Secrets in Fiction

Whether you’re keeping a secret, are dying to reveal one, or wishing someone would tell you theirs, secrets can be a wonderful thing! There’s nowhere I enjoy a good secret more than in a great book. Here are a few books with big secrets that I’ve enjoyed!

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I expected one type of secret and I definitely got more than I bargained for. There were several secrets revealed in the story and they intersected in some very interesting ways. The ending is not what I hoped for but it left no loose ends.

"This novel puts three women in an impossible situation and doesn't cut them any slack. Cecilia Fitzpatrick lives to be perfect: a perfect marriage, three perfect daughters, and a perfectly organized life. Then she finds a letter from her husband, John-Paul, to be opened only in the event of his death. She opens it anyway, and everything she believed is thrown into doubt. Meanwhile, Tess O'Leary's husband, Will, and her cousin and best friend, Felicity, confess they've fallen in love, so Tess takes her young son, Liam, and goes to Sydney to live with her mother. There she meets up with an old boyfriend, Connor Whitby, while enrolling Liam in St. Angela's Primary School, where Cecilia is the star mother. Rachel Crowley, the school secretary, believes that Connor, St. Angela's PE teacher, is the man who, nearly three decades before, got away with murdering her daughter-a daughter for whom she is still grieving." Publisher Weekly

The Affair by Colette Freedman

After reading this I wasn’t sure how well I liked any of the adult characters but it did end in a way that was both real and challenging.

"After eighteen years of marriage, Kathy Walker has settled into a pattern of comfortable routines--ferrying her two teenagers between soccer practice and piano lessons, running a film production business with her husband, Robert, and taking care of the beautiful Boston home they share. Then one day, Kathy discovers a suspicious number on her husband's phone. Six years before, Kathy accused Robert of infidelity--a charge he vehemently denied--and almost destroyed their marriage in the process. Now Kathy must decide whether to follow her suspicions at the risk of losing everything, or trust the man with whom she's entwined her past, present, and future. As she grapples with that choice, she is confronted with surprising truths not just about her relationship, but about her friends, family, and her own motivations." Discover

Closed Doors by Lisa O’Donnell

I just finished reading this little book and thoroughly enjoyed the story. It is one built on secrets, one big one especially, and its main character Michael is as adept at keeping secrets as he is playing games with his friends. I wondered afterwards whether it was reasonable to expect children to keep such big secrets especially when they don’t fully understand the magnitude of what everyone is hushing up.

"Feisty, young Michael Murray likes to eavesdrop through doors. When his mother arrives home with bruises on her face, he is confused and frightened by what he hears. Soon after, Michael is shunned by certain schoolmates, and his father becomes a pariah in their small community. But why? Over the course of several months, Michael manages to piece together the events of that fateful night and learns the secret that is tearing his family apart. Set in the early 1980s on a picturesque island off the coast of Scotland, the novel is told in first person from Michael's perspective. O'Donnell wonderfully captures the voice of a precocious (and quite likable) 11-year-old as he grapples with issues and emotions he may not fully understand." Booklist

Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline

As a parent, I wonder how far I would go to protect my own children. Would I go so far to break the law or could I turn my child in to the authorities. That is the question that Jake Whitmore confronts in Lisa Scottoline’s latest novel. Although I did guess part of the ending, there was still a twist I didn’t see coming!

"Jake Whitmore is enjoying a rare bonding moment with his sixteen-year-old son, Kurt, when disaster strikes and threatens to derail not only Kurt's chances at college, but his entire future. Jake makes a split-second decision that saves his son from formal punishment, but plunges them both into a world of guilt, lies, and secrecy. Just when Jake thinks he has everything under control, a malevolent outsider comes forward with the power to expose Jake's secret and taunts him to the breaking point." Publisher

Here are a few more suggestions for secret lovers.