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Ruta Sepetys

Biography

Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys is an internationally acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction published in over 60 countries and 40 languages. Sepetys is considered a “crossover” novelist, as her books are read by both teens and adults worldwide.

Her novels BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY, OUT OF THE EASY and SALT TO THE SEA have won or been shortlisted for more than 40 book prizes and are included on more than 60 state award lists. BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY was adapted into the film Ashes in the Snow, and her other novels are currently in development for TV and film.

Winner of the Carnegie Medal, Ruta is passionate about the power of history and literature to foster global awareness and connectivity. She has presented to NATO, to the European Parliament, in the United States Capitol, and at embassies worldwide. Ruta was born and raised in Michigan and now lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee.

Ruta Sepetys

Books by Ruta Sepetys

by Ruta Sepetys - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Detroit, 1927. A city of smoke and ambition, where glittering wealth conceals a graveyard of secrets. Marjorie Lennox is the youngest daughter of a powerful Detroit dynasty. Creative, reckless and never quite what they wanted, Marjorie has spent her life overlooked by her controlling father and self-absorbed siblings. But when she secretly applies to an elite arts program backed by a mysterious patron, she grabs the chance to finally step out of her family’s shadow. The program is strict in ways that feel sinister. Doors lock at strange hours. Rumors spread about women going missing. And the handsome benefactor behind it all is as magnetic as he is unsettling. As Marjorie gets pulled deeper into his world, she must fight to discover the truth before she loses herself completely.

by Ruta Sepetys - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Young Adult 12+

In 1945, World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia, and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, almost all of them with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage and trust in each other tested with each step closer toward safety. But just when it seems that freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes, and all 10,000 people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.

by Ruta Sepetys - Fiction, Young Adult 14+

It’s 1950 in  French Quarter of New Orleans and, 17-year-old Josie Moraine is known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street.

by Ruta Sepetys - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Young Adult 12+

It's 1941, and Lina is just like any other 15-year-old Lithuanian girl. That is, until Soviet officers barge into her home. Separated from her father, Lina, her mother and her brother travel north on a crowded train to a camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here, under Stalin's orders, they are forced to dig for beets --- and fight for their lives --- under the cruelest conditions.