by Ruta Sepetys
Published by Philomel Books
Released March 2011
Purchased by Me
From Goodreads:
Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.
Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously--and at great risk--documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives.
My Thoughts:
This was a heart-wrenching and yet inspiring read. When thinking of the holocaust I always think of Germany. While I know I learned in my history classes about the wide reach and impact of Stalin and Hitler, it takes books like this one to really make me understand what those people must have gone through. The characters were so real, and the language was so true to the character. I truly felt that a teenager was telling me this story. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical reads.
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