Books by Ruta Sepetys

Friends turned me on to Ruta Sepetys, knowing that I read a lot of historical fiction. Turns out that she writes what is considered to be Young Adult stories. I've read four and loved them all, especially The Fountains of Silence which opens in 1957 Franco Spain and ends in 1978 post-Franco Spain, a year, coincidentally, when we were actually traveling in Spain and visiting a dear friend who was living there. I Must Betray You is set in Romania during the fall of the Nicolae Ceaușescu. Between Shades of Gray (Lithuanians banished to Siberia) and Salt to the Sea (Lithuanians and Poles on the run in Germany) share characters and tell their stories, in different years and from different perspectives. These last two also tell stories that aren't widely known in WWII.

Sepetys cites her sources, unusual in historical fiction, and appears to do an impressive amount of research, including having editors in the countries where the stories take place. Stories are based on real people and they are compelling, suspenseful. They're real page-turners, with short chapters that keep you reading. If you like a story with the history wrapped around it, or if you have young people in your life that might like the same, these are winners. At a time when the world feels particularly unsettled and at risk of tipping into a place we've, unfortunately, been before, these are important stories to read and remember.