“Between Shades of Gray,” by Ruth Sepetys, is a young adult historical fiction book based on events that occurred in the Holocaust from 1941 to 1945, published on March 22, 2011.
“Between Shades of Gray” is a book about a 15-year-old girl named Lina Vilkas, who lived in Lithuania in the early 1940s. She had dreams of becoming a professional artist before the Soviet soldiers took her and her family from their home and then separated the father (Kostas Vilkas) from the rest of his family.
This book is very emotional, chaotic, and nerve-racking. It tells a story of how one girl has the will to live, even when she thinks she can’t. Throughout the book, she faces many challenging factors but is determined to not give up. She fights through the cruel works of the Soviet soldiers while trying to get back to her father, who the soldiers separated from Lina, Jonas Vilkas (her brother), and Elena Vilkas (her mother).
This is a lot for a girl her age to take on, but she does it with her head held high. She meets a boy named Andrius on the train that they were forced to board on the way to the concentration camp 6,500 miles from her home in Lithuania. Andrius and Lina grow a strong bond and learn to trust each other. They eventually fall in love and fight for their lives just to be able to see each other again when they are free of this grueling abuse from Soviet soldiers. This boy is the only one excluding her family, who she would do anything for, even if it means putting her life on the line to save him.

This book was a great and interesting read. If you are interested, then I highly recommend this one. 10/10! It’s an emotional and historical story and a sad, tear-jerking read.
If you’re more of a movie person, the movie “Ashes in the Snow” came out in 2018 (PG-13). It is also a great watch, so if you’re curious, you can find this book in the library, the movie on Netflix, or wherever it’s streaming. So be prepared! What will your next read be?