ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
OLDER FICTION
Sepetys, Ruta

I Must Betray You

336 pp. | Philomel | February, 2022 | Trade ISBN 978-1-9848-3603-8 $18.99
(2) YA Cristian has grown up under the dictatorship of Ceauşescu in Communist Romania. Now it's October 1989, and he's conditioned to life in his family's cramped apartment; to queuing for meagre, awful food; and to whispering indoors to avoid the surveillance of the brutal secret police, the Securitate. Then a Securitate agent blackmails him into becoming an informant. The agent has the power to destroy his future and family, so what can Cristian do? At the cost of trust, friendship, and romance, he must play along--at least until he joins the thousands of Romanians who rise up to overthrow Ceauşescu and the Securitate. Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray, rev. 5/11; The Fountains of Silence, rev. 9/19) paints a nuanced picture of the effects of the deprivation, anxiety, and fear created and upheld by Ceauşescu's tyrannical rule. In quick, economical language, she provides historical detail and shows readers a context in which one contraband can of Coke can result in a police report, but also one in which the courage and solidarity of youth can change a country's oppressive regime. Back matter includes photos, an author's note with historical background, and a note on research and sources.
Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

RELATED 

OLDER FICTION

What Beauty There Is
by Anderson, Cory
OLDER FICTION

Between Perfect and Real
by Stoeve, Ray
OLDER FICTION

Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good
by Werlin, Nancy
OLDER FICTION

Home Is Not a Country
by Elhillo, Safia
OLDER FICTION

All Our Hidden Gifts
by O'Donoghue, Caroline
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?