25 January 2013

Review: The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

Autographed copy
Background
I've been waiting to read The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton for such a long time.  I wrote about it in May 2012 when her cover design was being released, and even had the chance to meet Kate Morton in person on 14 November 2012 where she signed my proof copy of The Secret Keeper given to me courtesy of Allen & Unwin (pictured left).

Until then, I've been savouring this delicious tome, trying to prolong the moment when I immersed myself in its pages.  Alas in January 2013 I could wait no longer.


The Review
I tumbled into the tale of The Secret Keeper easily, as I met the young Laurel just starting out her life, and the mature Laurel decades later, preparing to lose her mother to a terminal illness and suddenly wanting to know more about her life and the violent act she witnessed as a young girl. 


This is my favourite excerpt from the novel; Laurel is at the Bodleian Library and is asking Ben to look at one of the alumni collections:
"It's up a spiral staircase, you know, accessed through a door hidden in the panelling in the Hall. Like something out of Hogwarts." 
Laurel had read Harry Potter, of course, and was no less immune to the charms of old buildings than anyone else; but opening hours were limited . . . [ it ] left her rather panicked at the thought of spending another minute discussing either architecture or fiction with Ben.  She smiled with a dazed lack of comprehension (Hogwarts?), he met it with one of sympathetic realisation (muggle), and they both moved on.
All in all, Kate Morton remains one of my favourite Australian authors, and The Secret Keeper has it all: a great love story during WWII London, mystery, murder and in summary an enchanting historical fiction novel.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Would you like to comment?

  1. This sounds like the perfect book to listen to in audio. That is how I devoured her title The Forgotten Garden and it was brilliant. The covers on Morton's novels are consistently beautiful too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This was my first Kate Morton book ever and I cannot wait to read the others. She is a captivating and amazing writer. Great review and I'm glad to see you loved this one too.

    Kimberlee
    www.girllostinabook.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jo, I think this would be great on audio. Kate Morton read the first section to us and it was absolutely magical! I wonder if she has recorded the audio...

    And I couldn't agree with you more Kimberlee, she's an amazing writer. I'm almost jealous that you have the others yet to discover for the first time :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just finished this a few days ago and thought it was another excellent book. I wasn't as keen on the last book so it was a relief to really like this one again,

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lucky you to have a signed copy!. I do have a beautiful hard cover copy of this though, and I really enjoyed the story.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Glad you enjoyed it too Marg! And thanks Shelleyrae, I do feel very lucky.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for your review. I enjoyed the book as well.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment, Carpe Librum!