How To Keep A Secret

Loved the book from beginning to the end. I would love to another about the sisters and mother to see what happened. I really enjoy Sarah Morgan books and would recommend everyone to give them a try

Amazingly funny and heart felt such a great writer

What a lovely story! It is a slight change of direction for Sarah Morgan, as this is a stand alone book, and it is really powerful storytelling.

The story begins with Lauren arranging a fortieth birthday party for her beloved husband Ed. The morning of his birthday begins with their teenage daughter Mack being really bad-tempered and rude, and Ed leaving the house with a very cryptic remark. Then Lauren goes for coffee it's friends, and her credit card is refused. Then later on, the party is in full swing but Ed has not yet returned from work. There is a knock at the door, and two policeman are standing there ... with very bad news! Ed has been found dead in his office. And there is even more bad news to come.

Her sister Jenna comes over to London from Martha's Vineyard as quickly as she can, Lauren hasn't asked her mother to come as the sisters have never really been close to her. The reason for that is they all have secrets they have kept from each other, and the sisters have what they believe is a huge secret that they have been keeping from their mother since Jenna was eight and Lauren was eleven.

After the ghastly funeral, during which one of the secrets is revealed (in a surprising manner) Lauren has little choice but to take Mack and herself off to Martha's Vineyard to stay with her mother until her husband's affairs are settled. When she and her sullen, moody daughter get off the ferry her mother is waiting for them with a friend, Scott. Lauren sees him, and faints. He picks her up as though she weighs nothing, and puts her in the truck, and they all go to her mother's huge house.

Once they have settled in there is no choice but for the secrets to start coming out. The sisters begin to understand their mother, and why their relationship with her had been as difficult as it was when they were growing up, and they all work together to try and create a better future for their mother, Lauren and Mack. Jenna's secret is not revealed until a lot later in the story, at least, not to the people that it affects.

All the characters and the situations they find themselves in feel very real, and the problems are solved by hard work and determination. Sixteen years old Mack finds a group of real friends at her new school, and learns a huge amount about a subject that really interests her, which gives her the knowledge and satisfaction of being able to be part of the solution to their problems. The Happy Ever After when it comes is even more satisfying than usual because you just know that all of them are going to get their wishes fulfilled. There is so much emotion in the story, you laugh and cry and despair with all of them along the way. All of it feels absolutely in keeping with the tone of the story,

I really hope that Sarah writes more stand-alone books like this, she is clearly very, very good at this type of book, as well as her series books. Very well worth reading.

I received an ARC from the publisher, via NetGalle, and am delighted to write an honest review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.