"Between Shades of Gray" was quite good. This book is brilliant. Ms. Sepetys writes historical fiction about World War II, often focusing on the forgotten Eastern Front. This searing tale, told in four voices, is about those brutal final months when Russia's advance and the collapse of Germany's power sent millions scrambling for safety. The cover image and title reference the climax of the book. a true story somehow lost amidst the "romance" of other similar events. While "Between Shades of Gray" maintained light strokes and some emotional distance, this book does not. The brutality of the time is listed with clear detail -- not too much but "enough." It became haunting for me. It was a novel I could not stop thinking about long after I had put it down. It is also very literary in structure and flow. Again, Ms. Sepetys finds the right balance, making the novel readable and yet poetic. It is powerful, difficult, worthwhile and sadly beautiful. Worthy of the Carnegie Medal and other honors places upon it. Brava.
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