THE SECRETS WE KEEP is the story of Elizabeth and Mike. He is a
fireman who takes way to many risks, and she is his beloved wife who would
like nothing more than to have a baby. One night, everything will change for
the them.
Elizabeth is waiting at home for Mike because he takes the dog for a walk
every night. When Elizabeth hears a knock at the door, she thinks Mike once
again forgot his keys. But at the front door is her husband's best friend. Once
again Mike has taken a risk, this time losing his life saving a girl who was
drowning in the lake.
Kate is the girl he saved. She is not telling anyone what really happened. In
the meantime, Elizabeth is having a very hard time. Elizabeth finds herself
writing letters to Mike, her way of trying to come to grips with this tragic
accident.
As the story unravels, readers learn Mike and Kate were having an affair, and
Kate is pregnant. This is just destroying Elizabeth since her and Mike tried
everything to have a child. What a secret to keep.
Stephanie Butland's novel is something else. One woman is trying
to deal with her grief, the other woman is coming to grips
with the fact that she is going to have a baby. Both women are trying to deal
with grief in two different ways.
Stephanie Butland goes beyond what THE SECRETS WE KEEP is about.
For example, Elizabeth writing letters to Mike. First she does so in denial of
his
death, and then she does it to let him know how she really feels. Kate is
finally telling the truth of what happened. The
storyline also shows what it is like for two women who live
in a small town. THE SECRETS WE KEEP will always come
out, one way or another.
A tragic accident, a broken heart, and a marriage
drowning in secrets...
Mike always walks the
dog in the evening while Elizabeth relaxes in the
bathtub—but one night he doesn't come back. Mike has drowned
while saving a teenage girl named Kate, his dog standing on
the bank barking frantically as the police pull his body
from the water.
But despite her husband being lauded
as a hero, Elizabeth can't wrap her mind around the fact
that Mike is gone—and Kate won't reveal the details of what
really happened that night.
Elizabeth finds herself
facing the unfathomable possibility that she may not have
known her husband at all. Does she really want to know the
truth? Or will the weight of Mike's secrets pull her under?