The year is 1941. Lina and her family are at their home in Lithuania when Soviet guards drag them from their house, separated from their father and packed into cattle cars, to begin the harrowing journey across the Arctic Circle to be forced into labour camps in the frozen lands of Siberia.
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Although a work of fiction, Ruta Sepetys talked to a number of survivors from the occupation of the Baltic states who were made to work in labour camps, denied basic rights, and abused, keeping their horrific stories alive and in people’s memories - as even today not as many people are as aware of this mass deportation as they are other war crimes.
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When it first came out in 2011, I believe this book was marketed as Young Adult fiction, but since then it’s gained fans of all ages, with good reason. It’s simply written but powerful. The short chapters, especially at the start, capture the panic and hysteria of the situation like snapshots, forcing you to live through the confusion and terror of being ripped from your home and carter off into the unknown, denied food, privacy, space and light. The short chapters do not make it any easier to swallow, but they do make it quite a fast read, I struggled to put it down.
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I thought the characters were really well thought out, and even though Lina is young, she has a maturity beyond her years. She has more wisdom than many older people, an example being when she questions her feelings for a boy she barely knows, wondering whether it’s the extremity of their situation that makes her like him or whether she’d still like him if they met under normal circumstances back home in Lithuania. I liked that she didn’t just barrel into a relationship.
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Naturally this book is absolutely heartbreaking, and though it didn’t make me cry I did feel a bit choked up on occasion. The sense of loss Sepetys manages to convey is just overwhelming at times, but even so there’s a glimmer of hope as Lina channels her anger and fear and hunger into her art, with the author reminding us that we must always fight for things that challenge us, make us think and be creative - the exact opposite of what the oppressor wants.
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Overall I’d definitely recommend this one, although I took a star off because I did think the ending was a tad rushed. Beautiful overall though!