Between+Shades+of+Gray

**Between Shades of Gray** **by Ruta Sepetys**
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 * Click the audio file below to hear the author pronounce her own name.**


 * About this author**

Ruta Sepetys was born and raised in Michigan in a family of artists, readers, and music lovers. Her award-winning debut novel, "Between Shades of Gray" was inspired by her family's history in Lithuania and is published in 45 countries. Her second novel, "Out of the Easy" is set in the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1950. A historical tale of secrets and lies, "Out of the Easy" is a haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny. Ruta lives in a treehouse in the hills of Tennessee.


 * To read about Ruta's latest escapades, visit her website www.rutasepetys.com**


 * About this book:**

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.

Below are images of these three famous paintings. Hover over the paining to see the name,The Scream, Despair and Anxiety.

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