Andrius, I'm...scared." He stopped and turned to me. "No. Don't be scared. Don't give them anything Lina, not even your fear.

- Ruta Sepetys

I felt as if I were riding a pendulum. Just as I would swing into the abyss of hopelessness, the pendulum would swing back with some small goodness.

- Ruta Sepetys

I looked down at the little pink face in the bundle. A newborn. The child had been alive only minutes but was already considered a criminal by the So…

- Ruta Sepetys

Whether love of friend, love of country, love of God, or even love of enemy—love reveals to us the truly miraculous nature of the human spirit.

- Ruta Sepetys

Sometimes there is such beauty in awkwardness.

- Ruta Sepetys

I leapt eagerly into books. The characters’ lives were so much more interesting than the lonely heartbeat of my own.

- Ruta Sepetys

Decisions, they shape our destiny.

- Ruta Sepetys

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

- Ruta Sepetys

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

- Ruta Sepetys