Review of The Forest of Vanishing Stars

Harmel, Kristin.  The Forest of Vanishing Stars.  Gallery Books, 2021.

 

In 1922, Jerusza, an elderly mystic, kidnaps two-year-old Inge Juttner from her wealthy parents in Berlin because she feels the child’s parents are “bad people”.  Jerusza changes Inge’s name to Yona, which means dove, because she has a dove-shaped birthmark on her wrist.  She raises Yona in the forests of Eastern Europe as her own child.  She only has two rules Yona must follow—she must always obey Jerusza, and she must stay hidden in the forest, away from men who might hurt her.  Not only does Jerusza teach Yona how to survive in the forest, but she also teaches her practical things—more than five different languages and about the world’s religions.

 

In 1942, Jerusza passes away, and Yona is left on her own.  One day, she comes upon two men, one of whom is unsuccessfully trying to catch fish with his bare hands.  She discovers the men are part of a larger group of Jews who fled into the forest when Jews in their Polish town were being killed by the Nazis.  Yona joins their group and teaches them how to live in the forest and survive during the harsh winters.  After a romantic interest betrays her, Yona decides to leave.

 

Yona enters a German-occupied town and becomes friendly with a group of nuns, who have been quietly helping Jews escape from the country.  However, after she reconnects with a relative from her past, which leads to another betrayal, she goes back into the forest.  She realizes that everything that Jerusza had been teaching her was so she could help the Jews survive until World War II was over.

 

Kristin Harmel, who also wrote The Book of Lost Names, has written another mesmerizing World War II tale of courage and survival.  She has based her novel on true stories—that of the nuns, the Blessed Martyrs of Nowogrodek, and of the thousands of Jews who actually lived in forests during World War II.  She has peppered her novel with information about survival techniques, medicinal herbs, and shelter construction, all of which she researched extensively.  She even interviewed Aron Bielski, a 93-year-old World War II survivor, who survived the war by living in the forests.

 

The characters are well fleshed-out and developed.  Both Yona and Jerusza are strong, capable women, although rather untrusting of others.  Yona, having not grown up with her parents, feels she has missed out on family and deeply yearns to have one of her own.  Even though Jerusza lived to be very old, she was one tough cookie!  Both she and Yona have the ability to sense things, especially danger.

 

The Forest of Vanishing Stars is an extraordinary story, a tale of survival and hope.  It can be enjoyed by both adults and teens.  Give it to readers who read historical fiction and those who like reading about World War II.  I highly recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for allowing me to read and review this book.

Review of All the Little Hopes

Weiss, Leah.  All the Little Hopes.  Sourcebooks, 2021.

 

In 1943, thirteen-year-old Allie “Bert” Tucker is sent by her poor father on a bus trip across North Carolina to stay with her pregnant Aunt Violet and help with her forthcoming baby.  However, through a series of circumstances, Bert ends up living with thirteen-year-old Lucy “Lu” Brown and her large family, instead.  Not only do Lu and Bert become best friends, but they also become sisters.  Because Bert is illiterate, Lu and her mother teach Bert how to read, write, and do arithmetic.

 

The Brown family lives on a tobacco farm in Riverton, NC and also has a thriving beekeeping and honey business.  In exchange for cane sugar and cash, the Browns agree to provide the US government with beeswax and honey from their hives.  Not only do family members help with working the hives, but neighbors and close friends chip in, as well.  

 

A Nazi POW camp is built on the outskirts of Riverton, and many of the townspeople are distrustful of the prisoners.  One Riverton resident, Terrell Stuckey, is particularly disturbed and sits outside the camp whittling all day.  Three of the prisoners are working on the Brown’s farm as part of their rehabilitation.  When a double murder takes place at the camp, everyone thinks that Terrell did it, but he can’t be located.  

 

Terrell Stuckey is the third man to go missing in Riverton.  Lu and Bert, who are avid Nancy Drew fans, decide to try to find out what has happened to the men.  They engage the help of Trula Freed, an eccentric neighbor, and Lu’s rich Aunt Fanniebelle and her Ouija board, which the girls name “Weegee”.  However, the mysteries remain unsolved until a close friend’s death, when Lu, Bert, and Helen, one of Lu’s older sisters, make a surprising discovery.

 

All the Little Hopes is a delightful read, filled with nostalgia, small town life, and love of family and friends.  The book contains short chapters and is told in the alternating voices of Lu and Bert.  The novel sails along while World War II is going on in the background, quietly affecting the town and the Brown family.

