The Secret Keeper

I was fully one-third into this book and was almost convinced Morton was going to let me down. The story was moving kind of slow and just wasn't grabbing me. But of course I had to keep going. All of the wonderful reviews I'd read wouldn't allow me to give up. And from reading those reviews, I knew a twist was coming near the end. It wasn't until about halfway or maybe even further into the novel that the story really started pulling me in, and then it wouldn't let go.

The novel begins with teenager Laurel Nicolson witnessing a sudden and unexpected crime -- she views her mother quite out-of-the-blue stabbing a stranger who happens upon their farm homeland. This whole episode is never really resolved in Laurel's memory, but she goes on show more to live a fairly normal life as a successful actress. Not until her mother is on her deathbed do the past events begin to haunt her, and from that point she sets out to discover what really happened all those years ago. In classic Kate Morton style, the story shifts back and forth from past to present, and the reader gradually comes to know Dorothy (Laurel's mother) and the years she spent in London during the early years of World War 2. Here, the reader meets Jimmy and Vivian, and how the three of these characters intertwine, and eventually, how their relationship leads to the fateful murder several decades later that Laurel witnesses.

As with most of Morton's novels, this is a multi-layered story, which is what makes it so fantastic. And as alluded to above, I was on the edge of my seat near the end, trying to predict what the plot twist was going to be. Inevitably, I failed. Despite my attempts, it took me by surprise, but was constructed perfectly.

Despite the slow start and somewhat daunting length of this novel, this is one that the reader should definitely persevere through. It's worth it. show less

It was raining, cold and damp the day I started to read Kate Morton's latest book - The Secret Keeper. And the perfect day to snuggle in to my favourite chair and lose myself in Morton's absolutely wonderful storytelling.

The prologue of The Secret Keeper is a show stopper it will hook you and the tale will keep you enthralled until you turn the last page. Early 1960's England. Sixteen year old Laurel lives an idyllic life with her beloved mother, father, her three sisters and brother in an isolated house in the countryside - until the day a stranger surprises their mother outside their home. Laurel, hidden in a treehouse, witnesses this meeting - and it's shocking outcome. And although life carries on afterwards, there's an unmistakable show more rift in the fabric of their lives.

"There were moments, Laurel solemnly believed, in which a person reached a crossroads; when something happened, out of the blue to change the course of life's events."

Fast forward to 2011. The siblings are called back to Greenacres Farm; their mother Dorothy is approaching her 90th birthday and her health is not good. Laurel sees these final days as her last opportunity to get answers from her mother as to what happened that day over fifty years ago.

"Not about Ma. I mean that young woman. She was a different person back then, with a whole other life we know nothing about. Do you ever wonder about her, about what she wanted, how she felt about things - Laurel sneaked a glance at her sister - the sorts of secrets she kept?

Morton again effectively uses her technique of past and present narratives to tell Dorothy's story. We meet her in 1941 as 'Dolly', a vivacious seventeen year old girl with dreams and ambitions. I found myself immersed in the past as Morton sets the scene and tone of wartime England perfectly. I was completely captured by Doll's life, drawn in and on tenter hooks to see what happened next. And just at a crucial point, the narrative jumps forward to the present day.

Laurel is determined to piece together the truth from the cryptic sentences and words her mother murmurs. Between those and the contents of an attic trunk, she and her brother pursue the past. We, as readers, are of course privy to more as we follow Dolly back to the 1940's and the events that lead up to that fateful day outside the farmhouse.

I was so conflicted about Dorothy/Dolly - the woman the siblings know is so far removed from the Dolly of the war years. Which incarnation is true? And then a third narrative from the past is added in the last bit of the book. And this is, of course, when I stopped looking at the clock, because there was no way I was going to bed without knowing the ending.

Oh, the ending! Morton has done it in previous books - caught me unawares in the final pages. She's done it again in The Secret Keeper - the ending has a fantastic twist. I went back and re-read earlier passages with a different eye.

