The Secret

The excellent debut novel ‘The Letter’ by Katherine Hughes caused a sensation when it reached number 1 in the Kindle charts. It was published by Review in March 2015, and now has well over 4,000 Amazon reviews and so writing a second book must have seemed a huge challenge for Kathryn Hughes. It is a challenge that she admirably rose to, ‘The Secret’ is equally as engaging, filled with her trademark glorious, fluid storytelling, fabulous, engaging characters and an incredibly strong, heartwarming plot. This is a story of family, an unwanted pregnancy, a tragic fatal accident, deeply buried secrets and a very poorly small boy.

Beth and Michael are married with a small son called Jake. Since soon after his birth his parents had known that he had serious health problems, but recently these had become more acute, in fact really urgent; Jake had reached endstage renal failure. He has to endure overnight dialysis every evening, administered by his mother. The bad news was that neither Beth nor Michael was a suitable donor for the kidney transplant Jake so desperately needed and he was now on the urgent referral list for a kidney donor, unless a family member could be found. This would be the very best scenario for Jake, if they could locate a close family member with type O blood, Jake’s consultant Dr Appleby had advised them. The problem was that Beth’s mother had recently passed away and she had never known who her father was. Michael had virtually been brought up by Aunt Daisy: he had lost his father when he was a small boy in an horrific accident returning from a day out in Blackpool, almost home and on the motorway. His birth mother could also be written off, as she was a nightmare, an alcoholic chain-smoker of dubious character.

When Beth goes to clear out her mother’s possessions she finds a thank you letter in amongst her personal documents. She is both stunned and surprised by what she reads with her own eyes. Determined to find out the truth in the hope it might give her son a lifeline, Beth and Michael start investigations of their own, some near to home and some oceans away from them.

I loved this novel and completed it within a day, so engrossed was I in this heartwarming story. I thought the story was masterful, filled with emotion and meticulously researched. It was emotional and I shed tears more than once: tears of happiness, tears of sadness. I loved everything about it, but the ending, which tied up the various storylines so beautifully, particularly overjoyed me. I would like to thank Netgalley and Review for my copy of ‘The Secret’, sent out to me in return for an honest review. This is an exceptionally enjoyable novel; totally unmissable.

What a great book. I started it last night and I've already finished. The characters are really well written and I thought it was a well considered story line, where every question I raised was answered. Very readable. Made me shed a few tears. Definitely a good read

‘The Secret’ is Kathyrn Hughes second novel and is just as fantastic and engaging as her first. It tells a story about family, friends, heartache and loss and wraps it all up in a great package full of joy and secrets.
I was deeply engrossed with 'The Secret' from the first chapter and couldn't put it down! I thought the characters were interesting and complex and the multiple story lines were easy to follow. A few twists and turns along the way were all wrapped up nicely in the end.
This is definitely a book I will recommend and a must read for the Summer!

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Really enjoyed this book. It was a quick paced and fast read.

Really great book, I enjoyed the story and the two interconnecting paths that the author was describing - and got a surprise I wasn't expecting. I really felt like I knew the characters, even more so in the historical part of the story but it was a lovely story sympathetically told. Would recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book I have read by Kathryn Hughes and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a well written book set in the North of England from 1976 to present day. The plot is cleverly woven and kept my interest all the way through. I would recommend it to my friends.

If I could have given this book six stars I would have done. I did not think Kathryn Hughes could improve on the letter but the secret is so beautifully written and had me hooked from the first page right to the very end. Definitely an author I will follow.

Many thanks to Netgallery for a copy of this ARC.

Having read Kathryn's earlier book, The Letter, I was really looking forward to reading The Secret and I knew I wasn't going to be disappointed with it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, I was completely drawn in from beginning to end of the story, Such an amazing, clever story that I would definitely recommend.

With thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC for free in return for an honest review.

Never having read anything by this author before but hearing all the hype I was excited to be given this opportunity to find out for myself if the hype was indeed worthy. Families have secrets, it's a fact but can those secrets last for over forty years?
The story starts with a couple desperately trying for a baby, as Mary finds that she is finally pregnant she gets a call from the coal mine where Thomas works...there's been an accident...
This follows the life of Mary's baby and the tragedy that seems to stem from the past and continues into the future of that baby...
Beautifully written and at times heart wrenching. this is indeed worthy of praise

The Letter was a run away success for this writer so when I saw The Secret in NetGalley I was intrigued to find out whether it was a fluke or whether Ms Hughes could maintain the momentum forged in her first book. Her roller coast success with a self published debut under Matador to a two book deal with Headline is indeed something all Indie writers dream of, whether they're prepared to admit to it or not.

