These Things Hidden

One of the things I love about Heather Gudenkauf's books is that you don't just read the story, you experience the evolution of the characters as they make their way through a difficult, sometimes horrible situation in life. You don't read her books for a feel-good story or a happy ending. You read them for a dose of reality written in a way that makes you think differently about the event, whether seeing the actions of those involved from a different point of view, or just taking the time to consider exactly what other people might be going through. Everyone makes poor decisions and suffers, but have you ever opened yourself up to living another's pain? That's what reading one of Heather's books is like.

This is another Audible gem. They were having a "Buy One, Get One" sale, and These Things Hidden was my "Get One" book, chosen on a whim. But for that sale, I probably never would have read this. (I've been kind of unofficially avoiding YA lately, being sick of the love triangles and the YAPNR and the blah blah blah.) But had I missed this one, it would have been a shame, because this book is fantastic.

I almost don't want to talk about the plot of the story at all, because I'm afraid of ruining it. The way this is written, from four different perspectives, is perfect, and the story evolves in just the right way, at just the right pace. Each chapter reveals just a little more about what happened to land Allison in prison, and each show more chapter reveals just a little bit more about how one mistake in an otherwise perfect life can cause ever widening effect ripples in Allison's life, and her family's and community's lives.

At the point when the crime was revealed, I was shocked and dismayed. Not only for the nature of the crime, but for how early in the story the revelation came. I remember thinking, "Oh no... This is too early! The rest of the story is going to flop now that there's nothing left to wonder about."

I was so wrong.

Not only did those ripples keep widening and showing us more of the story of That Night, but the story was so compelling, so heartbreaking and so honest that I couldn't stop listening. I had to know what happened, and what would happen next.

This is a relevant and gut-wrenching story about mistakes and their consequences, about decisions we make, and how they affect us and everyone around us. It's a story of second chances, responsibility, and how sometimes things go horribly, horribly wrong just when we think that everything is going perfectly, but that life goes on anyway.

I feel like this is a book that needs to be read and re-read to really feel the full impact. My perceptions of the characters in the story kept shifting constantly, like mercury, but I never felt manipulated, which is the mark of a great writer, in my opinion. For an author to move me around like a chess piece but make me believe it's the board moving rather than my feet, they've made themselves a fan. This girl, right here.

If I had anything to complain about, it was that the readers sometimes sounded a little stiff and choppy, but I'm not holding that against the book, because almost as soon as I'd notice the reader, she'd be gone again and I'd be drowning in the story.

This book may not be for everyone, but for me, it was just what I didn't know I needed to pull me out of a summer long reading slump. This book reminded me why I love reading, and why sometimes the best things show up when we least expect them. show less

I loved The Weight of Silence, Heather Gudenkauf's first book, and I wasn't disappointed with These Things Hidden, her second book. It's the story of Allison Glenn, who has been convicted of a terrible crime, her sister Brynn, and two seemingly unrelated women, Claire Kelby and Charm Tullia.

For quite a large part of the book, I couldn't see where the link was going to form between the four women. The story was gaining in pace all the time, and I was totally drawn into it. And then it all started to become clear, and a couple of times I was really surprised at the turn the story took. The author managed to keep the suspense going right up until the end.

I thought this was an excellent read. It has short chapters, which I like because it show more feels like the story is moving on quite quickly. This is a very well-plotted book, moving in places and quite a compelling read. show less

The best things about this book were its straightforward readability and the way it immediately set up a mystery that the reader wants to know the answer to. It also introduces a cast of characters whose connections to one another are intriguing and a further source of mystery.

I rather liked the character Claire who, like "Ma" in Emma Donoghue's "Room" is the sort of mother who makes people like me feel wholly inadequate as parents, given what a great job they do under much more challenging circumstances than most of us face.

The book as a whole was a bit like a walk in the woods with a very powerful dog. You're ambling along, and then suddenly the dog gets the scent of a rabbit or something similar and you unexpectedly find yourself show more being dragged along at breakneck speed, your feet barely touching the ground. There comes a point when you realise you aren't going to return to the pleasant walk - this white knuckle ride is going to last all the way back. I liked the story, but the speed with which it raced to its conclusion made me feel I had missed having time with the characters, time I felt I needed to understand them properly, as the relationship, in particular, between the two central sisters is not as straightforward as you might initially suppose. show less

