Between Shades of Gray

By: Ruta Sepetys

Genre: YA fiction

Pages: 344

Published: 2011

Read: February

4 out of 5 stars

This historical fiction novel starts in 1941, when Lina, her mother and young brother, Jonas are deported from Lithuania along with many others.  They are separated from their father and travel from Lithuania to Siberia to Trofimovsk, North Pole.  While the characters in this story are fictional, the circumstances and similar events did occur during these critical years of our history.  Even though Sepetys published this accomplished novel in the young adult genre, it will definitely not bore any adult.  She develops her characters and describes the details in such a way; you cannot help but sympathize with the characters and feel as if you are living right alongside of them.  If you judge books by their cover, this novel looks as though it is more targeted towards girls; but even with the protagonist being female I believe teen boys would enjoy this story of twelve years of survival.

This is her first novel, but her second Out of the Easy is expected sometime in 2013. I will definitely be reading it.

Ruta Sepethys's website is www.rutasethys.com