‘THE SECRET KEEPERS’ BY TILLY BAGSHAWE

 

Tilly Bagshawe’s latest is a juicy family drama set before, during, and after WWII. It focuses mainly on the Challants, a well-to-do English family, led by a devout father whose sole purpose in life, it seems, is to make everyone around him unhappy. Especially his frail devoted wife, who’d rather spend time collecting exotic birds than focusing on her crumbling marriage. The couple has four children: three girls and a boy, the latter the most obedient, though not necessarily the favorite (that would go to the youngest girl who later on would pay dearly for this privilege). When tragedy strikes one summer night during a raging thunderstorm, the life of the Challants is not only affected but forever changed as secrets from the past eventually surface.

 

As expected, there is more than meets the eye in this compelling tale of love and lost. It starts off quite strong, with one protagonist in the present time facing some inner demons on a shrink couch, and paces efficiently once the novel revisits the past for the family drama to unfold. From the get-go I felt connected with most of the characters (I draw the line with the rotten dad), especially the four siblings who try their best to stay afloat despite constant turmoil in their lives. Of course like in any well-made or not so well-made sagas, everyone is gorgeous and rich (or surrounded by wealth) and suffers greatly in the name of love (or self love to some) but never did I feel, in this particular novel, unattached to their plights.

 

Fans still looking for Bagshawe’s unique bonkbuster style, however, may be a tad disappointed as the sex and shopping approach in this one is quite tamer, but overall THE SECRET KEEPERS is still a very amorous affair with its strong narrative, colorful characters, not to mention its finely-tuned historical flavor. Indeed, since her previous novel THE SECRET OF SAINTE-MADELEINE, there’s a new Tilly Bagshawe in town, a Tilly Bagshawe who’s matured to an ever greater storyteller, a writer who knows where she stands in this so-called women fiction territory. And all is left to say is: brava, talented lady, you’ve got another winner in your hands.

 

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this 4 and a half stars reviewed ARC.

 

Until next post—Martin