Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray is the debut novel by Ruta Sepetys, published in 2011. It follows a fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl and her family as they are evicted from their home and relocated to Siberia under the harsh rule of Stalin and the USSR.

Teaser
"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."

--from Goodreads

Characters

 * Lina Vilkas
 * Jonas Vilkas
 * Andrius Arvydas
 * Elena Vilkas
 * Mrs. Arvydas
 * Nikolai Kretsky

Awards and Honors
Between Shades of Gray won the Golden Kite Award for Fiction; in 2012, it was a nominee for both the William C. Morris Award for YA debuts and the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award.