 

The characters, even the minor ones, are extremely well-thought out.  I love the whole Brown family, but especially the parents, Minnie and David.  They are caring parents and calming forces in their children’s lives.  Several of the characters very quirky, which adds to the charm of the novel.  Trula Freed, the town’s mystic, reads tarot cards, provides medicine for a variety of ailments, and seems to be clairvoyant.  Lu’s Aunt Fanniebelle, who is quite wealthy and lives in a mansion, gets her words mixed up, which makes her stories hilarious.  I also love that Lu and her whole family are bibliophiles, and they turn Bert into one, too.

 

Readers will be able to tell that Ms. Weiss has done her research, as she inserts historical anecdotes into the story.  The POW camp in the book is based on a similar one she was able to locate in Williamston, NC.  Other factual truths in the novel are the World War II beeswax contracts, the disappearance of band leader Glen Miller, the 1918 Spanish Flu, and folklore wolpertingers from Bavaria.  She has also provided recipes in the back of the book matching those in the novel.

 

There is a “Conversation with the Author” in the back of the book, where the author answers questions about her life growing up, beekeeping, Nancy Drew, the importance of reading, and the development of her characters.  She has also provided a “Reading Group Guide” containing questions and author’s notes explaining how the book came about.

 

All the Little Hopes is a charming, heartfelt, and touching read.  While it is written for young adults, it would be enjoyed by adults, as well.  Hand this book to readers who enjoy stories about family and friendship and World War II.  I highly recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to Edelweiss and Sourcebooks for allowing me to read and review this book!

Review of A Sitting in St. James

Williams-Garcia, Rita.  A Sitting in St. James.  Quill Tree Books, 2021.

In 1860, sugar cane was usually a profitable business for Louisiana plantations.  However, at La Petite Cottage in St. James, this is not the case.  The plantation has fallen on hard times, much to the dismay of eighty-year-old widow Madame Sylvie Bernardin Guilbert and is nearly bankrupt.  Much to her disappointment, Sylvie’s son, Lucien, has gambled, spent, and drunk their fortune away.

 

When she was only thirteen and being raised in a French convent, Madame Sylvie married Bayard Guilbert, twenty years her senior.  Sylvie, who lived at French Court for a time, was used to being pampered and having her way.  When Bayard takes her to Louisiana, she thinks she has been brought to a special kind of Hell, for it is nothing like France.  She hates the climate, the terrain, and the slaves that work on the plantation.  Not only that, but Sylvie thinks her social standing is way above anyone else’s in St. James, and she only speaks French by choice.  She is also the only heir to a vineyard in France.

 

On her seventieth birthday, Sylvie takes a six-year-old slave girl from her family to be her personal handmaid.  She declares the girl is her birthday present and renames her Thisbe.  As she grows, Thisbe learns to speak French and takes care of Sylvie’s every need.  Without showing it, Thisbe watches and listens to everything that happens in the house.

 

Lucien hopes to save the plantation by marrying off his son, Byron, who is secretly gay, to Eugenie Duhon, the daughter of another plantation owner.  He also has grand plans for his mulatto daughter, Rosalie, whom Sylvie disdains, and Laurent Tournier, the half Black, half Creole son of another plantation owner.  Sylvie is paid by her best friend, Juliette Chatham, to turn her tomboy daughter, Jane, into a lady.  During the midst of all this, Byron’s “friend” comes to visit, so Sylvie plans a party for him and decides she absolutely must have her portrait painted by a famous French artist.

 

For her novel, A Sitting in St. James, author Rita Williams-Garcia, has received starred reviews from three professional journals.  The author, who is a descendant of slaves, herself, has done a meticulous job of researching and writing about plantation life in the period just before the Civil War begins.  The thought she has put into interconnecting the lives of slaves and their white plantation owners is exceptional.  The novel is, at times, hard to read and digest because of the harsh descriptions of slaves’ daily lives and the horrors in the way they were treated by their white owners.

