It reminded me so much of the Holocaust and the labor camps that Germany had, and I was shocked that I hadn’t known about these Soviet-run camps previously (I mean, maybe it was passively mentioned, but I have no recollection of it, and it was most certainly not as highlighted as the German Holocaust was). It was a very emotional story that highlighted the labor camps run by the Soviet Union in the 1940s. I ended up giving the book 4 stars because it was a nice read, but I hadn’t been satisfied with the ending.įast forward to September 2020, and I read Between Shades of Grey. I very much enjoyed the story, because it offered a look at 1957 facist-controlled Spain while also weaving a tale of love and family. I first discovered her novels in the summer of 2020 when I read The Fountains of Silence. Sepetys has written, I’ve read three of her works and enjoyed them so much. Out of the four historical fiction books that Ms. But what is the cost of freedom?Ĭhance to learn about a new culture? Check!Ĭhance to learn about another country’s history? Double check!!Ĭhance to love and enjoy another histfic by Ruta Sepetys? Check, check, CHECK!!!

He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. 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.Ĭristian 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. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream they are bound by rules and force.Īmidst 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. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe.

Sepetys talks about i must betray