I Must Betray You

I Must Betray You

Ruth Sepetys

Philomel/Penguin, 2022

336 pages

Grades 8-Up

Historical Fiction

Cristian is a seventeen-year-old boy growing up behind the Iron Curtain in 1989 Romania. The communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, and his wife have been exploiting the Romanian people for years, starving them while they enjoy a lavish lifestyle. In Romania at this time one in ten people are informers and Cristian is recruited to spy on the American diplomatic family at whose apartment his mother cleans. He has no choice-someone informed on him for excepting a foreign stamp and in exchange for his information they will give him much needed medicine for his dying grandfather. Cristian tells the agent what he can about the Americans, but keeps his best friend, who he suspects ratted on him in the first place, and his new girlfriend out of it. Never knowing who to trust, Grandfather, a dangerously vocal opponent to the communist regime, suspects an informant in their very family. Was it a family who turned him in about the stamp? As winter rages on and the electricity and heat flicker on and off and folks must stand in cold lines for scarce food, revolution is in the air. Cristian discovers that other Eastern European countries have broken away from the USSR. Can Romania ever be free?

Maybe the best living writer for teen fiction, Sepetys tackles a difficult and underrepresented subject: the overthrowing of the Romanian communist dictator Ceausescu. Readers will experience the dreary and scary life under a communist regime. With Sepetys' skillful hand we experience what it is like to always be hungry, cold, and looking over our shoulders. This is the only life that the Romanian teenagers of the late '80's knew and it was up to them to bring about change. Cristian has to make some difficult decisions and learn who to trust. He makes some mistakes, but gains confidence, courage, and wisdom as the book progresses. Readers will relate to him and try to determine what they would do in his shoes. The romance is sweet and innocent and will attract teen readers without overwhelming the story. The subject might turn readers off, but thoughtful young people, and adults, will find much to savor. Sepetys is a very intentional writer and every word counts. The book is as beautiful as it is difficult to read in places. With the eyes of the world currently on Eastern Europe with the situation between Ukraine and Russia, readers will wonder if anything is ever new under the sun. I felt that reading this book at this time was that much more meaningful and it made my heart hurt that much more for the people of Ukraine. An important and well-crafted book that can be a game-changer to all who read it.