Morton's writing is rich and atmospheric, with a bit of a gothic feel. The story builds slowly and deliciously, with layer upon layer peeled away as secrets are revealed over the course of 450 pages.

Kate Morton has another bestseller on her hands with The Secret Keeper - and it's one you'll want to get your hands on! It releases today. Highly, highly recommended. show less

I’ve read both The Forgotten Garden and The Distant Hours and I liked both of them very much. But The Secret Keeper was different. I didn’t just like it. I LOVED it. Kate Morton wrote an amazing book and I loved every second of it.

The story takes place both in 2011 from Laurels POV and in 1941 (in war-torn London) from Dorothy’s POV. I loved how the two storylines complimented and supported each other into making a rich and powerful story. By creating the extra storyline instead of just telling what had happened back in 1941 the reader gets to experience the whole thing and make up his/hers own mind about the events and the characters. Personally, I believe it made me think of Dorothy, Vivien, Jimmy and Henry in a different way. I show more think it made me like them so much more.

Kate Morton writes so vividly and her characters are filled with life and soul. It makes them feel like old acquaintances. She is capable of writing characters that I hated in one chapter, but loved in the next. They felt so real! The story is reeks of desperation, but it’s also filled with hope, love and survival.

The mystery was so very well done and had one twist after the other. Every time I thought, I had it all figured out, something happened that complete changed everything! It was so captivating and impossible to put down. If you like a good mystery, strong characters and a well-plotted book, The Secret Keeper is definitely worth checking out! show less

In 1961, 16-year-old Laurel Nicolson witnessed her beautiful and loving mother, Dorothy, murder a man. It is written off as an accident but Laurel is never able to reconcile her image of her almost perfect mother with that of murderess. Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a famous actress, with England's 'second most trusted face' and her mother is dying. Laurel is determined that, before Dorothy dies, she will discover what was behind that horrible event in 1961.

Switching between England during the blitz of 1941 and the present, author Kate Morton lays out what led to the murder and how Laurel slowly uncovers Dorothy's past. Morton has created some wonderful characters and a fascinating mystery in this novel about love, betrayal, and show more family secrets. She also does a pitch-perfect job of evoking the sights and sounds of London during the blitz: the periods of normalcy, the attempts to live every minute to its fullest, the ability to work selflessly to help others while, at the same time, suspending pre-war morality, and, of course, the bombings themselves which seem to explode off the pages. Her eye and ear for detail bring a feel of reality to this time period which is often lacking in historical fiction.

The journey from the murder to the final solution is a long and twisty one and the road is littered with the debris of family secrets, of plots and betrayal and lives lived in war time. Ultimately, though, it is a very satisfactory journey and one well worth taking. show less

** I’m grateful to Nudge for supplying me with a free review copy. **

One carefree summer’s day in 1961, Laurel witnesses a shocking act of violence, and deep down she knows that there’s more to it than the official explanation given to the police or the newspapers, something that has its roots in the past. Fifty years later and now a famous actress, Laurel visits her dying mother in hospital, and a previously unknown photograph sets her on the trail to uncover all those deeply buried secrets that are still locked away in her mother’s mind.

