Teen Tuesday and Audiook Review: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

Image: Penguin Random House

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~7 hours, 10 minutes. Read by Edoardo Ballerini. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House, February, 2022. 9780593502280. (Review of downloadable e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys. The year is 1989. Romania is governed by a cruel dictator, Nicholae Ceausescu and Romanians are starving while he lives in luxury. His secret service, the Securitate, are everywhere, encouraging neighbor to turn in neighbor for the most minor of infractions. Seventeen-year-old would-be poet, Christian Fortescu lives in a tiny apartment with his parents, older sister and ailing but spunky grandfather, Bunu. Christian is rounded up by the Securitate and the agent blackmails him into becoming an informant. They've learned he has an American dollar, given to him by the son of a diplomat. This is a punishable offense, but if he agrees to spy on the diplomat, he will not be prosecuted. The agent even promises medicine for Bunu.

Who was the informant? It could be anyone, including his best friend, Luca. Or, could it be his crush, Liliana? Terse intelligence reports are interspersed between the short, tense chapters in first-person, which increases the already high suspense. 

Ms. Sepetys paints a vivid, bleak and scary picture of life under a repressive dictator who managed to keep his citizens in the dark about life outside Romania while communism fell. She narrated the plentiful back matter. Edoardo Ballerini deftly conveys Christian's growing paranoia and fear. Additionally, his fluent pronunciation of names was quite helpful. 

Fans of the author or complex, well-researched historical fiction will love this. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys

Image: Penguin Random House

Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys. Unabridged audiobook on ten compact discs. ~ 12.5 hours. Read by Maite Jáuregui with five others; author's note read by the author. Listening Library/ Penguin Audio, October, 2019. (Review of audiobook borrowed from the public library.)


Teen Tuesday features The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys. Weighing in at over 400 pages, this historical fiction set in 1957, Franco-ruled Spain will require a patient reader. Fans of the author's Between Shades of Gray and its companion, Salt to the Sea, know to expect - intriguing characters, lovely writing and meticulous research into lesser known historical events. 

The Fountains of Silence is all about secrets. Seventeen-year-old Daniel Matheson, visiting from Texas with his parents has them. His parents have a few themselves. But it is Ana, who works as a maid at the American hotel Daniel is staying at who has the most to lose if her secrets are revealed and she has been receiving threatening notes. The world did not know what life was like for citizens of Spain under the dictatorship of Franco, especially if they had opposed his rule as Ana's parents had. American tourists experienced only the lush beauty of Spain. But Daniel, a budding photojournalist observed something deeper and attempted to capture those moments with his photographs - an act that could mark him with danger. This layered and complex novel is slow to unfold, but is harrowing and beautifully told. A lengthy author's note, read by the author provides insight into the story and and the time period.

I enjoyed this narration. Whenever there are bits of another language sprinkled into a narrative, I prefer to read with my ears to experience fluent speakers. The narration was measured and nearly unbearably slow. New-to-me narrator, Maite Jáuregui spoke English well, but had a curiously inconsistent way of pronouncing some words. I was listening in my car, so didn't make notes; but hotel was one that stuck out for me. Sometimes it was "ho-TELL," and sometimes it was "ho-till." I found it quite distracting. Once the secrets began to unfold and the suspense built, I was less aware of them. 

I was fully immersed in the first part of the book. Then, the story flashes forward eighteen years. Though I loved it, it felt rushed and a tad incomplete. I guess I didn't want to leave the characters just yet, even after 12.5 hours of listening (or over 400 pages if reading.) Also, I could stare at that gorgeous cover forever.

I'm in a middle school. Though I usually have at least one advanced, mature and eclectic reader each year, I am not sure that a middle school student is the audience for this book. Definitely a must-read for high schools. I also anticipate hearing the title announced come awards time.