Book Review: Secret Lives

Secret Lives by Diane Chamberlain is the fourth book of hers I’ve read, and I have to say that it most definitely won’t be the last. She has a sensitive way of writing that helps you to see the plight of her characters, and makes them more than the caricatures they could be in another’s hands.

Actress Eden Riley returns to her roots to research her mother’s life for a movie she plans to make about her. Katherine Swift was a beloved children’s author with a lot of secrets and hardships in her life. Eden’s uncle gives her Katherine’s journals so her mother tells her story in her own voice.

There are problems in Eden’s relationship with her aunt and uncle, which is full of secrets they keep from and share with one or another in their threesome.

In addition, a friend of theirs enters Eden’s life. He too has secrets and troubles that cause problems as the two of them become close.

Dysfunctional families are rife with secrets, and the people in this book are surrounded by them; crippled by them, almost. As they learn to trust, and to heal broken trust, these characters also learn to love each other in fresh ways that help them all find the healing, love and the safety, they so long for.

Beautifully written, Secret Lives is so layered and multidimensional that once I was in it I found it hard to put it down. People are so interesting, and you never know what you find when you scratch below the surface. And, as this novel shows us, everyone is, to some degree, an unsung hero.