Ruta Sepetys

Tragedy was a big social event, and everyone wanted in on it.

— Ruta Sepetys

Some things just won’t go away, no matter how hard you scrub.

— Ruta Sepetys

“Krasivaya. It means beautiful, but with strength.r”

— Ruta Sepetys

“Perhaps tomorrow I would actually put pen to paper.”

— Ruta Sepetys

“I love Between shades of gray”

— Ruta Sepetys

“Unless it was Cokie, gifts from men weren't free.”

— Ruta Sepetys

Sometimes kindness can be delivered in a clumsy way.

— Ruta Sepetys

Decisions, they shape our destiny.

— Ruta Sepetys

“Look at you, locked and loaded, like Mae West of the Motor City.”

— Ruta Sepetys

“War is catastrophe. It breaks families in irretrievable pieces. But those who are gone are not necessarily lost.”

— Ruta Sepetys

I adore themes of hope and courage and the ways we find meaning through suffering.

— Ruta Sepetys

If I poured all the lies I had told into the Mississippi, the river would rise and flood the city.

— Ruta Sepetys

“When the survivors are gone we must not let the truth disappear with them. Please, give them a voice.”

— Ruta Sepetys

“Revolting. If women were so careless to become pregnant at such a time, let women sort it out.”

— Ruta Sepetys

Good men are often more practical than pretty " said Mother. "Andrius just happens to be both.

— Ruta Sepetys

“Well, I don't know, Lina. But let's just say I've met a lot of dead people.”

— Ruta Sepetys

“He wrapped his arms around me and planted a kiss straight on my lips, hard and long. It felt like I was…

— Ruta Sepetys

“But how can they just decide that we're animals? They don't even know us," I said. "We know us," said Mother. "They're…

— Ruta Sepetys

“We sat and drank in silence. It was something I appreciated about Jesse. He didn't feel the need to fill every moment…

— Ruta Sepetys

“You got to get outta here, Josie. New Orleans is fine for some people, real good for a few. But not for…

— Ruta Sepetys

“Stalin has stolen more than lands. Hannelore, he has stolen human dignity. I see it in their forlorn eyes and broken posture.…

— Ruta Sepetys

I felt as if I were riding a pendulum. Just as I would swing into the abyss of hopelessness, the pendulum would…

— Ruta Sepetys

It amazed me how some people could touch an instrument and create something so beautiful, and when others tried, like me, it…

— Ruta Sepetys

He threw his burning cigarette onto our clean living room floor and ground it into the wood with his boot. We were…

— Ruta Sepetys

“The shoes always tell the story,' said the shoe poet. 'Not always,' I countered. 'Yes, always. Your boots, they are expensive, well…

— Ruta Sepetys

“I wished I had a friend in the Quarter, someone like Charlotte. Someone I could share secrets with, collapse on her bedroom…

— Ruta Sepetys

My art teacher had said that if you breathed deeply and imagined something, you could be there. You could see it, feel…

— Ruta Sepetys

“I remembered Papa talking about Stalin confiscating peasants' land, tools, and animals. He told them what crops they would produce and how…

— Ruta Sepetys

“There was no ‘Miss Woodley.’ There was Willie. Willie was about life, and she grabbed it by the balls. Y’all know that.…

— Ruta Sepetys

Andrius turned. His eyes found mine. I'll see you he said. My face didn't wrinkle. I didn't utter a sound. But for…

— Ruta Sepetys

“What determines how we remember history and which elements are preserved and penetrate the collective consciousness? If historical novels stir your interest,…

— Ruta Sepetys

“It went on. Each lie I told required another to thicken the paste over the previous. It was useless, like when I…

— Ruta Sepetys

“Andrius turned. His eyes found mine. "I'll see you," he said. My face didn't wrinkle. I didn't utter a sound. But for…

— Ruta Sepetys

“Why you frettin', Jo? You not sure?" I inhaled my tears in order to speak. "I'm sure I want to go, but…

— Ruta Sepetys

“Willie said fathers were overrated, that my father could be one of thousands, most likely some rotten crotch creep that loved clip-on…

— Ruta Sepetys

“Some wars are about bombing. For the people of the Baltics, this war was about believing. In 1991, after fifty years of…

— Ruta Sepetys

My husband, Andrius, says that evil will rule until good men or women choose to act. I believe him. This testimony was…

— Ruta Sepetys

“Hello, Josie,” they’d say with a half smile, followed by a sigh and sometimes a shake of the head. They acted like…

— Ruta Sepetys

“November 20. Andrius's birthday. I had counted the days carefully. I wished him a happy birthday when I woke and thought about…

— Ruta Sepetys

“Jo, they have a baby grand piano, but no one in the family plays. They have shelves of books they've never read,…

— Ruta Sepetys