The inspiration for the major motion picture Ashes in the Snow!
"Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both." --The Washington Post
From New York Times and international bestseller and Carnegie Medal winner Ruta Sepetys, author of Salt to the Sea, comes a story of loss and of fear -- and ultimately, of survival.
A New York Times notable book
An international bestseller
A Carnegie Medal nominee
A William C. Morris Award finalist
A Golden Kite Award winner
Fifteen-year-old Lina is a Lithuanian girl living an ordinary life -- until Soviet officers invade her home and tear her family apart. Separated from her father and forced onto a crowded train, Lina, her mother, and her young brother make their way to a Siberian work camp, where they are forced to fight for their lives. Lina finds solace in her art, documenting these events by drawing. Risking everything, she imbeds clues in her drawings of their location and secretly passes them along, hoping her drawings will make their way to her father's prison camp. But will strength, love, and hope be enough for Lina and her family to survive?
A moving and haunting novel perfect for readers of The Book Thief.
Praise for Between Shades of Gray:
"Superlative. A hefty emotional punch." --The New York Times Book Review
"Heart-wrenching . . . an eye-opening reimagination of a very real tragedy written with grace and heart." --The Los Angeles Times
"At once a suspenseful, drama-packed survival story, a romance, and an intricately researched work of historial fiction." --The Wall Street Journal
* "Beautifully written and deeply felt . . . An important book that deserves the widest possible readership." --Booklist, starred review
“A superlative first novel. A hefty emotional punch.”--The New York Times Book Review
“A brilliant story of love and survival.”--Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling author of Speak and Wintergirls
* “Beautifully written and deeply felt…an important book that deserves the widest possible readership.”--Booklist, Starred Review
Congratulations to [a:Ruta Sepetys|3407448|Ruta Sepetys|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1275054438p2/3407448.jpg] for tackling a lost moment in history. However, as a young adult novel, it fails to fully educate the reader about Stalin's attempt to wipe out entire nations and nationalities. Like the main character, Lina, the reader is left in the dark about the politics involved with the relocation and imprisonment of innocent people. It was as if the author was trying to protect us from trying to understand the politics of the time and protect us, like Lina's mother, from the true horrors of what was happening.
While there are not many novels (if any) out there that deal with Russia's ethnic cleansing movement, I think the reader might learn more about ethnic cleansing reading [b:Night|1617|Night |Elie Wiesel|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311999832s/1617.jpg|265616], [b:The Book Thief|19063|The Book Thief|Markus Zusak|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320456861s/19063.jpg|878368], [b:Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo|47301|Zlata's Diary A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo|Zlata Filipović|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309281872s/47301.jpg|1012544] or Anne Frank's [b:The Diary of a Young Girl|48855|The Diary of a Young Girl|Anne Frank|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327735300s/48855.jpg|3532896]. I do hope this novel inspires other authors, or even [a:Ruta Sepetys|3407448|Ruta Sepetys|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1275054438p2/3407448.jpg] herself, to bring to light the horrors and atrocities of the Stalin's government.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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8 July, 2012:
Finished reading
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8 July, 2012:
Reviewed