The Secret Keeper - Kate Morton

1961: On a sweltering summer's day, while her family picnics by the stream on their Suffolk farm, sixteen-year-old Laurel hides out in her childhood tree house dreaming of the bright future she can't wait to seize. But before the idyllic afternoon is over, Laurel will have witnessed a shocking crime that changes everything.

2011: Now a much loved actress, Laurel finds herself overwhelmed by shades of the past. Haunted memories and the mystery of what she saw that day, she returns to her family home and begins to piece together a secret history: a tale of three strangers from vastly different worlds - Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy who are brought together by chance in wartime London and whose lives become fiercely and fatefully entwined.

Shifting between the 1930s, the 1960s and the present, The Secret Keeper is a spellbinding story of mysteries and secrets, murder and enduring love. 

Publisher: Pan Books - Fiction
Year: 2013 - Paperback
Pages: 588
ISBN: 978-0-330-477759-8

Challenge Five of my challenges for 2014 is to work my way through my 'Yet to be read' shelf of books which had 26 books residing on it at Christmas.  I have challenged myself to read at least 13 of these by the end of June this year.  'The Secret Keeper' is the first to be read from this challenge. 

This was a fantastic read that I thoroughly enjoyed and couldn't put down. It was full of mystery and intrigue and a wonderful twist at the end which I had definitely not seen coming. The book is separated into four parts each part telling you the story of a character beginning with Laurel followed by Dolly, Vivien and Dorothy. Each character is inextricably linked to the other and to that of  Jimmy.  It was superbly written and I would not only read further novels by this author but definitely recommend this one to all of you.  My poor D became a bookworm widow as everytime he came to find me over the weekend you guessed it book was in hand, cup of tea and a biscuit at the ready. 

Mx