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Friday, May 10, 2013

“It's a terrible thing, isn't it, the way we throw people away?”



“But it is human, is it not, to long for that from which we are barred?” 
 Kate Morton



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the following information was taken from

THE SECRET KEEPER 



This picture of a Tunbridge Wells farmhouse was one of a few that sat on my pin board while I was writing The Secret Keeper
1961: On a sweltering summer's day, while
her family picnics by the stream on their
Suffolk farm, sixteen-year-old Laurel hides out
in her childhood tree house dreaming of a boy
called Billy, a move to London, and the bright
future she can't wait to seize. But before the
idyllic afternoon is over, Laurel will have witnessed
a shocking crime that changes everything.




Dorothy and Vivien, as imagined for the endpapers of the Mantle, UK edition
2011: Now a much-loved actress, Laurel finds herself overwhelmed by shades of the past. Haunted by memories, and the mystery of what she saw that day, she returns to her family home and begins to piece together a secret history. A tale of three strangers from vastly different worlds--Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy--who are brought together by chance in wartime London and whose lives become fiercely and fatally entwined...




i loved this book...
it was so good...

here is my review from goodreads


The Secret Keeper
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to the audible version of this book and I thought the narrator was fantastic! At times I thought the long way was taken to get to the point but at the end realized that was the perfect way to tell this story. It reminded me of those old WWII movies. The pacing of the end was brilliant and I absolutely loved Jimmy. He was so unbelievably lovely and heroic. Vivian was mysterious and fragile and Dolly was so likable and frustrating and at times so hard to read. I loved it! It will make a great movie!

View all my reviews



i would have loved to get together and talk about this one...

i would have served...





Discussion Questions
1. Each of Kate Morton's four novels are securely anchored in their strong sense of time and place. In The Secret Keeper, World War II is a rich and realistic environment–close enough for memory but a long way from our twenty-first century lives—which allows the author to show both the frailty and courage of human nature. Discuss.

2. The rusted-on loyalties of family members to each other are key in this novel. Do you think Dolly's feelings of unease about her own family contribute to her love of playing make-believe?

3. Laurel had never thought to ask her mother about her life before Dorothy met Stephen Nicolson. And it's impossible for Dolly to imagine Lady Caldicott being young and beautiful wearing those glorious dresses now going musty in the dressing room. And Jimmy's dad loves to tell his stories of the past. How is ageing portrayed in The Secret Keeper?

4. Many readers have commented on how extremely likeable Jimmy is–how has Kate Morton developed his character to make him so?

5. Do you think that The Secret Keeper's characters live the lives they deserve? Were you satisfied and surprised at their various outcomes and their influences on each other?

6. Once you understood Dorothy's reasons for committing that violent action at the end of chapter one, did you find any moral ambiguity in her behaviour? Did she really have a choice?

7. Everyone has their secrets. The Secret Keeper, some more than others! Do you think Laurel is justified in upturning her mother's carefully laid secrets? When is keeping a secret within a family justified?
(Questions issued by publisher.)




maybe had some of these while we talked 
drank
blood orange tea...





mom...
you will love this book!

p.s.
on baby watch for baby boy thomas:)

bye...
more later...

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