I Must Betray You
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A gut-wrenching, startling historical thriller about a young man in communist Romania who dared to resist the spy network that devastated a nation, from the award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray.
* "Sepetys brilliantly blends a staggering amount of research with heart, craft, and insight in a way very few writers can. Compulsively readable and brilliant."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL
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: either 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?
Master storyteller Ruta Sepetys is back with a historical thriller that examines the little-known history of a nation defined by silence, pain, and the unwavering conviction of the human spirit.
* "Sepetys brilliantly blends a staggering amount of research with heart, craft, and insight in a way very few writers can. Compulsively readable and brilliant."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL
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: either 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?
Master storyteller Ruta Sepetys is back with a historical thriller that examines the little-known history of a nation defined by silence, pain, and the unwavering conviction of the human spirit.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
What Bookclubbers are saying about this book
✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *I Must Betray You* is a powerful, well-written YA novel that sheds light on a lesser-known chapter of history—Romania under communist rul...
This YA historical fiction book was a page turner and I could hardly believe she was writing about 1989 as it was so reminiscent of Stalin’s Russia. Highly recommend.
I picked up I Must Betray You for a class, not really knowing what to expect, and I did not anticipate how much it would stay with me even after I finished it. Going into the book, I knew very little about Romania or what life under that regime actually looked like, which made the entire reading experience feel even more eye opening.
This book was genuinely chilling, not in a dramatic or exaggerated way, but in how real and quiet the fear felt on every page. There is this constant sense of tension that never fully goes away, and it made it hard to put the book down. I am usually a slower reader, but I found myself finishing more than half of it in one sitting because I needed to know what would happen next. Christian’s story pulls you in, but it also makes you uncomfortable in a way that feels intentional.
What impacted me the most was how much this book made me think beyond the story itself. It is not just a narrative you read and move on from. It is a perspective that forces you to sit with the reality of control, surveillance, and silence. The idea that anyone could be watching, that even your own words could be used against you, and that trust becomes something dangerous really stayed with me. It made me realize how little I knew before, and I found myself doing my own research while reading, trying to better understand the history and truth behind it.
There is something especially unsettling about how normal everything can appear on the surface while so much is happening underneath. That contrast is what makes the story feel so heavy. It is not loud or overdone, but it lingers in a way that is hard to ignore.
I did not walk away from this book with a clear or simple takeaway. Instead, I was left with a lot of thoughts and questions that I am still sitting with. It is the kind of book that stays in your mind long after you finish it.
Wow, just wow.
I was immediately sucked into this book. Maybe it was the short chapters (I am a fan of short chapters) but I was always left wanting to read more. It is so well written, and characters are well developed. I am embarrassed to admit I knew next to nothing about this period in history. I was a sophomore in college in 1989 and wasn't aware of anything going on in the world.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.