As the most recent book I have read is Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys, I thought that would be a good place to start.

I have never been very good at history, in fact, while I find it interesting, the tediousness of remembering date after date after fact after fact would often become laborious and stressful for me. However, this book lays it all out there, it provides a spring board for the events and details of an often forgotten part of history. Sure, we all remember that Hitler overtook most of Europe and Northern Africa, but often we forget that at the same time, an equally evil man, Stalin, was overtaking much of Russia, including Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. I feel that this book does a really great job of getting to the meat of the facts and giving a deeper insight into the emotions and 'lives' of the captives. It allows a deeper understanding of the events that occurred while still being sensitive to the age of the audience. The book refrains from being too descriptive but also allows for the emotions to be present.

With that being said, I wanted to pick your brains about a few things. For starters, I wonder about the legitimacy related to the men and women who sat in the office refusing to sign the document stating that they were criminals. While I realize that perhaps my events are becoming confused, I can't imagine that Stalin would allow this to happen. I say this because many, most, of the captives were there because they were revolting against the government and having their own opinions about those involved in the government. If this is true, then why would they allow the captives to continue revolting against them? I simply wonder if this really happened or if it was constructed.

I also wonder about the 'love story' laced within the pages. Do you feel that this would be as effective without the 'love story'? Or is this part of the story simply necessary to keep the air lighter? Also, given the topic of the book, would it be more effective for the story to have a slightly more somber tone? So much bad happens within the story, but it is also balanced out by the subtle moments of beauty and relief. (i.e. Christmas, Andrius and Lina, celebrating Lina's birthday)

Just food for thought, let me know what you think!