Secrets and revenge chase each other through the years in
this tale set in England, moving between modern times and
various points during the 20th century, especially the
second world war. A mother and daughter never speak of the
poisonous tragedy that enfolds their family.
The crime witnessed by young Laurel in the 1960s - a
murder - has its roots in wartime and her mother's
friendships. In 2011 her mother Dorothy lies dying and
Laurel doesn't know whether to speak about the crime or
just stay safe in her own acting environment. THE SECRET
KEEPER could refer to Laurel or her mother. As she and her
sister sort through her mother's things occasionally Laurel
glimpses the past, and reports of a man called Henry
Jenkins.
For another woman, the past was a bitter time. Dolly works
as companion to an elderly lady in 1940, swallowing her
pride, assuming that she would be well provided for in that
lady's will. When her mistress chokes to death all Dolly
is left is a few coats, and Dolly knows who to blame... a
young woman called Vivien. The two tales overlap due to
Vivien marrying Henry Jenkins, whom Laurel obsessively
traces by records in modern day before she tells her
younger brother Gerald some of the story.
Gentle rural England contrasts with rough wartime London,
when people frightened out of their minds by the Blitz did
strange things and everyone's lives were altered. Kate
Morton recreates her settings with care and piles tensions
and responsibilities on her characters, not least the
responsibility of keeping a secret that a child should not
have to keep. Those who enjoy researching family trees or
old scrapbooks and photo albums may potter around in THE
SECRET KEEPER
to their heart's content.
From the New York Times and internationally bestselling
author of The Distant Hours, The Forgotten Garden, and The
House at Riverton, a spellbinding new novel filled with
mystery, thievery, murder, and enduring love.
During a summer party at the family farm in the English
countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to
her childhood tree house and is happily dreaming of the
future. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the
farm and watches as her mother speaks to him. Before the
afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A
crime that challenges everything she knows about her family
and especially her mother, Dorothy—her vivacious, loving,
nearly perfect mother.
Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and
well-regarded actress living in London. The family is
gathering at Greenacres farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth
birthday. Realizing that this may be her last chance, Laurel
searches for answers to the questions that still haunt her
from that long-ago day, answers that can only be found in
Dorothy’s past.
Dorothy’s story takes the reader from pre–WWII England
through the blitz, to the ’60s and beyond. It is the secret
history of three strangers from vastly different
worlds—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—who meet by chance in
wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined. The
Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams and the
unexpected consequences they sometimes bring. It is an
unforgettable story of lovers and friends, deception and
passion that is told—in Morton’s signature style—against a
backdrop of events that changed the world.
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