The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson

Make no mistake, Baker’s engaging novel takes some effort to truly appreciate. This tale of long-simmering family secrets performs many somersaults from one era to another and weaves together multiple POVs. Readers who prefer more linear storylines might suffer a minor bout of literary whiplash. That being said, a book that skillfully blends life in a circus, young love and DNA explorations into a twist-filled story that’s partially set in the Great Depression ultimately rewards readers. Could I have occasionally used a “cheat sheet” that reminded me who was who in this complex saga? You bet. Were there a few subplots that could have been trimmed? Absolutely. But in the end, this multi-generational story treats readers to unique show more insights about resiliency, friendship, family bonds and the true meaning of personal identity. show less

I did win a copy of this book, but it in no way impacts my review, other than there is a written one ... as I usually favor stars only. Thank you, Mariner Books for letting me read free.

I loved the character development of the book. Each character was a believable full-fledged human being, with human actions, flaws and emotions. The characters each reflected beauty and warts which real-life people have, not purely good or evil that many book characters represent. These human aspects created an engaging, complex, and emotional relationship between the characters in the book, and me the reader. When a book can take you on such an emotional journey that plays out in your head when away from the book, then you have found yourself a great show more read!

4.5 stars show less

I really enjoyed this was well written and researched story about the circus, adoption and family secrrets. I did occasionally get confused with so many characters in so many time periods, but still it kept calling to me to come back.

The cover and synopsis sell this like it’s a circus book so that kind of set me up for disappointment as I expected this descriptive, atmospheric coming of age experience in a circus in the 20’s and 30’s. Cecily is sold to a circus at seven years old, you see her hanging out in the stables, you see her living in a train car, you get the tiniest glimpse of her training here and there for a horse act, but beyond that, if you’re craving sights and sounds and getting to know more than a couple other characters in the circus, that is not this book.

This book juggles a few different timelines and POV’s, it isn’t confusing, though I did wish the voice had seemed more distinct for each character’s viewpoint and for each age we see show more Cecily at, her thoughts, her vocabulary, etc., varied little from age seven to teen to senior citizen, she mostly just seemed a naive, sheltered adult no matter her age.

While this story has minimal circus content to offer, there is plenty of domestic drama going on, aging and illness, the affect of miscarriages on a marriage, a recovering alcoholic, racial identity, interracial romance, the ugly truth about homes for supposedly wayward girls, etc., all of which held my interest well enough but were never quite as affecting as I’d hoped, maybe a case of simply too many issues to really have enough pages to dig that deeply into any of them.

Maybe that’s why for me the last seventy or so pages were when I felt most engaged, when more of that baggage was out in the open, being discussed between characters rather than held in, getting into the emotion of things a bit more, it gave the book more of a feeling of forward momentum than it previously had to the point where I wondered if maybe I would have rated this book higher had it been less concerned with gradually revealing Cecily’s hidden life and instead started at the moment where everything is exposed, as the messy aftermath, to me at least, proved more absorbing, the family dynamics then more deserving of exploration really than what came before it, yet it was then that things were somewhat hastily wrapped up.

