The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

The Secret Keeper

by Kate Morton

The new novel from the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Distant Hours is a spellbinding mix of mystery, thievery, murder, and enduring love.

During a party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the road and sees her mother speak to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy.

Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to the family farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by questions she has not thought about for decades. From pre-WWII England through the Blitz, to the fifties and beyond, discover 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, the lengths people go to fulfill them, and the consequences they can have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers, and schemers told—in Morton’s signature style—against a backdrop of events that changed the world.

(summary from goodreads.com)

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On a roll. Decided to read another Kate Morton - she felt like a mix between Rosemunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy and I hoped for a little more Pilcher than Binchy (Binchy characters always seem to be miserable and unhappy).

I simply loved this book and couldn't put it down! I liked it better than Forgotten Garden. I loved the characters, loved the plot, loved how the end gave me permission to just not like Dolly all that much. Again, I really liked the different stories told from different generations, loved the sibling relationship especially between Gerry and Laurel, loved that Laurel's mother still had a complete and happy life despite the mystery surrounding her. This needs to be a movie with Helen Mirren starring as Laurel. Please?

Mom note: As a mother of readers, I also want to make a note to myself (and others if they care) why I would or would not have my children read this book, because honestly, sometimes I forget. This is an ADULT book, so no YA strictures. Violence: yes, off screen; Profanity: no (maybe? oh glory, I don't remember, I should really pay attention more); Sex: a "fade to black" situation, very mild for an adult book