Between Shades of Gray is a raw story told from the perspective of Lina Vilkas, a 15 year-old girl living in Kaunas Lithuania during the 1940's.
One night, Lina and her family are torn from their comfortable life by Soviet officers, also known as NKVD. Separated from her father, Lina along with her mother and brother are forced onto a dirty train with 30 or so passengers. They slowly make their way north, reaching towards the coldest areas of Siberia. After several long and harsh weeks, they reach a work camp in the middle of nowhere. The Soviet officers divide all the train cars, only to sell them to the highest bidder, luckily, Lina's train doesn't get sold.
After they have been divided Lina and her small family are forced to dig for beets under the cruel commands of Stalin. Every day before sunrise till dawn they are digging and digging, every day harder than the previous. Lina, overcome by desperation, comes up with a plan; she will use her artistic skills to pass along a handkerchief with drawings on it, hoping it will someday reach her father.
Years later, Lina alongside with her mother and brother are taken away by the NKVD again. They are hurtled onto the dirty trains once again, this time, with fewer passengers. They finally reach a camp near the Arctic Circle where they are forced to build their own shelter with nothing but tree branches.
Brutal weather, and unimaginable conditions are what Lina and her family went through. One of the many sad and real life stories of people that where alive during this period in time.
