reading around the world

read around the world

By Sophiya R

START

the books

between shades of gray

By Ruta Sepetys

Where is the book set?

Lina Vilkas is presented as a young artist who lives happily with her loving family in Kaunas, Lithuania. However, on June 14, 1941, Soviet officials (otherwise known as the NKVD) barged into her home, uprooting her family from their luxurious life. After that, she was deported to Siberia.

+info

What time period?

Lina was sent to Siberia in 1941. Her letters to her father, Kostas Vilkas, were discovered in 1995 by construction workers, as were her drawings, which were buried in the year of 1954.

+info

+info

What did I discover about the place and time ?

Between Shades of Gray is a novel about a girl and her family who are imprisoned as part of Stalin's purges. Stalin's purges occurred when the Soviet Union's ruler, Joseph Stalin, sent inmates to work camps in an attempt to get rid of them since they disagreed with him and his communist ideas. However, the earliest purges occurred within the communist party to eliminate people who posed a threat. The Great Purge occurred in 1937 and 1938, with the ultimate objective of eliminating all of Stalin's adversaries. The majority of these inmates were sent to Siberia to labour.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit

The place is significant in the novel since it impacts Lina's everyday life because it was one of the countries invaded in around 1940. Lina would not have been detained by Soviet officials (NKVD) if this had not occurred, which is how the narrative begins.

how is the setting important to the story?

+info

+info

THANK you