A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay

A Secret Kept, was a slow read at first but about halfway through the struggles of the characters pick up the plot. This is one of those novels that doesn't have a definitive answer, which can drive some people crazy (Like me!). I believe De Rosnay's book was first novel Sarah's Key was much better, and this one does not begin to light a candle against it. Parisian architect Antoine Rey takes his sister, Mélanie, to celebrate her 40th birthday on the island where they vacationed as children with their mother, until she died there in 1974. On the way back Mélanie is gripped by a shocking repressed memory and loses control of the car when she attempts to tell her brother about it. After a brief spell of amnesia, she tells her brother what it was she remembered: their mother had been in love with a woman. As if that's not enough surprise drama for one novel there is depression caused by the affair of Antoine's ex-wife, the sudden death of his daughter's best friend, his out of control son's run with the courts and expulsion, his father dying of cancer, and a new love interest that's a mortician. Kind of like a soap opera... but a very good journey of the honest struggles of a man.