I received this book through a giveaway. show less

2.5 honestly. This is one of those stories where everything happens just so, which ends up feeling a little too contrived and manipulated. It started promisingly enough with young Cecily being adopted (purchased) from an orphanage to become a star in the circus. The young 'firecracker' had amazing balance and gymnastic skill which was not appreciated in the orphanage. But how did Tebow, the circus owner (sp?) even know about her or her skill and just happen upon an orphanage with a wad of cash? Anyway, Cecily is wisked away to the circus where she becomes a little sister act to famed horse acrobat Isabelle Dumonde who treats her like a real sister for the most part until she starts to get jealous as Cecily (now Jacqueline) goes through show more puberty and garners more attention. This is happening in the Depression era, so how a traveling circus even stays afloat is pretty questionable. After C/J befriends and becomes romantically involved with and is impregnated by a young roustabout, Lucky, who happens to be black, the story takes an unrealistic turn. He knows the possible fates that await them if caught, but somehow C/J, whose roots are in Chicago, is completely naive and innocent to micegenation laws. He leaves before he knows she is pregnant, which might have been for the best, but he becomes the great lost love of the story, which keeps part of her always in the past. Even 'sister' Isabelle knows what's what and betrays C/J in a cruel way, her own racism trumping any sisterly affection. Cecily is imprisoned for her loose morals and is then sent to a home for pregnant girls and of course her baby is taken away, though she didn't see that coming. They tell her the baby died in childbirth, but it's another sale and the cycle repeats. But that particular trope isn't finished yet. The dual narrative is also taking place in 2015 and Cecily, now a beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother is 96 and on the verge of DNA discovery from her great-grandson's science project. She still doesn't want to 'fess up even with the evidence stacking up. Also, she has just suffered a fall, her daughter is going through breast cancer and her granddaughter is potentially facing a custody case. But wait, there's more! (misery!) The story shifts to a whole other set of mother-daughter characters also messing around with DNA tests in a trail of bad marriages and bad life choices. These three threads criss and cross and rather than an elegant braid, it is a tangled mess, which of course is conveniently all smoothed out by the end. Cecily has been in virtually every institution known (orphanage, prison, home for pregnant girls, sanitorium) and there are way too many unwanted pregnancies, births, adoptions and secrets, all stemming from one person. The book tries to convince the reader that it is a happy ending of lost family found, but Cecily's daughter Liz gets screwed over in a big way, and I had quite a few questions and frustrations about the 'lucky' way all is revealed and resolved. show less

The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson by Ellen Baker is a highly recommended family drama concerning families, adoption, and ancestry. The narrative begins in 1924 and ends with a climatic conclusion in 2015.

At age four Cecily Larson is dropped off at an orphanage by her mother in 1924. Her mother promises to return within a year, but she doesn't which allows the orphanage to put Cecily up for adoption. When she is seven she is sold to a traveling circus to be trained as a trick bareback rider. She is renamed Jacqueline DuMonde and billed as the “little sister” to the star bareback rider Isabelle DuMonde.This life becomes her home and she eventually falls in love with a roustabout named Lucky.

In 2015, ninety-four-year-old Cecily is show more living in Minnesota by her daughter Liz, granddaughter Molly and great grandson Caden. Cecily is hospitalized after she fell and broke her hip. Cecily realizes that secrets she has been keeping need to be shared soon. Liz is keeping her own secret from everyone, as well as the fact that she and Molly tricked Cecily into taking DNA test in the hospital for Caden's biology project on DNA testing. At the same time in 2015 in Florida and North Carolina another mother, Clarissa, and her adult daughters, Kate and Lana, are wondering about their heritage and take a DNA test.

The novel is presented in three parts. The first part of the novel is very satisfying and compelling as it follows Cecily in the circus, later in 1946, and her family in 2015. Part two introduces Lucky and the other mother and daughters plot. It is this addition to the story where I lost much of my captivation with the The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson. Certainly most readers will sort out all the new characters, but it is the dueling story lines that became unwieldy making the narrative feel muddled in the middle of the novel. Some of the sub-plots could have been left out and the introduction of the second family could have been smoother.

The gem remains the chapters set in Cecily's past and everything that she experienced.

Obviously, readers will know something is going to tie all these people together. It is clear Cecily's hidden secrets will be revealed and readers will anticipate that the DNA tests will tell all. It is this one fact that will help many readers jump the hurdle once the secondary cast is introduced and all the new characters are sorted out. In the end story lines are tied up neatly and quickly. Thanks to Mariner Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/02/the-hidden-life-of-cecily-larson.html show less

Such an eye opening read with how much DNA testing has become a new normal, and the secrets that are being found out. Cecily Larson is left at an orphanage in Chicago but her mother marked the box that said she will be back. Years go by and no mother reappears, and Cecily is eventually sold to a man with a traveling circus. This circus life becomes the new normal and she feels she somewhat has a home amongst all of them, but years later when she falls in love it will irrevocably change her life forever. What happened after that she has kept as a close secret. Seventy years later, as she lays in the hospital after a fall, she has nothing but time to think. Her daughter often tries to get information about her past out of her. When her show more great grandson decides to do DNA testing for a class project, it will open up many questions about the family, who they are, where they come from and the secrets that Cecily has kept all of these decades. This was such a poignant novel about a time when young women didn't have a choice, and often choices were made for them and against their wishes. Thank you to the author for the complementary novel and to Suzy Approved Book Tours for the invite. This review is of my of own opinion and accord. show less