 

The novel is completely character-driven, most of whom are completely fleshed-out.  My favorites are Sylvie’s maid, Thisbe, and Jane Chatham, who comes to live with the Guilberts.  Thisbe is so smart and cunning, although Sylvie could never tell, because she hides it so well.  I could almost feel the hairbrush that Sylvie would beat Thisbe with when she was upset with her.  Even through the beatings, Thisbe is stoic, strong, and unwavering.  Jane, on the other hand, has only known love from her deceased father, and so she grows up emulating him.  He has taught her to hunt, fish, and ride her wonderful horse, Virginia Wilder.  Jane is literal in her thinking and brings humorous moments to an otherwise dark story.

 

A Sitting St. James is a treasure and a history lesson that every young adult should read.  Give this rich, saga-like, page-turner to lovers of historical fiction and those who want to know more about slave life before the Civil War.  I highly recommend it for public libraries and upper high school students and give it five out of five fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to Edelweiss and Quill Tree Books for allowing me to read and review this book.

Review of The Woman With the Blue Star

Jenoff, Pam.  The Woman With the Blue Star.  Park Row Books, 2021.

 

Nineteen-year-old Sadie Gault is living with her parents in the Jewish quarter in Krakow, Poland in 1942.  When the Germans come to round up the Jews, the Gaults and another family, the Rosenburgs, escape down into the sewers under the city.  While they are being led through the tunnels, Sadie and her pregnant mother, Danuta, watch in horror as Mr. Gault falls into the water and gets carried away in the current.  The living arrangements in the sewer chamber for Sadie, her mother, and the Rosenbergs are only supposed to be temporary.  However, the two families end up living there for months after Pawel, the sewer worker who led them there, is arrested by the Polish police.  After Pawel’s arrest, the two families have to figure out how they will get food and supplies without his help.  In the meantime, Sadie and Saul Rosenberg, the Rosenbergs’ son, begin a relationship when they start reading books together.

 

While Gaults and Rosenbergs are trying to survive underneath Krakow, nineteen-year-old Ella Stepanek is stuck living with her Austrian stepmother, Anna, in another part of the city.  Her father has died fighting in the Polish army and has left everything to Anna.  Much to Ella’s dismay, Anna is entertaining and consorting with Nazi soldiers right in their home.  One day, Anna sends Ella to the market, and Ella notices Sadie looking up at her through a sewer vent.  Ella and Sadie become friends, and Ella, with the help of her boyfriend, Krys, who is part of the Resistance, try to provide food for the sewer families.

 

More complications for the Gaults and Rosenbergs begin after Danuta gives birth to her daughter.  Afraid that the baby’s cries will give away the families’ location, Danuta leaves the sewer to take the baby to a hospital and never returns.  The two families continue to have to make decisions that will affect their survival during the war.

 

The Woman with the Blue Star takes place in Krakow, Poland, both above and below ground.  It is told in alternating chapters in first-person by Sadie and Ella.  Other parts of the story are filled in by Pawel and Lucy, Sadie’s sister, when they finally meet years later.

 

Pam Jenoff is a masterful world-builder.  Her descriptions of life in the sewers are horrifying and based on events that actually happened.  Readers will feel they are smelling the foul, stagnant water and hearing the nasty rats scurrying in the dark.  In addition, the depiction of life in Krakow during the war shows how the city was affected and how Jews were treated during this time.

 

The book shows both the good and bad of the human race during World War II.  Although they are from different walks of life, Sadie and Ella make a real connection and quickly become good friends.  Both girls have to reach down deep and find their inner strength to help others.  This fervent story is one of hope, survival, struggles, friendship, loss, and family.

 

Hand this book to readers who enjoy reading fiction stories about World War II and those who like tales of survival and adversity.  Although it is written for adults, it would be a good young adult crossover novel, as teens would also enjoy it.  I recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it four out of five fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to NetGalley, Park Row Books, and Harlequin for allowing me to read and review this novel.

Review of The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

Harmel, Kristin.  The Book of Lost Names.  Gallery Books, 2020.

 

In 1942, while babysitting a neighbor’s children, Eva Traube secretly sees her father, who is a Polish Jew, arrested when the Nazis begin picking up the Jews in Paris.  Realizing the danger, she and her mother flee to Aurignon, a city in the Free Zone of southern France, while Eva works on a plan to free her father.   Instead, Eva becomes part of the French Resistance of World War II, working with a covert forging group that creates documents to help Jewish children escape across the French border to Switzerland.  The forging ring is run in the library of the Eglise Saint-Alban Church and is headed by Pere’ Clement, a Catholic priest.  Nearly the whole town is involved in the underground forging ring, and many of them have an alias just in case they are caught.

