I Must Betray You

Ruta Sepetys
4.4
91,731 ratings 13,370 reviews
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? A gut-wrenching, startling window into communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the number one New York Times best-selling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray.
Genres: Historical FictionYoung AdultFictionHistoricalAudiobookBook ClubRomaniaWarRomanceTeen
321 Pages

Community Reviews:

5 star
47755 (52%)
4 star
34473 (38%)
3 star
8337 (9%)
2 star
913 (1%)
1 star
253 (0%)

Readers also enjoyed

Other books by Ruta Sepetys

Lists with this book

Book Lovers
Lessons in Chemistry
I'm Glad My Mom Died
Best Books of 2022
1538 books • 1850 voters
Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master
The Hunger Games
Treasure Island
Top 10 for the Reading Challengers
5847 books • 4192 voters
Treasure Island
Catching Fire
I Shall Wear Midnight
The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
The Book Thief