Fear and Distrust

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys is a historical fiction novel taking place in 1989 Romania. It’s a 2025 Nutmeg nominee.

Romania had been under Communist rule for decades. Their leader is Nicolae Ceaușescu. Cristian secretly writes about the hardships faced such as random loss of electricity, poor to no heat and food, and constant fear of being under surveillance.

Cristian is pressured to be an informant due to his friendship with the son of the U.S. ambassador. He agrees to the arrangement to get medicine for his sick grandfather.

Cristian realizes that not everyone is who they seem to be. It becomes difficult to know who to trust among family and friends.

Through it all is the constant hope that they can create the same changes that are happening to neighboring countries. This will be an extremely difficult battle with fear, loss and suffering along the way.

I knew very little about the circumstances in Romania during this time period before reading this book. It is written so well, which is clearly due to the author’s extensive research shared with her note, resources and pictures at the end of the book.