Fifteen-year old Lina Vilkas was taken from her home as she was getting ready for bed by the NKVD, the Soviet Secret Police. Her family was given 20 minutes to pack. Her father is missing.
"Promise me that if anyone tries to help you, you will ignore them. We will resolve this ourselves. We must not pull family or friends into this confusion, do you understand? Even if someone calls out to you, you must not respond."
Almost a year before, Lina's home country, Lithuania, was annexed into the USSR. Others were rounded up and put into a truck with Lina, her mother, and her younger brother, Jonas. Lina learns that her mother speaks perfect Russian.
Forty-six people are crammed into a cattle train car. One of them is 17-year old Andrius Arvydas from a nearby town. They travel for six weeks inside the crammed, filthy car. Lina learns why they were deported.
"Stalin has a plan, my love. The Kremlin will do anything to see it through. You know that. He wants Lithuania for the Soviet Union, so he's moving us out temporarily."
"But why us?" I asked. "They already moved into Lithuania last year. Isn't that enough?"
"It's not just us, dear. I imagine he's doing the same to Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. It's complicated," said other.
Lina witnesses hundreds of horrible things, things a human should never have to see or endure.
"How could they do this?" I asked aloud. I looked around the train car. No one spoke. How could we stand up for ourselves if everyone cowered in fear and refused to speak?
I had to speak. I'd write everything down, draw it all. I would help Papa find us.
Between Shades of Gray is the emotional story of Lina and her family as they're deported from their beloved home in Lithuania and eventually make it to the most desolate area of all in the Arctic region. It was delicious and it broke my heart into a million pieces.
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars
*mild language, sexual inference
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