Following an online recommendation about historical fiction, I purchased these 2 books by Ruta Septys, a new author to me. Between Shades of Gray deals with the deportation of Lithuanians by the Russians as World War II is raging across Europe. I was unaware of this horror, the people were siezed by the Russian police and transported in cattle cars to Siberian work farms and prison camps where most perished. I understand this novel is a motion picture, Ashes in the Snow.
The author includes acknowledgements and interesting notes. Pg 339, "In 1940 the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Esotonia. ....the Kremlin drafted lists of people considered anti-Soviet who would be executed, deported into slavery in Siberia. Doctors lawyers, teachers, military servicemen, writers, business owners, .......The first deportations took place on June 14, 1941."
 |
| Page 1 of Between Shades of Gray |
 |
| Back Cover Between Shades if Grey |
This novel is the brutal tale of one family with focus on and told by Lina, a young Lithuanian girl. Lina is seized with her mother and younger brother, Jonas. Their father had been previously captured although they did not know where or when. The mother brave and determined to keep the three of them together will die in Siberia. But she and Jonas will survive. Other characters are influential in the story too, a bald man,. Andrius, his mother, Mrs Rimas, Miss Grybas and how they form a makeshift community for each other. Lina and Jonas survive and she returns to Lithuania in 1953. The Epilogue has a letter by Lina. It is estimated that Stalin killed more than 20 million people during his reign of terror. (Pg 341) Deportations also affected Poland, Moldova, and other nations. Still today, some deny it ever happened.
The author explains that she chose the title because things are not always black or white. Sometimes the truth lies somewhere in the middle. She explains that some survivors told of a Soviet guard who had helped them in a way that saved their life.
The 2nd one , Salt to the Sea is another historical fiction about a tragedy worse than the Titanic that I never heard of before reading this. It is told through several characters including Joana who was Lina's cousin and whose family escaped Lithuania to Germany, avoiding the Soviet deportations. But now the Soviets approach Germany and she flees. Florian who thought he was understudy to an artist but who was really forging copies of artwork to steal the originals has fled with a treasured piece . Emilia is a young Polish girl whom Florian rescues from the Soviets in the forest and who turns out to be pregnant. There is the shoemaker and a young orphan boy and an aspiring sailor, Alfred. All characters intertwined and sailing as refugees on the Wilhelm Gusthoff in the Baltic Sea to avoid the Soviet advance into Germany. Joanna is using her medical skills and working as a nurse and assistant to the ships' doctor. The ship is hit by German torpedo's. Its sinking would be the deadliest disaster in maritime history with losses dwarfing the death tolls of the Titanic or the Lusitania. But it was not heard of nor publicized. There is now an online museum of the Wilhelm Gustoff
 |
| Back Cover Salt to the Sea |
The author includes interesting references and a discussion at the end of the book. Page 404 describes how this disaster was hidden and why.:
I knew nothing about either of these missing pieces of WWII history before reading these books. Yet although the writing is clear and the information interesting, I was just not that impressed. I don't know specifically why. I had to force myself to read through them. So for that reason only 3 ***
