Words on Fire

Audra's parents rarely let her venture from their farm outside a Lithuanian village.  Life is dangerous for all Lithuanians since cossack soldiers are determined to eradicate their culture and turn them into Russians, but the Lithuanian people don't want to be erased.

When soldiers arrive on the farm to arrest her parents, her mother gives Audra a package and a name and tells her to run.  As she hides in the forest to find the mysterious Milda, Audra learns the truth about her parents.  They were book smugglers.

When their language was outlawed, many Lithuanians refused to give up.  They had books printed over the border in Prussia and relied on smugglers to get them to the people.

Now that her parents are gone, Audra decides to step into their shoes to keep books in the hands of the people and resist the Russian occupiers.  If she is hesitant at first, the violence of the Russian reaction and the passion of the Lithuanian people strengthen her resolve, and Audra vows to do everything she can for her people.

I am a fan of Jennifer A. Nielsen's work, especially her historical fiction, and this was good.  It just didn't really have the resonance of her other works.  Maybe the topic is just too big in scope for the book.  There are some exciting scenes, and I am all for saving books, but this book focuses on an intense but brief period of Audra's life, but Lithuania doesn't receive its independence until decades later.  The stakes are high, but the payoff fizzles.