In the year of 1941, the small countries of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania were all absorbed by the Soviet Union, and became immediately subject to Joseph Stalin's communist rule. This is a period of history stained with blood, but, surprisingly, is not very widely known to the general public as the genocidal nightmare it truly was.

Ruta Sepetys, the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee, has made it her mission to educate the world about this terrible time in history known as the Great Purge, and does so most effectively in her debut novel, Between Shades of Gray.

Lina is only fifteen when she and her family are taken by the Soviet secret police, separated from her father, and eventually forced to do hard labour in a Siberian prison camp. It is a harrowing journey, to say the least, as she is torn away from everything she knows and thrust unmercifully into darkness.

Even though this book is, without a doubt, a fast-paced and riveting one, it also delivers an important message, and allows its readers to open their eyes to a part of history than can never be forgotten. Even more deadly than the Holocaust, the Great Purge is estimated to have killed up to twenty-million people, and is a huge scar on the past of this planet.

In Between Shades of Gray, Mrs.Sepetys reminds us of what could be if we turn our backs on the world and continue to focus only on our own individual lives. Important, entertaining, and inspiring, this novel is a must-read for all wishing, not just for an escape from life, but for an experience that may move you to change a life.

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