“I Must Betray You” by Ruta Sepetys

Before reading this book, I knew next to nothing about 1980s Romania, part of the Communist Bloc, and had never considered what it would be like to live in never-ending fear and suspicion, with total invasive surveillance by a government under the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, living in poverty in stark concrete buildings, trying to hear the truth from Radio Free Europe, robbed of any kind of freedom, and more importantly living in  the kind of fear that crushes all hope and dreams. In this gut-wrenching historical fiction set in 1989, just as other Communist regimes are falling apart, Cristian, a young teenage boy, longs to give voice to his nation’s plight, is manipulated into spying on others against his will, and eventually must overcome danger, persecution, and deep betrayal to find the freedom and life he knows is out there.  4 1/2 Stars