I Must Betray You forces readers to face the realities of poverty, of sacrificing personal choices for the sake of those we love, of the emptiness of planted mistrust — all from governmental control and the leaders of it.  As it takes place in Romania during some very difficult circumstances — its revolution in the late 1980’s, our author cannot gloss over many of them.  Ruta Sepetys brings voice to those who were limited by a dictator, his lies, and his Securitate spies.  Through this novel, we will gain critical background information to these events, inspiring us to cherish our freedoms and acknowledge the price of them.