Readers of Kate Morton’s other books will by now be familiar with her device of split time lines, and in this substantial novel (just over 600 pages), the narration jumps between war-time show more London, 1961 and the present day, telling the story of Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy, whose fates become inextricably linked during the Blitz, and whose actions still have repercussions decades later. The beginning was reminiscent of Ian McEwan’s Atonement, in that it describes a hot, carefree summer’s day, seemingly holding its breath in silent expectation, before a violent event occurs that changes everyone’s lives for ever. Kate Morton evocatively describes each period, with 1940s London brought especially vividly to life: the blackout, the noise of the air-raid sirens, the shock and devastation after a night’s sustained bombing. She also explores what it means to have family, with all its complex emotional bonds, and with it comes the notion that teenagers very often seem to perceive their parents coming into being as fully grown adults with no history. Bit by bit, more of the truth is revealed, so that it felt I was partaking in an enormous literary jigsaw puzzle. Again the author does a fantastic job in creating living, breathing human beings on paper, and with the storyline involving the characters of Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy she has managed to come up with an ingeniously complex web of threads. So where did it all go wrong? The latter part of the novel feels heavily contrived: the letter with the photograph that’s survived a German bomb and is picked out of the ruins of a house; a photograph in a book which should have triggered a reaction; not just one, but two characters on the sidelines of the main plot keeping journals, one of them a doctor (surely there is a breach of confidentiality issue here; any notes pertaining to potentially living people are generally not made available to the public for at least 75 years after the author’s death, as far as I'm aware); the journals managing to both illuminate past events and actions and simultaneously obfuscate them, because they are written in what seems to me a rather unnatural way; Laurel managing to uncover the secret within a fortnight before her next film starts shooting, when anyone doing family history knows how long and protracted a process it is; and a big question mark at the end involving two of the main characters. In short, logic and the law of probability all but fall to pieces. A shame, because I’ve read all of Kate Morton’s books so far and considered her one of my favourite authors. Let’s hope this is just a blip and she’ll return to form with her next novel. show less

As a reader, I live for the books that, when I'm finished, I'm so immensely satisfied all I can do is sit and ponder for a while. That's what this book did for me.

There are several things I liked about it. For starters, I enjoy reading about the WWII era. There are delightful bits of British humor scattered throughout. An unexpected love story. A narrative that kept me guessing until the end. And on a more personal note, Dorothy's family reminded me a lot of my own: four girls, one boy, and parents who love each other.

I am really glad I stumbled upon this book.

First Line: Rural England, a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, a summer's day at the start of the nineteen sixties.

Of course most teenage girls would think any farmhouse in the country is the middle of nowhere, and sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson is no exception. Playing hooky from a sibling's birthday party, she's daydreaming of her future up in the tree house. A little later she sees a strange man walking up the road to the house where he speaks to Laurel's mother.

Fifty years later, Laurel is an award-winning actress who's gathered with her sisters at the family farm to celebrate their mother's ninetieth birthday. Their mother has always been beautiful, vivacious, loving, almost perfect in her children's eyes, but her health is show more fading quickly. Laurel realizes that she's had questions about that long ago day when she saw the stranger walking up the road-- and she's running out of time to get the answers she wants because the information Laurel needs can only be found in her mother's past.

Dorothy Nicolson's memory seems as fragile as her health, but even on her good days, she's unwilling to part with any information. Laurel must dig for clues, check records, and talk to Dorothy's contemporaries. Reliving her mother's life as a paid companion in London during the Blitz, Laurel slowly begins to put the pieces together and discovers the stunning truth.

I have read and enjoyed all of Kate Morton's books; each one is better than the last. In her latest, there are many secret keepers-- it seems as though each character has something to hide. The narrative moves between present-day England where Laurel searches into her mother's past, and London during the 1940s where as a young girl her mother tries to survive despite endless shortages and nightly bombing raids. Laurel soon finds that her mother's story is entwined with those of two others: rich, beautiful Vivien married to a successful novelist, and handsome war photographer Jimmy.

Morton is masterful at revealing facts in increments-- clues a tiny nugget at a time. While the reader may get the impression that the characters' feelings, histories and motivations are becoming clearer with each chapter, are they? Really? Or is the reader merely seeing what Morton wishes them to see? Morton's talent is that she does both at the same time.

One thing that Morton does wish the reader to see is that each decision made by Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy has its consequences, and that each decision may not have been the right one. As each character comes under closer scrutiny, the reader's loyalties may shift from one to the other until the very end where all is revealed.

Did I place any of the puzzle pieces in the proper positions? A few, but not many. I've learned in reading Kate Morton's books that it's best to pretend I'm going whitewater rafting. There are quiet pools, strong currents, electrifying rapids, and a sense of near euphoria by story's end. Do what I did: sit back and enjoy a wonderful ride filled with vivid, memorable characters. show less