Izzy Faith
asked
Ruta Sepetys:
Hi, I recently I read your book Between Shades of Grey. Amazing, by the way. I blogged about it. Two of my Great-Grandfathers were WWII veterans, so I've always been interested in that time period. Did your love of history come from your desire to write or did your desire to write come from your love of history?
Ruta Sepetys
Hi Izzy, thanks for your question! I am drawn to hidden history and stories of strength through struggle, so I look for topics that contain those elements. Writing historical fiction is like being a detective. I love discovering secrets and lost heroes. Sometimes history can be perceived as boring. But through characters and story, historical statistics become human and suddenly we care for people we've never met, we can find their country on a map, and then—the history matters. Through historical fiction we can give voice those who will never have a chance to tell their story. That inspires me!
More Answered Questions
Hellie
asked
Ruta Sepetys:
Hi Ruta! Im from Spain and I have read Between Shades of Gray(Entre tonos de gris here) and Out of Easy. I also have relatives near Russia and they told me how they lived during the URSS occupation,as you tell in Shades of Gray,so your book helped me to understand how terrible those years were. Well, my question is:Which period are you planning to write about in the future?Germany during Nazism,The Hundred Years' War?
ANN ♥
asked
Ruta Sepetys:
Hello Ruta! I am a huge fan of your work! Between Shades of Grey is my absolute favourite book. In fact, I loved it so much I read it more than once! I'm so excited for it to hit the big screen! I know that you will be touring Canada some time in May 2016. I wanted to know if you will be coming to Toronto, Canada to do book signings? I would love to meet you in person! Thank you!
Camille
asked
Ruta Sepetys:
In both "Between Shades of Grey" and "Out if the Easy" you created the protagonists Lina and Josie, both independent and strong teenage girls. I was wondering if you modeled them after a specific person you knew while you were in the process of writing them? If not, how did you come up with such authentic main characters? P.S- Both of those books are in my top 5. (Hopefully,"Salt to the Sea"will also make it on.)
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