Most of us have probably read a book or watched a movie about the Holocaust and the horrors the Jews went through at the hands of Germany. But until now, I wasn't aware that they were not alone. At the same time as the Nazi's reign of terror, Stalin and the Soviet Union were rounding up Eastern Europeans who opposed him and forcing them into work camps in Siberia. Lina, her mother, and younger brother are arrested in Lithuania and forced upon a train. The trip seems endless and is full of horrors, not limited to lack of food, space, no proper bathing and bathroom facilities, and watching the weak perish. Those who didn't die on the trip are forced to live in cramped shacks and to work for no pay and barely any food rations in camps in the frigid arctic regions. Lina is an artist and uses her skill to secretly document their journey and try to contact their father, who was taken to a separate facility.
Will they survive? Who can they trust and who would allow humans to be treated this way? This novel is based in part on the author's family history.
Why I picked up the book: Several book clubs I'm in have read it and it is NCHS's one school one book this spring. I wanted to read it as a possible book club.
Why I finished the book: Like the author, I wasn't aware of this part of WWII. I couldn't put the book down. Someone from another book club I attended mentioned that she didn't think she would have been able to survive just not having being clean, much less the lack of food. I think I agree.
I'd give it to: Readers who like historical fiction and holocaust books; those who read and liked "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay and/or "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I started reading "The Storyteller" by Jodi Picoult at the same time I was reading this and they fit together well too.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
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