Between Shades of Gray

by Ruta Sepetys

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the award-winning author of Salt to the Sea comes a “superb” (The Wall Street Journal), “eye-opening” (Los Angeles Times) novel of survival and hope in the darkest of places—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

WINNER OF THE GOLDEN KITE AWARD • A CARNEGIE MEDAL NOMINEE • A WILLIAM C. MORRIS AWARD FINALIST • A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE CENTURY

A knock comes at the door in the dead of night, and Lina’s life changes in an instant. With her young brother and mother, she is hauled away by the Soviet secret police from her home in Lithuania and thrown into a cattle car en route to Siberia. Separated from her father, Lina secretly passes along clues in the form of drawings, hoping they will reach his prison camp. But will her letters, or her courage, be enough to reunite her family? Will they be enough to keep her alive?

A moving and haunting novel about loss, fear, and ultimately, survival, Between Shades of Gray is a tour de force of historical and emotional storytelling.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399254123
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/22/2011
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.40(d)
Lexile:	HL490L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Ruta Sepetys (www.rutasepetys.com) 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 teens and adults worldwide. Her novels Between Shades of Gray, Out of the Easy, and Salt to the Sea have won or been shortlisted for more than forty book prizes, and are included on more than sixty state award lists. Between Shades of Gray was adapted into the film Ashes in the Snow, and her other novels are currently in development for TV and film. Winner of the Carnegie Medal, Ruta is passionate about the power of history and literature to foster global awareness and connectivity. She has presented to NATO, to the European Parliament, in the United States Capitol, and at embassies worldwide. Ruta was born and raised in Michigan and now lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee. Follow her on Twitter @RutaSepetys and Instagram @RutaSepetysAuthor.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1:

They took me in my nightgown.
Thinking back, the signs were there—family photos burned in the fireplace, Mother sewing her best silver and jewelry into the lining of her coat late at night, and Papa not returning from work. My younger brother, Jonas, was asking questions. I asked questions, too, but perhaps I refused to acknowledge the signs. Only later did I realize that Mother and Father intended we escape. We did not escape.
We were taken.
June 14, 1941. I had changed into my nightgown and settled in at my desk to write my cousin Joana a letter. I opened a new ivory writing tablet and a case of pens and pencils, a gift from my aunt for my fifteenth birthday.
The evening breeze floated through the open window over my desk, waltzing the curtain from side to side. I could smell the lily of the valley that Mother and I had planted two years ago. Dear Joana.
It wasn’t a knocking. It was an urgent booming that made me jump in my chair. Fists pounded on our front door. No one stirred inside the house. I left my desk and peered out into the hallway. My mother stood flat against the wall facing our framed map of Lithuania, her eyes closed and her face pulled with an anxiety I had never seen. She was praying.
“Mother,” said Jonas, only one of his eyes visible through the crack in his door, “are you going to open it? It sounds as if they might break it down.”
Mother’s head turned to see both Jonas and me peering out of our rooms. She attempted a forced smile. “Yes, darling. I will open the door. I won’t let anyone break down our door.”
The heels of her shoes echoed down the wooden floor of the hallway and her long, thin skirt swayed about her ankles. Mother was elegant and beautiful, stunning in fact, with an unusually wide smile that lit up everything around her. I was fortunate to have Mother’s honey-colored hair and her bright blue eyes. Jonas had her smile.
Loud voices thundered from the foyer.
“NKVD!” whispered Jonas, growing pale. “Tadas said they took his neighbors away in a truck. They’re arresting people.”
“No. Not here,” I replied. The Soviet secret police had no business at our house. I walked down the hallway to listen and peeked around the corner. Jonas was right. Three NKVD officers had Mother encircled. They wore blue hats with a red border and a gold star above the brim. A tall officer had our passports in his hand.
“We need more time. We’ll be ready in the morning,” Mother said.
“Twenty minutes—or you won’t live to see morning,” said the officer.
“Please, lower your voice. I have children,” whispered Mother.
“Twenty minutes,” the officer barked. He threw his burning cigarette onto our clean living room floor and ground it into the wood with his boot.
We were about to become cigarettes.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Between Shades of Gray:

“A superlative first novel. A hefty emotional punch.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both.”—The Washington Post