 

Eva is trained by another forger, Remy, and they decide that the children who are taken across the border need to be remembered by their real names.  They begin encoding the children’s names and aliases in a rare book, Epitres et Evangiles.  Eventually, Remy and Eva fall in love, and Remy begins bringing children across the border instead of forging documents.  The Nazis finally learn of their secret operation, and the pair flees Aurignon, escorting children into Switzerland.  In the process, Remy and Eva part ways.

 

Years later, in 2005, Eva Abrams, now widowed, is working as a part-time librarian at the public library in Winter Park, Florida.  She notices a New York Times newspaper article about a man named Otto Kuhn, a librarian who lives in Berlin.  His life’s mission is to return a million books looted from libraries by the Nazis, to their rightful Jewish owners.  In the article, she sees her book, Eptres et Evangiles, and knows she must travel to Berlin to obtain the book.  She hopes that Remy has left a coded message for her in the book and wants closure from World War II, which took so much from her and her family.

 

In The Book of Lost Names, Kristin Harmel has combined World War II history and the French Resistance with romance, suspense, and mystery.  The story is compelling, hopeful, and filled with hope and perseverance.  It is an honest portrayal of what people’s lives are like when their freedoms are taken away.  It is evident that the author did meticulous research on the forging rings and the libraries that were looted during World War II.

 

Not just Eva, but all the female characters, including the boarding house owner and other townspeople, are portrayed as strong and courageous.  It is heartwarming and astonishing to see how a whole Catholic town works together to benefit hundreds of innocent Jewish children.

 

This novel received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.  Hand it to readers who enjoy historical fiction and to fans of World War II stories.  I highly recommend it for public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to Edelweiss and Gallery Books for allowing me to read and review this book.

Review of The Girls with No Names by Serena Burdick

Burdick, Serena.  The Girls with No Names.  Park Row, 2020.

It is 1910 in New York City, and women have strict upbringings and very few rights.  Suffragettes are marching in the streets, and working conditions in factories are terrible.

Effie Tildon comes from a wealthy and socially affluent Manhattan family.  After discovering a shocking secret about their father, Effie's older sister, Luella, acts out and is gone the next day.  Effie is determined to find her older sister.  She believes that Luella has been sent to the House of Mercy, a type of women's reform institution, by their father to punish her for breaking the rules.  When Effie comes up with a plan to have herself committed to the "House of Mercy, she is shocked to find out that Luella is not a resident there.  And much to her despair, getting out of Mercy House is much harder than getting in.  No one will believe that she really shouldn't be there!

At the House of Mercy life is hard; the residents are forced into grueling labor, and are often punished,  Another girl, Mable Winter, befriends Effie and they try to come up with a plan to escape.

The House of Mercy reformatory is based on the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, which were run by the Catholic Church.  In these institutions, wayward and unmarried, pregnant women were forced to work and were horribly mistreated.  Ms. Burdick has done an extraordinary job of portraying the horrors that went on in these institutions.  She has deftly woven both the historical events happening during the early 1900s into the plot and the plight of women during this time period.  I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the Romani people, their camp, and their everyday activities

Effie and Mabel are portrayed as strong, persevering characters.  This is a novel of friendship, love, courage, and hope.  I highly recommend it for older high school students and public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis!

Reviews of Two Amazing World War II Novels

Cameron, Sharon.  The Light in Hidden Places.  Scholastic, 2020.

Stefania “Fusia” Podgorska, now sixteen, has been living with the Jewish Diamant family for the past three years while working in their store.  The Diamants love Fusia, and she is even secretly engaged to one of their sons, Izo, though she is Catholic.  Then, World War II begins, and the Nazis invade their Polish town of Prezemysl and force the Diamant family into the ghetto.  Fusia discovers that her parents have been put in a labor camp, and her siblings, with the exception of her abandoned six-year-old sister, Helena, are scattered all over Poland.  Fusia takes in “Hela” and keeps living in the Diamants’ apartment. Fusia eventually agrees to hide one of the Diamant brothers, despite realizing she could be killed by the Germans for helping Jews.  Soon one Jew turns into thirteen Jews, and Fusia must find creative ways not only to hide them, but to also feed them without attracting the attention of the Nazis.  To make matters worse, the German army commandeers her apartment to house two German nurses who entertain German officers frequently in their room.  

