Ashes In The Snow Chapter Summaries

Ashes In The Snow by Ruta Sepetys. The artistic 15 year old Lina Vilkas is enjoying a warm, summer evening in her Lithuanian home in the midst of WW2, when suddenly the Soviet Secret Police nearly break down the front door. They inform her mother, Elena Vilkas, that their family has 20 minutes to pack for the unknown journey ahead. Lina’s father, Kostas, had been arrested earlier that day and nobody knew where he was, so Elena packed a bag for him as well. Once they are scurried out of their home, they are herded onto a truck with several other passengers, which are then driven to a bustling train station. The NKVD officers are sorting everyone into grubby train cars, clearly meant for livestock. (Chapter 2) Once Lina and her family are sorted

Andrius helps Lena find her father in another train car in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, they can’t bring him back to the other car, but Lina’s father tells her to send drawings of where she is and that he’ll find her. She promises to send them, and they sadly part ways. She and Andrius sneak back onto their train car, unnoticed. (Chapter 11) The next morning the prisoners are given one bucket of sludgy grain and water per car, then the guards lock up the doors and soon after the train starts to leave. Though many endured several weeks of being cramped on a small train with very little food, water, or fresh air, many others perished on the journey. Death lingered in the train, at every stop the guards hauled more and more dead bodies out of the cars. After many weeks, they’re all unloaded onto a small farm in the Altai Region of China, where they have to share measly houses and rations with the locals, who make it clear that they’re unhappy about having to share their homes with prisoners. Though Lina’s mother tries to keep good terms with their new roommate, their relationship is

It follows a brave girl who survives in the most unsurvivable situations, and it’s very inspiring. One of the reasons I love this book is that it’s set in the middle of World War 2. My favorite genre of books is historical fiction, so this book was a good fit for me. It was also very interesting because in most WW2 fiction I’ve read, it takes the perspective of the Jewish people against Hitler, but this takes the perspective of the Lithuanian people against the Soviets. It showed me a different side of the story in WW2 that I didn’t know existed before I read Ashes In The Snow. It was also an amazing book because one of the themes I found demonstrates how far a positive attitude can take you. While working so hard, her hands were bleeding with blisters, and while she was freezing and starving to death, Lina’s mother, Elena, manages to find happiness in the midst of her struggles. The book quotes, “'Our sense of humor,' said Mother, her eyes pooled with laughing tears. They can't take that away from us, right?'" Chapter 33: Elena is a wonderful example of using a positive attitude, and it helps me put my life into perspective. If she can find happiness in a Siberian labor camp, then I can find happiness in my life too, even when I struggle. Another theme I found in Ashes in the Snow was the will to survive. In the book, Andrius says to Lina, “We've been trying to touch the sky from the bottom of the ocean. I