Recently World magazine interviewed Megan Cox Gurdon, author of The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction. In the interview she recommended, for young adults, the author, Ruta Sepetys. Since I had never reading any novel by her, I decided to "give her a try". I was impressed. I will be reading more of her historical fiction novels. She is considered a "crossover" novelist since both teens and adults read her books.
Cristian, a seventeen-year-old Romanian, has lived in fear all of his life. Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu rules through fear. Is your neighbor an informer? Is someone in your household squealing on you? Cristian's grandfather, however, encourages him to pursue freedom and to rebel against tyranny. Sadly his grandfather is dying of leukemia. Is Cristian willing to sacrifice his dignity and identity for his "bunu"?
A fast-paced novel that reveals how individuals in a communist country suffer and are suppressed. This book will impress upon the reader the value of freedom and how fear is a dictator's weapon.
Labeled "young adult" (see warnings below).
Warning: violence, revolutionary violence, torture-graphic, some swearing, cruelty, friends and family betraying each other, tampons are mentioned and briefly explained, a Trojan is in Cristian's sister's secret box, he catches his sister "messing around" with a secret police agent (nothing graphic is mentioned but can infer what they were doing)
*Highly recommend.
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