“The Secret Keeper”, by Kate Morton

 

484 pages, Washington Square Press, ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1439152812

The Secret Keeper is the fourth book by Australian author Kate Morton. In a nutshell, in 1960, 16-year-old Laurel Nicolson witnesses her mother, Dorothy, commit a shocking crime, a crime that stays with her all her life. Fifty years after the fact, in 2011, on the occasion of Dorothy’s 90^th birthday, Laurel realizes that this is her last opportunity to learn just why her mother committed her crime and the mystery behind the act. Digging into her mother’s past, she pursues each strand from the modern day, back to 1960 and 1941 – and even as far back as 1929 and Australia – encountering friends from her mother’s life, friends whom Dorothy’s family has never heard of. What is Dorothy’s secret, why did she do what she did and what does it mean for her family?

The Secret Keeper was not made for sprinter reading sessions; rather, one must take it easy and digest each fact and scene as it is presented by the author (a difficult process for me, seeing how impatiently I read everything). While it trapses back and forth through time, I, for one, was never confused or addled by this literary time-travelling; each date and location is clearly spelled out and the progress of the tale is made evident in the chapter (nothing felt like filler to me; every chapter was necessary). And once I realized that this hopping, skipping and jumping was intended to keep The Big Reveal cloaked until the end I was fine with it; I like a mystery as much as the next fella, and telling this tale chronologically would have ruined the story.

The Secret Keeper tells a complex family history with rich characters and interwoven lives. The main character, Laurel, is well-developed and compelling, while her mother – circa 1941 – is the same. But the supporting characters are good, too, despite the fact that they are there mostly for background: her sisters and brother, but also the mysterious Vivien and long-lost Jimmy (ah, Jimmy…) are well-rounded and believable. A rare feat, indeed, making these minor characters seem flesh-and-blood rather than mobile scenery. A good read all around and atypical for my usual fare, The Secret Keeper kept me interested throughout and made me want to leisurely read through to the end rather than rush like I normally do – and I even solved the mystery, too.