This book is dedicated to Ona and her child.

Preview audio:

storyj.mp/aij3yaam2ee6

Jonas and Lina live with there mother Elena in Lithuania. One day Lina and Jonas returned home and heard a large pound of their front door. The loud bang on the door came from the NKVD who were Russian Law enforcement. The NKVD said that the family needed to be ready to leave with the NKVD in 20 minutes or else they would be killed (Sepeteys 5). The family did not know where they were going they just knew they had to listen to these men.

While the family was frantically getting ready to go with the NKVD "The sound of breaking glass and china wailed through the house in quick intervals"(Sepetys 10). Jonas and Lina's mother Elena was breaking all of her valuable china glassware. When Jonas asked his mother why she was doing this she replied, "because I love them so much"(Sepetys 10). Elena did not want her valuable china to be in the filthy hands of the NKVD.

The family is loaded up into a truck while waiting for a few more people. Jonas and Lina are told that their father is already at they place where they were being taken. Lina and Jonas were instructed to be quiet and keep to themselves. Lina, Jonas, and their mother Elena have no idea where they are going and are becoming very worried and scared for their lives.

Lina, Jonas, Elena, and a new mother Ona and her newborn are placed in a cattle car. The living conditions are terrible in the cattle car for the family. The cattle car is described as, "a cage on wheels, maybe a rolling coffin" (Sepetys 35). The family has little food and Ona and her newborn are already fighting for life after a few days.

Lina, Jonas, and their friend that they met Andrius hear a rumor that they are being taken to a work camp in Siberia. Lina, Jonas, and Andrius decide to go searching for their fathers. Lina and Jonas find their father and he is ok and tells them they need to get back to their cattle car. Andrius has not found his father and decides to keep looking for him. Lina and Jonas know that this was a bad idea and the next day find Andrius under the train battered, bruised and bloody (Sepetys 53). Andrius was beaten by the NKVD guards for being out of area while looking desperately for his father.

Jonas and Lina realize the cruelty of the NKVD and are taken by the NKVD from their cattle car. The NKVD wants Jonas for his translation skills and Lina for her artistic capabilities. They are promised preferential treatment if they agree (Sepetys 114-115). The rest of the family living in the cattle car can not be sold as slaves so they are sent to work at a work camp. At the work camp the main job the family performs is hole digging. Elena states, "He says if we want to eat, we must dig"(Sepetys 121). The guards only give the family small rations of bread and only if they do their large amount of work.

You must sign the work papers

You've previewed 14 of 23 pages.
To read more:

Benefits:

Full access to our public library
Save favorite books
Interact with authors

DOWNLOAD
LIKE

(1)
COMMENT

()
SHARE
SAVE

BUY THIS BOOK (from $4.39+)

BUY THIS BOOK
(from $4.39+)
BUY THIS BOOK
(from $4.39+)
DOWNLOAD
LIKE (1)

Liked By

COMMENT ()
SHARE
SAVE
Report

Encourage this author

BUY
LIKE

(1)
COMMENT

()
SHARE

Excessive Violence
Harassment
Offensive Pictures
Spelling & Grammar Errors
Unfinished
Other Problem

"Between Shades of Gray"

Name: Between Shades of Gray
Author: tylersmith717

tylersmith717

Jonas and Lina, along with their mother Elena, are forcibly taken by the NKVD from Lithuania to work camps in Siberia. They endure harsh conditions, cruelty, and loss, but find hope in the arrival of American ships.

(23 pages)

Privacy level: PUBLIC

632 reads 1 fan

Report