Ruta Sepetys is a Lithuanian-American writer whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. She is the recipient of the Order for her contribution to Lithuania, and she received the prestigious British Carnegie Medal for her novel Eclipse of the Heart . I must betray you is her last novel.
Romania, 1989. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of one day becoming a writer, but he knows that this is almost impossible in the country he grew up in. Under the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, the inhabitants of this country are afraid to even dream. Their lives and dreams are governed by isolation and fear, and endless lines for food or whispering in their own homes for fear of being eavesdropped on are their everyday lives.
As communist regimes in the countries around them fall one by one, the Securitate, Romania's intelligence service and the largest secret police force in the Eastern Bloc at the time, blackmails Cristian into becoming an informant. He has two choices - betray those he loves or turn the situation to his advantage and try to overthrow the notorious dictator? However, he will soon discover the true price of freedom.
"Sepetys once again masterfully portrays a dark and forgotten part of history."
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