"Beautiful…a superb though grueling novel.”—The Wall Street Journal

“An eye-opening reimagination of a very real tragedy written with grace and heart.”—Los Angeles Times

“An engrossing and poignant story of the fortitude of the human spirit in a dark time in Lithuanian history.”—Associated Press

 “Brave Lina is a heroine young and old readers can believe in.”—Entertainment Weekly

 “Please read this small window into a tragedy.”—NPR

“Beautifully written and researched, it captures the devastation of war while celebrating the will to survive.”—Family Circle

* “A harrowing page-turner.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

* “A gripping story.”—School Library Journal, starred review

* “Bitterly sad, fluidly written…Sepetys' flowing prose gently carries readers.”—Kirkus, starred review

* "Beautifully written and deeply felt…an important book that deserves the widest possible readership.”—Booklist, starred review

“A haunting chronicle, demonstrating that even in the heart of darkness ‘love is the most powerful army.'”—The Horn Book Magazine

“Stalin deported and murdered millions, but he could not destroy the seeds of memory, compassion, and art that they left behind. From those seeds, Ruta Septeys has crafted a brilliant story of love and survival that will keep their memory alive for generations to come.”—Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling author of Speak and Wintergirls

“In terrifying detail, Ruta Sepetys re-creates World War II coming of age all too timely today. Between Shades of Gray is a document long overdue.”—Richard Peck, Newbery Award–winning author of A Year Down Yonder

“Between Shades of Gray is a story of astonishing force. I feel grateful for a writer like Ruta Sepetys who bravely tells the hard story of what happens to the innocent when world leaders and their minions choose hate and oppression. Beautiful and unforgettable.”—Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Newbery Honor–winning author of Hitler Youth

“Sepetys has penned a harrowing and heartbreaking novel. Beautifully written and important.”—Harlan Coben, international bestselling author of Shelter

From the Publisher

Praise for Between Shades of Gray:

“A superlative first novel. A hefty emotional punch.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both.”—The Washington Post

"Beautiful…a superb though grueling novel.”—The Wall Street Journal
“An eye-opening reimagination of a very real tragedy written with grace and heart.”—Los Angeles Times

“An engrossing and poignant story of the fortitude of the human spirit in a dark time in Lithuanian history.”—Associated Press

 “Brave Lina is a heroine young and old readers can believe in.”—Entertainment Weekly

 “Please read this small window into a tragedy.”—NPR

“Beautifully written and researched, it captures the devastation of war while celebrating the will to survive.”—Family Circle
 

• “A harrowing page-turner.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

• “A gripping story.”—School Library Journal, starred review

• “Bitterly sad, fluidly written…Sepetys' flowing prose gently carries readers.”—Kirkus, starred review

• "Beautifully written and deeply felt…an important book that deserves the widest possible readership.”—Booklist, starred review

“A haunting chronicle, demonstrating that even in the heart of darkness ‘love is the most powerful army.'”—The Horn Book Magazine

“Stalin deported and murdered millions, but he could not destroy the seeds of memory, compassion, and art that they left behind. From those seeds, Ruta Septeys has crafted a brilliant story of love and survival that will keep their memory alive for generations to come.”—Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling author of Speak and Wintergirls

“In terrifying detail, Ruta Sepetys re-creates World War II coming of age all too timely today. Between Shades of Gray is a document long overdue.”—Richard Peck, Newbery Award–winning author of A Year Down Yonder

“Between Shades of Gray is a story of astonishing force. I feel grateful for a writer like Ruta Sepetys who bravely tells the hard story of what happens to the innocent when world leaders and their minions choose hate and oppression. Beautiful and unforgettable.”—Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Newbery Honor–winning author of Hitler Youth

“Sepetys has penned a harrowing and heartbreaking novel. Beautifully written and important.”—Harlan Coben, international bestselling author of Shelter

Ruta Sepetys

In the 1930s and '40s, Josef Stalin's regime killed tens of millions of people, a number so large that the mind tends to shunt it off into the abstract space reserved for statistics. Between Shades of Gray tells the individual's story that makes such cold facts meaningful…Lina recounts her story with a straightforward clarity that trusts readers to summon images of starvation, disease and death, and grounds them in a reality young adults can understand.
—The New York Times

Linda Sue Park

[Sepetys's] prose is restrained and powerful…Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both.
—The Washington Post

Mary Quattlebaum