I finished the debut novel of Ruta Sepetys called Between Shades of Gray a few months ago, and while it’s listed as a YA novel I think that the themes touched upon in the book can apply to almost all ages. It goes back and forth from past experiences of a young Lithuanian girl named Lina to the current WWII setting where she and her family are forced into a desolate work camp in Siberia. Her family faces the possibility of starvation, separation, and death every single day throughout the narrative. What particularly stood out to me is that this is a retelling of a part of history that not many people are aware of. After the Soviet Union received Lithuania and other countries in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, most of the people in these countries and their families were deported and forced into secluded work camps because they were considered a threat to Stalin’s regime. This included military personnel, librarians, doctors, lawyers, and many other educated professionals. The novel shows another side of WWII and that even in times of great loss and devastation, it is possible to keep hope alive no matter what. Between Shades of Gray is available through SWAN.