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“Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch.��

Frightening, beautiful and haunting are three words that best desribes this book.

Lina, her mother and her younger brother Jonas' lives are abruptly changed forever, when the NKVD, the Soviet law enforcement, enter their home one evening in 1941. Twenty minutes later, they're on a truck with other lithuanian people, about to be deported for being 'anti-soviet criminals'. They are put on a train and begin a journey into the unknown and unforgiving world.

By far the worst thing I have to say about this book, is that it needed to be SO much longer! I could have easily read another 200 pages, and not felt like the story was being unnecesarrily long at all.

This book made me shake my head and smile, it made me angry and had my eyes fill up a little. It is an emotional rollercoaster, that gives you an insight into a part of our world history that's been purposely hidden. If you've read Sepetys' 'Salt to the Sea' and liked it, then you will also like 'Between Shades of Gray' it is just as tragic and just as beautifully written.