endured following the night the Soviet Secret Police (NKVD) took her, her ten year old brother Jonas, and their mother, Elena, away.They were given twenty minutes to pack. A warm loaf of bread appeared on Lina’s window sill, but she didn’t think to pack it - which later filled her with deep regret.As Lina was soon to learn, the Secret Police removal focused on the people of Lithuania as teachers, military service men, librarians, doctors, lawyers, and other professional men, women, and their children were rounded up and stuffed into box cars labeled Prostitutes and Thieves. They were sentenced to death at hard labor in Siberia.Elena and Lina begged for information as to where their husband and father Kostas Vilkas, provost of the university, was taken.The hope being reunited kept mother and children focus on surviving.Though suffering from a lack of food, unsanitary conditions, and warmth from the cold, these strong people were able to endure imprisonment and grueling hardships.They found joy and laughter where they could as they helped each other survive. They kept hope alive as death surrounded them.After Stalin’s reign of terror, the people rebuilding Lithuania were forbidden to talk about any part of what they had been through. If they spoke of it, they would be killed. A nation of people kept silent.This award winning YA novel is based on drawings found in a glass jar on a construction site in 1995. The story is based on truth but the characters, with the exception of Dr Samodurov, are fictional.I could not put this novel down. As the story unfolds, most chapters include memories of their former lives written in italics. The story is both heart rendering and beautiful. A story of love, heartbreak, hope, unspeakable horrors, and survival. A story long hidden yet begging to be told. Read the author’s notes. A five star book and I cannot wait to read more of the author’s work. Well done, Ruta Sepetys, well done.

This was a wonderful novel and although it was written for a young adult audience, it can be enjoyed by all ages. This book depicts another crime against humanity from our world history that was unknown to me before reading this book. Young Lina is our narrator that we follow on her treacherous journey of survival.We see events through Lina's eyes-one moment she is safe at home with her family, and the next she is rounded up with others and sent off on a journey that will change her life forever. Not knowing where they are going, when or if they will ever return, and a suitcase filled with their meager belongings, they unwillingly follow their captors directions. When they are first led to a train station I imagined they were definitely being sent to a concentration camp with death impending soon. This wasn't the case as Stalin planned for the majority of his prisoners to serve work detail under inhumane conditions.The train journey is only the beginning of their torture as they are given barely any food to eat and conditions are hardly liveable for livestock, let alone people. As more people are crammed into the train cars along the way, they must learn to live together in the closed quarters, allowing them to create friendships and relationships that will help them in the months to come.The first destination for Lina and her family is a work camp, where slave labor is put into full force. Much of this novel reminds me of the Holocaust, and treatment of the prisoners falls into this category. Everyone is worked until they have no strength left and daily food rations are minimal. Everyone learns to do what they need to do in order to get by, and many use the relationships that were developed on the train to assist them in their daily living.We learn throughout the novel from Lina's flashbacks that the reason for their imprisonment is political. Anyone who had a different motive or ideal from Stalin was captured and either sent to a prison or a work camp. It was interesting to see this revelation through Lina's young eyes since she did not truly understand the motives.This was a wonderful story even though it was difficult to read at times. It read very quickly and smoothly for me as it only took me a few days to complete it. With themes of family, love, war, and morals, there is so much more to this story than I described above. I don't hesitate in recommending this novel for either personal leisure or as a book club discussion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a very quick read as the chapters are only a few pages each. I found myself just reading "one more chapter" over and over and over again until I finished the book. It was an intimate and tragic story of a family's journey through a part of history that is often overlooked. I can honestly say that I knew nothing of the sufferings of these Baltic people during and after WWII. I have read at least a dozen books about WWII as if fascinates me what people survive and how. But I have never learned about these atrocities that occurred at the same time as the holocaust. I loved it because it made me cry and think. Any book that makes you cry and think will also make your grow.

My 11-yr old son says “this is the best book I’ve ever read.” He didn’t put it down once. He loved how realistic it was, he said the description was compelling, and he loved the story. He’s read every middle school WWII historical fiction that’s out there, so this is high praise!