The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton | Book Review

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Author, Kate Morton
Published, October 9, 2012
Publisher, Atria Books
Kindle edition, 597 pages

BOOK TRAILER:

DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS:
From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Distant Hours, The Forgotten Garden, and The House at Riverton, a spellbinding new novel filled with mystery, thievery, murder, and enduring love.
During a summer party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is happily dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and watches as her mother speaks to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy—her vivacious, loving, nearly perfect mother.
Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress living in London. The family is gathering at Greenacres farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this may be her last chance, Laurel searches for answers to the questions that still haunt her from that long-ago day, answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past.
Dorothy’s story takes the reader from pre–WWII England through the blitz, to the ’60s and beyond. It is the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined. The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams and the unexpected consequences they sometimes bring. It is an unforgettable story of lovers and friends, deception and passion that is told—in Morton’s signature style—against a backdrop of events that changed the world. 

MY THOUGHTS:
This is the forth novel by Kate Morton that I have read and I can't believe that I waiting so long to get to it.  Her novels are quite lengthy and being sick and home alone was a perfect fit.  
I love the fact that her books are written in a dual narrative.  This one has the story of present day, the 1940s, and the 1960s.  Novels written in the time period of WWII happen to be some of my favorite historical fiction. 
I was not disappointed in the story.  Laurel witnessed a murder as a child and finally wants to know what really happened.  Her mother, Dorothy, know has dementia and can't be a lot of help.  But the story of Dorothy, Jimmy, and Vivien starts to come together.  I loved that I had some surprises in the end.  That is always a plus.  

Book Club Friday

This week I read:

Here is the description from Goodreads:
Summer 1924
On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.
Winter 1999
Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories - long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind - begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could.
Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.


What I thought:
 I love Kate Morton.  I completely loved The Forgotten Garden and The Distant Hours.  The only thing that I don't like about her books is that they are pretty long.  Over 400 pages long.  I tend to feel like I am reading forever.
With that said, I always feel like it is worth it.  I loved the characters of Hannah, Grace, and Emmeline.  The parts of the book that take place in the 1920's are my favorite and I can't help but picture Emmeline as being exactly like Daisy from The Great Gatsby.
I completely recommend this book.

Today I am linking up with Blonde, Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday.

{Book Club Friday}: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

It is Book Club Friday again and I am linking up with Blonde, Undercover Blonde. This link up is every Friday and you can review any book that you like. So - head on over and find some great books to add to your list.

Today I am reviewing The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

Here is the description from Amazon:

A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book—a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-fi rst birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, "Nell" sets out to trace her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell’s death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. A spellbinding tale of mystery and self-discovery, The Forgotten Garden will take hold of your imagination and never let go.

I really loved this book.  So far I have loved the two books I have read by Kate Morton.  It was a romantic mystery within a historic novel.  I am a big fan of historic novels.  My only problem with these books are that they are SO LONG.  We are talking almost 600 pages.  They are worth the time in the end.

BOOK 5:12 FOR 2012

****Click here for more books that I have read and reviewed and here for my ever growing list of books to read in the future.

{Book Club Friday}: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

It is Book Club Friday again and I am linking up with Blonde, Undercover Blonde. This link up is every Friday and you can review any book that you like. So - head on over and find some great books to add to your list.
Today I am reviewing The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. 

Here is the description from Amazon:
It starts with a letter, lost for half a century and unexpectedly delivered to Edie’s mother on a Sunday afternoon. The letter leads Edie to Milderhurst Castle, where the eccentric Blythe spinsters live and where, she discovers, her mother was billeted during World War II. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives caring for their younger sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiancé jilted her in 1941. Inside the decaying castle, Edie searches for her mother’s past but soon learns there are other secrets hidden in its walls. The truth of what happened in “the distant hours” has been waiting a long time for someone to find it. In this enthralling romantic thriller, Morton pays homage to the classics of gothic fiction, spinning a rich and intricate web of mystery, suspense, and lost love.

Thank goodness I found a book like this to start off the New Year and my resolution to read more.  I remember why I loved to read when I was younger and can't wait to get my hands on another book.  I also want to read everything that Kate Morton has written.
This is a great book.  I wanted to be Edie as she searched for answers and found the secrets of the past.  I loved that even up to the last two pages, I had no idea how it would end.  And - it ended perfectly. 
I must thank Lauren at Adventures in Flip Flops.  This book was on her list and I would have never found it without her.

BOOK 1:12 FOR 2012

****Click here for more books that I have read and reviewed and here for my ever growing list of books to read in the future.