Month: August 2014
The Husband’s Secret
“Mother of three and wife of John-Paul, Cecilia discovers an old envelope in the attic. Written in in her husband’s hand it says: to be opened only in the event of my death. Curious, she opens it – and time stops. John-Paul’s letter confesses to a terrible mistake which, if revealed, would wreck their family as well as the lives of others. Cecilia wants to do the right thing, but right for who? If she protects her family by staying silent, the truth will worm through her heart. But if she reveals her husband’s secret, she will hurt those she loves the most…”
The question everyone should answer when reading this book is would you open the letter? Of course you would! I certainly would. We would all like to think we wouldn’t but let’s face it curiosity would get the best of most of us. But, as Cecilia finds out, this decision has consequences which will change her life forever and begs the question are you sometimes better off just not knowing.
With a complexity of relationships that are inextricably entwined in ways that only become clear the more we read, Lynne Moriarty has written an intriguing, at times beautiful, at times sad, dark and compelling story that has us questioning our own morals.
Set in a family environment and running alongside the monotony of day to day life, Cecilia must deal with the betrayal of her husband whilst keeping up the facade of normality in order to protect both her children and her reputation. The book is filled with multiple secret, secrets that have the potential to eat away and destroy a person.
I enjoyed reading this book whilst enjoying a rare bit of British sunshine sat at a pavement cafe in Covent Garden in London. I spent my time flitting between reading and the occasional glance over the page to indulge in my love of people watching and I found myself wondering what other secrets people are hiding out there. Do we really know people as much as we think we do?
Next month’s book: ‘before we met‘