It's a complicated story about the ties that bind us to our families and friends. The first thread in the story was that no one planned on Alison making the mistake of dating an older man or becoming pregnant. No one planned on Alison tossing her newborn baby girl in the Druid River. The second thread of the story is Claire. Faced with infertility, Claire happily adopts a baby boy whom someone has left at the Linden Falls fire station. She and her husband own a bookstore where she meets many members of the community, including Alison. Few people know that Alison is “that girl” ...the girl that killed her newborn. When Claire hires Alison to work at her bookstore, the truth begins to unravel. Two other women, Charm, a nursing show more student, and Alison’s sister, Brynn, play an important role in this drama. At age sixteen, Allison Glenn was sentenced to ten years in prison. After serving five years, she was released early for good behavior. Alienated from her sister, Brynn, Allison has a strong desire to reconnect, but Brynn wants nothing to do with her, nor do her parents. They disowned Allison beginning the night she was arrested for a crime so heinous that the people in the small town of Linden Falls, Iowa want nothing to do with her. Before jail Allison had hopes and plans that included valedictorian, a volleyball scholarship to college and then to law school. She was the perfect high school student until she became interested in a twenty-two-year-old man she kept secret from her parents. There was a couple of things I wanted to know more about. What were the exact details of what happened that night to end Allison in jail? It seemed there was more to the story that was being revealed. How were these characters (Allison, Charm and Claire) lives connected? There also appeared to be more there also and it also seemed to have been important. Overall, it was a really good story and there was nothing predictable about it.

Side Note
The plot is built on Iowa’s Safe Haven law, which decriminalizes child abandonment, allowing for newborns to be given up at designated Safe Haven sites and for the parents to remain anonymous. show less

I picked this up at around 2pm on Saturday and put it down when I was done around 7pm that night. The only time I put it down was to do some laundry, otherwise this book held my attention and I honestly could not put it down.

I knew from the blurb that it would be an interesting story, but I didn't realize how well Ms. Gudenkauf would weave the lives of these four women together and the twists and turns the book would take. It is amazing the emotions that I went through while reading this book. Sometimes disgust, sometimes pity, sometimes happy, and sometimes the tears fell. I think I went through most of the my emotions during those 5 hours. The story comes alive, sucks you in and doesn't let you go until Ms. Gudenkauf is done telling show more the story and even then I wanted more even though the story does come to an end.

The characters are each fascinating, the good-girl gone wrong, her little sister, a girl living with her dying step-father and just trying to get through school and taking care of him and a mother of a beautiful 5-year-old boy. At times they couldn't seem more different but what ties them together brings them together. It's one of those novels that you just gasp when something major happens. Then you stop and think about it. I'm still pondering this book three days later. It deals with heady subjects but it's handled in a beautiful way. I think Ms. Gudenkauf really brought home to me the importance of the Safe Haven laws and how there are still flaws in the system. And she did this with characters that I felt like I could have known or been.

The book will really hit home with women, but I believe it would appeal to both genders. While following the plot there is a general suspense plot that keeps you guessing right up until the end. It's subtle but it's there and while the characters and their growth and changes and effects on each other truly drive the book, the suspense adds to the wonderful characters to make this a well-rounded book.

I don't know that I can express how much this book touched me. I was in tears at the end, mainly from reading Ms. Gudenkauf's Afterword and thinking back over the book. I am sure this book will not leave my thoughts any time soon. It's just one of those books you revisit from time-to-time and ponder the events of and marvel at how well the book was put together and how it just felt so real. I think that is the key to Ms. Gudenkauf's books - she can immerse you completely in her world and you feel like you are right there with the characters, talking to them and watching their lives unfold. It's a magnificent skill and I can't wait until her next book. Her first two have been real winners for me. show less

In These Things Hidden, much like she did in The Weight of Silence, Heather Gudenkauf uses the relationships--and intimacy--of a family and a small town to weave a literary tale that feels so real you'd sear it has to at least be 'based on' a true story. Like, Gudenkauf's debut, however, These Things Hidden is completely fictional and completely amazing.

After five years in prison, Allison Glenn is being released. And going home to Linden Falls. Former perfect girl, Allison, now only college aged, isn't going home to her parents, though. Both her parents and her former friends want nothing to do with her anymore.

None of that helps her transition, but the only one Allison is actually concerned with contacting is her sister, Brynn. show more Brynn, the one who stayed behind while Allison went to jail and went through high school with all the gossip and the town's whispers. And she's the only one, besides Allison, who really knows what happened that night, the night whose events sent Allison to jail.

A secret being kept between two sisters is tearing them apart, but if it gets out it threatens to tear much more apart--including the life of a young child and his adoptive parents.


For almost half of the story I thought that These Things Hidden was going to lack the mystery that The Weight of Silence had that was such a fundamental part of my enjoyment of the story. When things did really begin to develop, however, I was very pleasantly surprised and loved what it added to the tale.

The way that Heather Gudenkauf focuses on familial relationships and then works those families together through their relationships/friendships in the town is really brilliantly done. Not only does it expertly involve all of the characters in a way that a lot of books only strive to do, but because everyone is connected like they are, it makes it feel like a real story, where people are connected that way.

I loved The Weight of Silence so much and had high expectations for this one and I have to say it very much met my expectations. Heather Gudenkauf is an author I will not only be eagerly anticipating more from, but one I will gladly recommend to other--including you! show less