I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys – Book Review

Title: I Must Betray You Author: Ruta Sepetys Publisher: Penguin Release Date:February 1, 2022

It’s 1989 and seventeen-year old Cristian Florescu and his family live in Bucharest, the heart of Romania’s repressive, tyrannical regime. Cristi desires change like so many others, but to speak about it puts himself and his family in danger. Living amidst the nefarious underbelly of society forces Cristi to write his revolutionary thoughts in a private notebook. Meanwhile, his fierce Bunu (grandfather) voices his criticism without hesitation. When the Securitate approaches Crisiti to become an informer in exchange for medicine for his ailing Bunu, Cristi accepts. Thus begins his perilous journey where he must tip-toe the line between informer, son/grandson/brother, love interest, friend, and freedom seeker. With so many roles to balance, Cristi cannot possibly fulfill them all at once and therefore must decide which are most important… for himself and for his country. Unfortunately, informers are everywhere, and betrayal is closer to home than he thinks.

I Must Betray You paints a painfully accurate portrait of Romania in 1989. Steeped in well-researched historical storytelling, Ruta Sepetys’s novel carries an emotional weight. Its characters are well-developed, the suspense of the time period omnipresent, and the gnawing, complicated struggle of living in a surveillance state as an informer. Sepetys impressively writes the setting as a character, an element that draws out the true-to-life feel of the text. The novel’s authentic, suspenseful twists and turns will absorb even reluctant historical fiction readers.

More authors are writing texts about the Cold War Era, an important topic for students to understand and an illuminating one for the modern moment. Educators will find a perfect resource in I Must Betray You that allows cross-curricular teaching about history and its contemporary significance. Coupled with a deep examination of the Soviet Bloc and Soviet Era, literary analysis will give way to critical thinking and poignant real-world connections. If teachers want to study Romania, pair the novel with J. Jasper Kramer’s The Story That Cannot Be Told for the rural perspective about the same time period. Fortunately, the options are growing for such study, and it’s important for educators to take up the work because its echoes still reverberate and its lessons still relevant.

Classroom Applications

• Cross-Curricular Study – Teach the novel in conjunction with a study of the Soviet Bloc and the fall of communism.
• Literature Circles – Use novel for small groups or choice reading with a variety of novels that focus on the Soviet Bloc or Cold War.

Nonfiction Connections

The list below outlines topics that will enrich your students’ understanding of the novel.

• Soviet Bloc & Soviet Era
• Romania in the 20^th Century
• Fall of the Soviet Bloc
• Romanian History and Culture

Book Companions

The following are great books to pair with  I Must Betray You. In parenthesis are the specific aspects students could explore when synthesizing across the texts.

• The Story That Cannot Be Told by J. Kasper Kramer (Themes, Nonfiction Connections, Character Connections)
• The Genius Under the Table by Eugene Yelchin (Themes, Nonfiction Connections, Character Connections)
• Fallout by Steve Sheinkin (Nonfiction Connections, Themes)
• A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen (Nonfiction Connections, Character Connections, Themes)
• A Boy Is Not a Bird by Edeet Ravel (Nonfiction Connections, Character Connections, Themes)

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