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!

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