Between Shades of Gray, now a New York Times Bestseller, is the debut novel of American novelist Ruta Sepetys. It follows the Stalinist purges of the latter half of the 20th century, Between Shades of Gray follows the life of Lina as she is deported from her native Lithuania with her mother and younger brother and the journey they take to a work-camp in Siberia. It has been nominated for the 2012 CILIP Carnegie Medal and has been translated into more than 27 languages.

Between Shades of Gray was originally intended as a young adult novel, but there have been several adult publications. In an interview with Thirst for Fiction, Ruta Sepetys said that the reason she intended Between Shades of Gray to be a young adult novel was because she met many survivors in Lithuania who were themselves teenagers during the deportations, and had a greater will to live than many of their adult counterparts at the time.