Ruta Sepetys Adaptations in the Works: Two to the Screen #book2movies

I’m told Salt to the Sea appeals to readers of All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and Between Shades of Gray, the latter is also by Ruta Sepetys and en route to the big screen as Ashes in the Snow. 

Salt to the Sea, published in 2016, and the winner of the Carnegie Medal is being adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the genius scriptors who gave us (500) Days of Summer, The Spectacular Now, The Fault in Our Stars, Our Souls at Night (currently streaming on Netflix) The Disaster Artist opening in theaters in December and Where’d You Go Bernadette which is in production now. Salt to the Sea is the first period fiction they’ve tried their hands at.

Here’s the lowdown on the novel ...

‘In 1945, World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, almost all of them with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer toward safety. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.

A tribute to the people of Lithuania, Poland, and East Prussia, Ruta Sepetys unearths a shockingly little-known casualty of a gruesome war, and proves that humanity can prevail, even in the darkest of hours.

Between Shades of Gray, a Carnegie Medal nominee, was published in 2013 and is due out on screen sometime in 2018, as Ashes in the Snow. The script was written by Ben York Jones an actor/writer known for Like Crazy. In post production now the film stars Sophie Cookson (Kingsman), Bel Powley (Diary of a Teenage Girl) and Lisa Loven Kongsli (Wonder Woman).

About the book ...

Fifteen-year-old Lina is a Lithuanian girl living an ordinary life--until Soviet officers invade her home and tear her family apart. Separated from her father and forced onto a crowded train, Lina, her mother, and her young brother make their way to a Siberian work camp, where they are forced to fight for their lives. Lina finds solace in her art, documenting these events by drawing. Risking everything, she imbeds clues in her drawings of their location and secretly passes them along, hoping her drawings will make their way to her father's prison camp. But will strength, love, and hope be enough for Lina and her family to survive?

Are there any Ruta Sepetys fans in the house? Have you read Salt to the Sea or Between Shades of Gray. Sepetys is also the author of Out of the Easy set in 1950’s New Orleans.