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First Published:
Feb 2022, 336 pages
Paperback:
May 2023, 400 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Jordan Lynch
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A gut-wrenching, startling historical thriller about communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray.
Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren't free to dream; they are bound by rules and force.
Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He's left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves—or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe.
Cristian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But what is the cost of freedom?
Master storyteller Ruta Sepetys is back with a historical thriller that examines the little-known history of a nation defined by silence, pain, and the unwavering conviction of the human spirit.
1
Unu
Fear arrived at five o'clock.
It was October. A gray Friday.
If I had known? I would have run. Tried to hide.
But I didn't know.
Through the dim half-light of the school corridor I spotted my best friend, Luca. He walked toward me, passing the tedious sign shouting from the concrete wall.
New Men of Romania:
Long live Communism—the bright future of mankind!
At the time, my mind churned on something far from communism. Something more immediate.
School dismissed at 7:00 p.m. If I left at the right moment, I'd fall into step with her—the quiet girl with the hair hiding her eyes. It would feel coincidental, not forced.
Luca's tall, thin frame edged in beside me. "It's official. My stomach's eating itself."
"Here." I handed him my small pouch of sunflower seeds.
"Thanks. Did you hear? The librarian says you're a bad influence."
I laughed. Maybe it was true. Teachers referred to Luca as "sweet" but said I was sarcastic. If I was the type to throw a punch, Luca was the...
Included after the epilogue are archival photographs of people, events and daily life in communist Romania, along with a detailed author's note about the revolution and Sepetys's writing process. These additions provide a welcome visual accompaniment to Cristian's story and drive home the stark reality of life in Romania at the time. Cristian is a conflicted yet courageous narrator, and his experiences, unrelatable to most of us, provide an unflinching glimpse into life under Romania's communist regime and the bravery of those who fought against it...continued
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(Reviewed by Jordan Lynch).
Ruta Sepetys's young adult novel I Must Betray You tells the story of Cristian Florescu, a Romanian teenager living at the pinnacle of the country's communist era in 1989. Cristian is blackmailed into being an informant for the Securitate, the government's secret police, forcing him to grapple with his guilt at betraying those he cares for and his fear of punishment if he fails to provide information. Such was the reality for many Romanians during the final years of communism who worked, willingly or not, to maintain the rule of the country's leader, Nicolae Ceauşescu.
Ceauşescu (pronounced chow-SHESK-oo) was born in southern Romania in 1918. After escaping an abusive household at the age of 11, he ventured to Bucharest, the ...
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