Deep Secrets (A Titanic Novel)
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Apr 21, 2026
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
From Nikki Shannon Smith, author of Stranded, comes a story of the Titanic, family, survival, and the secrets we hide from those we love.
Colette only wants three things: to prove she isn't weak, to get a job, and to uncover the mystery surrounding her father. All her life she's heard that he died in a factory accident, but she's haunted by dreams of bitter cold and a sea of stars -- and part of her knows it's somehow connected to him. Colette is not to work, is not to leave the house, and is to never speak of her father. But when Colette secretly gets a job, she becomes fascinated by the stories that Walter, the store owner, tells.
He was aboard the Titanic before it sank. He saw the ship fall beneath the waves and watched as his brother perished in the sea. His memories bewitch Colette in a way she can't explain. She's drawn to the Titanic, and the more she learns, the more intense her dreams become.
Then the stock market crashes. As things get desperate, Colette clings to Walter's stories -- especially the ones about a man he knew who shared her father's name. But then Walter reveals a truth that changes Colette's life and identity forever.
Can Colette live the life she's lived all these years, knowing the truth now? Can she forgive her mother for lying to her? What if the repercussions of the truth are more daunting than secrets? Her memories aboard the Titanic will be the key to the life she's always been denied.
Seamlessly weaving between the Great Depression and a journey aboard the Titanic, Nikki Shannon Smith tells a story about what it means to survive, and all those we leave behind to do so.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in Greenwich Village during Wall Street's 1929 crash and featuring flashbacks to the Titanic's 1912 voyage, this increasingly suspenseful historical novel by Smith (Letters to Misty) explores the effects of long-held family secrets. Nineteen-year-old Colette, the middle sibling of three, chafes at being kept home by her overly protective widowed mother who, believing Colette frail, only allows her out for weekly grocery trips. When Colette secretly begins working for grocer Walter, she thrives on the honest communication she has with him and his young employee Claude, both Titanic survivors. As Walter shares his memories of the vessel, its sinking, and a now-deceased friend, the contrast between her family dynamics, which tend toward superficiality, and the openness of her relationships with Walter and Claude—the latter soon taking a romantic turn—inspires Colette to question her mother's restrictions, as well as her reticence to talk about the siblings' late father. Colette's longing for family closeness is clouded by bewilderment at her mother's despair about the economic crash's effects. The protagonist's sympathetic, energetic first-person voice, her probing of her family history, and her growing understanding of injustice make for a satisfyingly absorbing story. Ages 9–12.
