The Secrets We Left Behind

June 1, 2015

Wright's heroine has built a solid life with her husband, Duncan, and her grown daughter, Hannah. However, just as she starts to see that Hannah is sinking into postpartum depression, she receives a phone call from a man in her past. Scott is dying of cancer, and he wants to make amends for his former deeds. He also asks her to help. Wright (The Things We Never Said) effectively uses flashbacks to weave the two strands of the story. In 1976, the young protagonist lives in a squat with Scott and Eve, and one night, things go horribly wrong. Aware that she needs to explain her actions, she doesn't want to lose her tidy life. VERDICT This quiet, mournful book explores the ties between mothers and children and how the past reverberates into the present. Scott and Eve's characters never develop fully, but the heroine is a strong, sympathetic character. Wright competently shows the life her protagonist could lose by revealing the one she lived. Readers who relish literary novels with occasional twists will be absorbed by this story.--Jennifer Mills, Shorewood-Troy Lib., IL

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