Name: Between Shades of Gray
Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Author: Ruta Sepetys

About this book

Summary

Book Summary

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.

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Media Reviews

"Starred Review. A harrowing page-turner, made all the more so for its basis in historical fact, the novel illuminates the persecution suffered by Stalin's victims (20 million were killed), while presenting memorable characters who retain their will to survive even after more than a decade in exile. Ages 12+." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. This bitterly sad, fluidly written historical novel tackles a topic woefully underdiscussed in English-language children's fiction: Joseph Stalin's reign of terror. Ages 12+." - Kirkus

"Starred Review. ...Sepety's beautifully written and deeply felt novel...is an important book that deserves the widest possible readership." - Booklist

"By personalizing the experience of these millions through the eyes of a few, Sepetys demonstrates how courage and hope can keep people going under the worst of circumstances." - Shelf Awareness

This information about Between Shades of Gray was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own review

Heather

Between Shades of Gray
An amazing book; there should be a sequel.

Sydney

LOVED IT!!!
Between Shades of Gray is a wonderful historical fiction novel. We know a lot about what is happening in America and Germany during WWII, but what is happening in Lithuania? Finland? And many more places. In this book, you will venture with Lina as she goes through many hardships, emotional and physical. I loved Between Shades of Gray and I highly recommend that you read it too! :)

Me!

BEST BOOK
Such A Good Book!

Louise J

Hauntingly Beautiful
This beautifully written, sad story is a dark reminder from the past. The hard thing about reading the book beside the fact the story is based on truth is understanding that these horrible things did actually happen to these people. I thank those brave enough to bring stories like this into the open. As kind, compassionate, decent, and caring people, we must NEVER, EVER allow anything like this to happen again.

You will not be able to put this book down. Although hard to read, believe me, you’ll be so absorbed that you’ll want to keep reading. Be sure to read the “Author’s Note” and the end of the book for important information. Be sure to have kleenex standing by for this book! Absolutely excellent.

techeditor

A story that needs to be told
In BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY, Ruta Sepetys describes how, even as the Soviet Union opposed Germany during World War II, they were ripping people from their homes, taking everything they owned, and exiling them to extreme hardship in Siberia. Her characters are fiction, but the book is based on fact.

BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY begins in Lithuania when the Soviets took over in 1941 and erased it from the map. Lena is 15 and her brother is 10. Simply because their father is a university provost, they and their mother are sent to Siberia, their father to prison. Sepetys describes the next two years of their lives.

My only criticism of the book is the babyish way in which Sepetys refers to some of the characters. For example, one of the children who has also been deported to Siberia is referred to throughout the book as "the girl with the dolly." Sixteen-year-old Lena (her age by the story's end) apparently never considers that "the girl with the dolly" has a name. The same goes for "the man winding his watch," "the bald man," and various other characters who she lives with for 2 years. Granted, this is a novel written for young adults. But this sounds more like it is for 3 year olds.

More importantly, though, BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY is a story that needs to be told. Not enough people remember it or are aware of it, even today. As an adult, I read and enjoyed it; this is a crossover novel, meant for both young adults and adults.

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Reviews
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Free books to read and review (US only)
Find books by time period, setting & theme
Read-alike suggestions by book and author
Book club discussions
and much more!
Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
More about membership!

Author Information

Biography
Books by this Author

Ruta Sepetys Author Biography

Photo: Magda Staroweiyska

Ruta Sepetys (Rūta Šepetys) is an internationally acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction published in over sixty countries and forty languages. Sepetys is considered a "crossover" novelist as her books are read by both students and adults worldwide. Winner of the Carnegie Medal, Ruta is renowned for giving voice to underrepresented history and those who experienced it. Her books have won or been shortlisted for over forty book prizes, are included on over thirty state reading lists, and are currently in development for film and television.

Ruta is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee. Born in Michigan, she was raised in a family of artists, readers, and music lovers. Ruta is passionate about the power of history and story to foster global ...

... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Ruta Sepetys's Website

Name Pronunciation
Ruta Sepetys: Roota Suh-PET-tees