Author Visit: Ruta Sepetys

Award winning author Ruta Sepetys will visit us on February 15, 2013. Her new book, Out of the Easy, will be released on February 14th; however, we have advance copies of the book for sale. You can also enter the Out of the Easy writing scholarship contest for the opportunity to win $5,000 towards the college of your choice.

Ruta Sepetys is the author of the award-winning, New York Times bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray. Born and raised in Michigan, Ruta grew up in a family of artists, readers and music lovers. She currently lives with her husband in Tennessee. Out of the Easy is her second novel.

Out of the Easy

It’s 1950, and seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. As the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, Josie is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan to get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother and her conscience, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

Between Shades of Gray

In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on the author's family, it includes a historical note.

Winner of:

Best Fiction for Young Adults - 2012
Children's and Young Adult's Book Awards - 2012
Children's Books of the Year 2012 - 12 to 14
Notable Books for a Global Society 2012
Notable Children's Books 2012 - Older Readers
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2012
William C. Morris Debut YA Award Finalists - 2012