About this book…
Mary has been nursing a secret.
Forty years ago, she made a choice that would change her world for ever, and alter the path of someone she holds dear.
Beth is searching for answers. She has never known the truth about her parentage, but finding out could be the lifeline her sick child so desperately needs. When Beth finds a faded newspaper cutting amongst her mother’s things, she realises the key to her son’s future lies in her own past. She must go back to where it all began to unlock…The Secret.
My review…
I absolutely loved this authors debut book, The Letter, so was thrilled to bits to get an advanced review copy of The Secret. I adore the writing style used in Kathryn Hughes books and so was pleased to see that this again follows a similar pattern where the past and present both have separate threads until the big reveal when they both come together.
Mary is a very happily married woman desperate to start a family with her childhood sweetheart. But tragically the day she finds out she’s finally pregnant, disaster strikes. In the present we are then introduced to Beth and her husband, who’s 5 year old son Jake is in hospital. His health is declining and he needs a kidney transplant. The action then switches back to the Seventies where an unexpected drama is about to unfold.
I just love the way the author brings everything together in her books. There were twists and turns that I really hadn’t been expecting- especially towards the end. The only reason I have given this a 4* rather than the full whammy of 5* is that I had a slight issue with the character of Daisy. Some of the things she did I could understand when they were in the past (even though I didn’t particularly agree with them) but towards the end when everything is in the open, I thought her actions were slightly diminished-almost as though they were there to simplify the plot. Saying that I still had a few years in my eyes once I reached that epilogue! And I loved how the characters developed as they journeyed from past to present, especially the warmth created by the relationship between Daisy and little Mikey which I found to be quite endearing.
Kathryn Hughes really does have a gift for being able to create family dramas with heartfelt consequences for her characters. You become totally caught up in the world she has created, slowly to start with and then, before you know it, you’re hooked! This is a worthy follow up to The Letter and I thoroughly enjoyed chilling out with it over a lazy weekend.
I received my review copy of The Secret from Bookbridgr.
The Secret: The #1 Bestselling Author of The Letter was published on 1st July 2016 and is available to buy here from Amazon UK
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