This well-researched historical fiction novel is a true story of courage, heroism, and resourcefulness.  The book is based on the unpublished memoir of Stefania Podgorska and interviews with family members.  The world building is extraordinary; readers will feel they are actually living in World War II Poland through the events and places of that time period.  The book is narrated by Fusia, who lives in constant fear of outsiders finding out that she is harboring Jews in her home.  All the characters, even the minor ones, have clear-cut personalities, and Fusia is a strong female heroine.

Stefania and Helena were honored in 1979 by the World Holocaust Remembrance Center for their heroism in saving Jews during World War II.  This novel would be appreciated by adults, as well as teens.  Hand it to readers who enjoy historical fiction and stories of survival.  I highly recommend it for public, middle school, and high school libraries.

Hesse, Monica.  They Went Left.  Little, Brown, 2020.

Eighteen-year-old Zofia Lederman lives in Holocaust death camps for three years, wondering where her younger brother, Abek is.  Sadly, she knows the rest of her family has been killed.  When Soviet forces liberate the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, Zofia is sent to a hospital to recover.  Although her physical wounds heal, her mind is still badly broken.  After being released from the hospital, she sets out to find Abek, traveling through Poland and Germany, inquiring as to his whereabouts at displaced persons camps along the way.  She finally ends up staying at U.N.-run Foehrenwald, a displaced persons camp near Munich.  At the camp, she rooms with other Jewish women and falls in love with Josef, a man also living there.  Everyone in the camp is trying to put their lives back together, and many are looking for missing relatives.  While searching for Abek, Zofia sees that even the smallest experiences can bring hope into others’ lives.

They Went Left is not your typical World War II story.  It is the story of what happens to people after the war is over, and they must pick up the pieces of their broken lives.  While Zofia is a strong female character, she is an unreliable narrator because her memory is full of holes, and she is often confused.  She cannot actually remember the last time she saw Abek, her brother.  This is likely due to the trauma she has experienced while living in several death camps.  However, she has resilience and perseverance, and comes to realize that there is hope and healing will come.  The women she lives with in the Foehrenwald help her to see that she will have a life after the war.

This is the third novel that the author has set during World War II, and would also be enjoyed by adults.  Give this novel to readers who like historical fiction, romance, and mystery.  I highly recommend it for public and high school libraries.

I give both of these incredible World War II novels five out of five fleur de lis!

Review of Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

 Ireland, Justina.  Deathless Divide.  Balzer+Bray, 2020.

This second installment of the Dread Nation duology picks up right where the first book ended.  During the Years of Discord, the time period just after 1863, “shamblers”, or zombies, have taken over the settlement of Summerville, Kansas.  Jane McKeene and Kathryn Deveraux have decided to travel together, heading to Nicodemus, Kansas, the site of a Negro settlement founded by Freedmen and Quaker settlers.  It is supposed to be a secure, welcoming refuge, but it turns out to be just another social-experimental community run by deceitful and criminal characters.  When Nicodemus is also overrun by shamblers, the girls part ways, each heading down their own path.  These two black girls trained in the art of fighting shamblers started out as enemies but ended up as frenemies.  They eventually hope to make their way to Haven, California, a safe Negro settlement near Sacramento, where they believe Jane’s mother is living.  Along the way, they each endure heartbreak, sacrifice, and challenges.

This well-crafted historical-fantasy series has such an unusual concept—that of black, mostly female, zombie hunters during the Civil War and Reconstruction Period. If you are looking for a book that is character-driven and has warrior heroines, look no further.  Both Jane and Kathryn, plus a few other minor characters, have spunk, grit, and determination.  They manage to overcome obstacles within a sinister setting and find intelligent ways out of dangerous situations.  The book is told in alternating chapters in both of their voices, and each chapter begins with a quote either from Shakespeare, the Bible, or some other literary work.  

This series contains, numerous social conflicts—exploitation of the black race, social tensions between native Americans and black characters, and relations between Chinese families and other races.  Add to those conflicts the themes of racism, nationalism, identity, kinship, resilience, immigration, bioethics, and vaccinations, and you have plot that is rich in layers and textures.

Hand this series to readers who love action, zombie stories, and alternative historical fiction.  While it is not necessary to have read the first book, it would be extremely helpful.  I had to go back and reread parts of Dread Nation to bring myself back up to speed.  I highly recommend this book and the whole series to high school and public libraries, and I give it five out of five fleur de lis!

