Summary of Between Shades of Grey
“Between Shades of Grey” is a novel about a Lithuanian teenage girl and her family who are deported to a Soviet Gulag camp in the 1940s. It is a historical novel about a Lithuanian family forced to live in labour camps in the coldest parts of Siberia.
Reasons to read Between Shades of GreyÂ
“Between Shades of Grey” describes the harsh living conditions of the protagonist and her family, but also highlights moments of friendship, love, and hope. This debut novel of Ruta Sepetys became a New York Times Best Seller. Although intended as a young adult novel, it is widely read by adults too. Based on first-hand accounts from survivors, the story provides insights into the Stalinist repressions of the Baltic peoples. The novel was adapted into a film titled “Ashes in the Snow”. Ruta Sepetys, an American author of Lithuanian descent, was awarded the Carnegie Medal Literary Award in 2017 and the Knight’s Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuania in 2013.
Setting: Kaunas (Lithuania) & Siberia (Russia)
The main part of the novel is set in the Siberian Gulag camps, but the novel follows a Lithuanian family and starts in Lithuania.
Original title: Between Shades of Grey
Year of publication: 2011
Nr of pages: 352
