Ileana has been writing for as long as she can remember. But words can be dangerous under the Leader’s government; when her family discovers their Bucharest apartment is bugged, her father destroys her stories, an act that feels like betrayal. Sent for her own safety to her maternal grandparents in the mountains, Ileana finds life in their village idyllic; it’s hard to believe the Leader’s reach could ever extend so far. Then Ileana finds her Uncle Andrei, long missing and feared dead, hiding in the village’s old church, badly beaten. Soon strange men arrive, asking questions. Ileana begins to see the truth beneath the surface calm of village life, along with the villagers’ fear, and courage. An extraordinary tale set, the author’s note states, in 1989 Romania, during the final months of Nicolae Ceausescu’s reign, is interspersed with Ileana’s version of a Romanian fairy tale about her namesake confronting an evil prince. The power of stories, of words, and of resistance in many forms spills from the pages of a compelling, richly realized work. The result is magical, harrowing, and inspired. (Ages 10–13)

A powerful middle grade debut that weaves together folklore and history to tell the story of a girl finding her voice and the strength to use it during the final months of the Communist regime in Romania in 1989.

Ileana has always collected stories. Some are about the past, before the leader of her country tore down her home to make room for his golden palace; back when families had enough food, and the hot water worked on more than just Saturday nights. Others are folktales like the one she was named for, which her father used to tell her at bedtime. But some stories can get you in trouble, like the dangerous one criticizing Romania’s Communist government that Uncle Andrei published—right before he went missing.

Fearing for her safety, Ileana’s parents send her to live with the grandparents she’s never met, far from the prying eyes and ears of the secret police and their spies, who could be any of the neighbors. But danger is never far away. Now, to save her family and the village she’s come to love, Ileana will have to tell the most important story of her life.