Kate Morton is the
author for Downton Abbey lovers. Her
historical fiction pulls the reader into the English countryside and she always,
always delivers. In The Secret Keeper she’s upped the mystery quotient yet kept her appealing
evocation of British life. At a 1960s
summer picnic on her brother Gerry’s second birthday, sixteen-year-old Laurel
escapes the chaos to dream in a tree house when a stranger arrives and
speaks to her mother as she carries baby Gerry and the family’s special occasion cake knife tied with a bow. Laurel feels that
something’s wrong especially when her mother wrests Gerry away as the man
reaches for him.
She
was watching her mother’s face, an expression on it she’d never seen before.
Fear, she realized, Ma was frightened. The
effect on Laurel was instant. Certainties of a lifetime turned to smoke and
blew away. Cold alarm moved in to take
their place.
“Hello, Dorothy,” the man said. “It’s
been a long time.”
He knew Ma’s name. The man was no
stranger. . .
The next thing happened quickly.
It was the liquid silver flash that
Laurel would remember. The way sunlight
caught the metal blade, and the moment was very briefly beautiful.
Then the knife came down, the special
knife, plunging deep into the man’s chest.
Laurel told the policeman the truth. She answered all his
questions and told him that the man seemed scary and that he’d lurched toward
the baby. But when he’d asked if there
was anything else, anything she’d forgotten, she said, no. She knew she’d told the truth but things felt strange and uncertain. Later that day she realized
that she hadn't told the policeman that the man had known her mother’s name. When her father came to comfort her, he told
her that the man had been causing problems in the area and that it was over
and all would be fine. Then he told her
that they’d keep what happened to themselves so the younger children wouldn't be frightened.
And
they had. It became the great unspoken
event in their family’s history. The sisters weren't told and Gerry was
certainly too young to remember, though they’d been wrong about that as things
turned out.
Fifty years later, Laurel is a lauded actor, one that
reminded this reader of Judi Dench, and she’s headed home for Dorothy’s ninetieth
birthday, determined to find out what really happened at that long-ago picnic
before it’s too late. She retraces Dorothy’s
life from before World War II, through her days in London during the blitz and
her farm life in the 1960s and beyond.
Laurel’s investigation uncovers characters from her mother’s past whose
stories begin to unravel the mystery at the root of the decisions marking
Dorothy’s life. It is in these characters and their stories that The Secret
Keeper shines. Vivian, Dorothy’s
neighbor during the war, and Jimmy, Dorothy’s first love, are memorable
characters living in a special time that Morton brings to life with panache.
The Forgotten
Garden is still my favorite of Morton’s four novels although it isn't as polished as The Secret Keeper. If you haven’t read any of her novels, I’d
start with her first, The House at
Riverton, so you can watch her writing evolve. The Secret Keeper will appeal to readers looking
for a saga offering escape with intriguing characters, social climbing, jealousy, betrayal, and
intricate plot twists. Above all though, this novel is about second chances and renewal and readers will love it for that. Kate Morton successfully weaves the lives of English common folk surviving in tiny warren apartments alongside the gentry in their grand estates.
Summing it Up: Read this to escape to World War II London and the
English countryside. As Dorothy’s early
life in London reveals clues to the mysterious stranger’s death, allow yourself
to fall under the spell of Kate Morton’s recreation of Britain during the blitz
and in the years after when secrets haunt those that keep them.
Simon & Schuster is putting on a big push for Morton who lives in Brisbane, Australia. She’s in the United States for appearances and interviews this week.
Rating: 5 stars
Category: Grandma’s Pot Roast, Historical Fiction,
Fiction, Super Nutrition, Book Club
Publication date: October 16, 2012
What Others are Saying:
Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/whole-world-in-her-hands-20121019-27ulv.html
