Review: The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

Title: The Secret Keeper
Author: Kate Morton
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Atria
Publish Date: October 16, 2012
Source: I received a copy from the PR; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a Historical Fiction fan.
• You like a little bit of mystery.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "1959 England. Laurel Nicolson is sixteen years old, dreaming alone in her childhood tree house during a family celebration at their home, Green Acres Farm. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and then observes her mother, Dorothy, speaking to him. And then she witnesses a crime.

Fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to Green Acres for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by memories and questions she has not thought about for decades. She decides to find out the truth about the events of that summer day and lay to rest her own feelings of guilt. One photograph, of her mother and a woman Laurel has never met, called Vivian, is her first clue.

The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams, the lengths some people go to fulfill them, and the strange consequences they sometimes have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers and schemers, play-acting and deception told against a backdrop of events that changed the world."

My Two Cents:

Before I got a chance to read "The Secret Keeper," I had heard a lot of good things about Kate Morton's writing. Needless to say, I had high hopes for this book and those hopes were definitely fulfilled for me! It's a story about family secrets and mysteries. Spanning the years from the World Wars to present day, this book is a great one for those who like their Historical Fiction with a more than a little bit of mystery.

From this book, I can definitely see why so many people are such big fans of Morton's writing. She knows how to pull you into a story. She gives you just enough information to make you have questions so that you want to read on right away! I was happy that I had a couple long periods of time to spend getting lost in this book.

There is some great historical detail in the book but it sort of plays a secondary role to the the great characters in the book. I really liked Laurel, Dorothy's daughter who pieces everything together. I also really liked Dorothy. She is sort of naive but has a good heart. I also really liked Vivian. She's a character that is so much fun to read about because she's so nasty. Same with Anna!

I really liked the historical story. So many times in families where there is some sort of dysfunction, there seems to be a lot of grudges held where there was some sort of misunderstanding. There was definitely this sort of story present in this book. I really want to say more about the specific storyline but there are very few things that I can say that would not give something away that would be much more fun for you to read for yourself.

All of the twists and turns and things that you never saw coming are one of the most pleasurable parts of the book!

Bottom line: This is a great, well rounded book! Morton is worth reading!