Publisher: Penguin Teen Canada, February 1, 2022

Format: ebook

Pages: 336

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

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?

My Review:

Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for the copy of this book.
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Read if you like: Eastern European history, revolutions.
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This book looks at the impact of Communism in Romania and the eventual fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. Our main character, Cristian, wants to become a writer but he knows he wouldn’t be able to in Communist Romania. When he is forced to become an informer, Cristian gets wrapped up in the anti-Communist sentiments, which sets him on a dangerous path.
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This book was so good! Author made the story and the action in it very intense and I could not put it down.
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CW: death, violence, murder, revolution, torture, blackmail.