Review of Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Sepetys, Ruta.  Salt to the Sea.  Philomel, 2016.

In the winter of 1945 in Europe, World War II is nearly over, but many citizens of the eastern Baltic States are fleeing the advance of the Russian army, led by Joseph Stalin, to what they hope is freedom.  Travel conditions across Europe are brutal—sub-freezing temperatures, snow, rocky terrain, and little or no food and shelter.

Many refugees band together to make the trek to evacuation boats waiting at Gotenhafen on the Baltic Sea in Poland.  One such group includes Joana, a young nurse from Poland, Emilia, a pregnant fifteen year-old Lithuanian girl, and Florian, an artist from Prussia.  Other members of the group include a small boy, an elderly shoemaker, and a blind girl.  Amazingly, they all receive passage on the Wilhelm Gustloff, formerly a cruise liner, now serving as a transport ship. 

On the ship they encounter Alfred, a teenaged German soldier, who is a delusional coward, making up fantasies in his head and shirking his duties by hiding in the bathroom.

The ship, which is well over capacity, leaves the port, only to be hit hours later with three torpedoes from a Russian submarine.  The ship’s inhabitants either spill out into the icy Baltic Sea or sink with the ship.  Sadly, only about one-tenth of the occupants survive.

Ruta Sepetys is known for her well-researched historical novels, and Salt to the Sea is no exception. Although the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff resulted in far greater casualties (more than 9400) than the Titanic, it is not often remembered, mainly because it was overshadowed by all the other tragedies that occurred during World War II.   Ms. Sepetys has given voice to thousands evacuees, many of them children, who perished in the largest maritime disaster in history.

The book is told in four alternating teen viewpoints, that of Joana, Emilia, Florian, and Alfred.  Readers are able to see the horrors of war as the characters' backstories unfold in short chapters written in beautiful prose.  

Even though Salt to the Sea is intended for a young adult audience, it could easily be an adult crossover.  It will make its debut tomorrow, February 2, 2016.  I highly recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis!

Reviewer’s Note:  The copy reviewed was an e-galley from Edelweiss.

Review of Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Sepetys, Ruta.  Between Shades of Gray.  Speak, 2011.

In 1940, the Soviet Union began their occupation of Europe’s Baltic States, and under Stalin’s reign, started deporting thousands of citizens of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to remote Russian areas.  The NKVD forced them to work for tiny rations; thus, many of these people did not survive. 

Between Shades of Gray tells the story of the Vilkas family, who is among a group of people who end up in Trofimovsk at the North Pole.  Fourteen-year-old Lina, ten-year-old Jonas, and their mother, Elena, are dragged from their home in the middle of the night and forced onto a train.  Unbeknownst to them, their father and has already been sentenced to death and put in prison.  On the train, seventeen-year-old Andrius Arvydas, and his mother befriend them.  Eventually,  Andrius becomes Lina’s love interest.

Parts of the Lithuanian group are sold as slaves, and others, including Lina and her family, work for measly rations on a beet farm.  As winter nears, they are shipped via train and barge father north, finally landing at Trofimovsk. There, they must build their own huts from leftover bark, twigs, and moss to avoid freezing to death, while the NKVD keep warm in brick buildings and have plenty to eat.  The harsh winter brings many deaths, and it is only through helping each other and the secret kindness of one of the guards that allows Lina and Jonas to survive.

Ruta Sepetys has told a heart-wrenching tale of survival.  She has done extensive research into the story of the Baltic occupation and deportations and has deftly woven numerous facts into the plot.  Stalin’s actions were kept secret until the 1990s, which explains why his acts have remained obscure until fairly recently.

It is easy to empathize with the characters and what they are going through.  Sepetys’ descriptions of the horrors the Lithuanians  endure is painful to read.  Lina and Jonas have to grow up too fast to handle everything that is thrown their way.  Elena is helpful to her children and the other people around her because she has such a positive outlook, even when things seem bleak and hopeless.

There are maps at the front of the book showing a timeline and the distance that the Vilkas family traveled.  There are discussion questions, an interview with the author, and an excerpt from Out of the Easy, Ruta Sepetys’ newest novel, at the end of the book.

This novel has won a number of honors--all well-deserved!  Fans of Holocaust and World War II literature will enjoy Between Shades of Gray.  I highly recommend it for middle school, high school, and public libraries.  I enthusiastically give it five out of five fleur de lis!!!!