Like The Letter The Secret is set across two timelines - the present and forty years earlier. It tells the story of a recently bereaved daughter and her desperate plight to find a kidney for her ill child. In this there are elements of both My Sister's Keeper and The Midwive's Comfession but that's where any similarity ends. This is a very clever work carefully entwining lives that are then unraveled in a spectacular being that will defy any guessing. The way Ms Hughes has researched and reproduced 1970 UK to the reader is formidable sparking long distant and near forgotten memories from characters that explode of the screen like an episode of early Coronation Street with the bar tart and hard working cleaner circa Bet Lynch and Hilda Ogden vying for pole positions.

A real gem of a read well deserving the weighty heights it is bound to reach.

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I couldn't put it down and I'm sad now to have finished it. SOmetimes you find a book and you envy anyone who hasn't read it, this is such a book. Excellent.

This book is a wonderful read which I thoroughly enjoyed. It is set in the 1970s and the present day.It is a very moving story which is beautifully written with passion.There are plenty of twists on each page to keep the reader guessing too. I loved this book and read it in one sitting.

I rate this book 10/10

I really enjoyed reading this book, it was just like a soap opera, not that I watch many of them, I might start now though.It was quite different to my usual books and I liked that it made a nice change.Good book it kept me entertained.

Oh wow, what a completely emotionally draining read, And I'm not just referring to the actual storyline here, I'm also including the wonderful, personal trip down memory lane that I had whilst reading this book. I had to keep reining myself in as my brain went off on a tangent back to my past. And... I'm digressing again...
Our story starts in the late 70s with Mary and Thomas, a married couple who are desperate for a baby. Then comes a day that should have been so wonderful. Mary finds out she's pregnant, but she finds this out on the same day that the mine where Michael works collapses and he is feared dead.
In the present day, Beth and Michael are proud parents of Jake. Sadly, Jake's kidneys are failing and he desperately needs a transplant. Neither Beth nor Michael are compatible and neither have any other family to ask as their only relation worth asking, Beth's mum Mary, has recently died without even telling her who her father was/is. Desperate to find someone to help her son, Beth decides to go through all Mary's paperwork to try to figure out who her father is, or at least find someone who could help her find out. What she finds instead shocks her completely and the rest of the book is taken with bringing the past and the present together as they weave around each other telling the story of what happened one fateful day in 1976, the repercussions of which may well save the day in 2016.
This is my first book by this author and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed everything about it. The characterisation was spot on. It is a very emotional, character driven book and could fall down if one thing was out of kilter. Happy to say that this was not the case. All the characters were very well described and came across as very real. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, some quite badly flawed, others just troubled but all within the bounds of credence and, as such, very east to relate to / emote with. I felt so close to some that I actually felt at times that I was going through it all as well as them rather than merely observing.
Pacing was also very good. It is not an action packed book. There are action moments but the majority is more character growth and development and that all unfolds at a fair pace. There were no dull points that I can remember and I know that I was very reluctant to put the book down at any point whilst reading.
I do have very slight reservations about the end of the book, but only because I personally found it to be a little over the top. But, all things on balance, and I decided that I would not penalise the book or the author for what I'm pretty sure is just a "me thing", especially when I had such a great visit back to my childhood reminiscing.
Apparently I have yet to read the author's previous book - The Letter - I am sure to be rectifying that oversight as soon as I can.

I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed reading the authors previous book, The Letter, and couldn't wait to read this one.

The story is one which drew me in and made me want to keep reading so much that I didn't put it down until I had finished. It starts in the present day but then goes back in time to allow the reader to discover the back story in great detail.

The characters were all very well done, I sympathised with so many of them over the choices they had to make and the circumstances they found themselves having to deal with. The story shows that something which you may think is a small detail can become a huge problem as time goes on.

I really enjoyed this story and look forward to whatever the author decides to give us next.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mary Roberts had been in love with her husband Thomas since she was five. Married for three years, the one thing that would make their family complete, and the one thing Mary wants more than anything, is a child. When she goes to the station with Thomas to say goodbye as he sets off for his shift in the coal mines, she heads off to see the Doctor in the hope of finally getting the news they have been waiting for. Little does she know how much the news she receives that day, and a decision she is yet to make, will affect the life of someone she truly cares about.

Following a fire at their pub, Selwyn and Trisha decide to organise a trip to Blackpool for their friends and family. When the minibus driver falls ill, it is left to Jerry to drive them, allowing the others the chance to have a few drinks. When something wholly unexpected happens, half of the group are brought together to vow to keep their secret. That night, two choices are made which will have far reaching consequences for all of the passengers.

Having just buried her mother, Beth has little time to grieve. She and husband Michael need to return to the hospital to be with their son Jake. He is seriously ill, in need of organ donation, and neither of them is a suitable donor. Beth has never known her father and her mother went to her grave giving her little information about who he was. She doesn’t know if her father is still alive, or if he has family, but Beth is determined to find out more about him as he could well hold the key to her son’s future. When Beth searches through her mother’s belongings for answers, she finds a mysterious letter and a newspaper clipping, both of which lead her to realise that the answer to her problem may be closer to home than she realises.

‘The Secret’ is set across three different periods of history. The first chapters are dedicated to Mary and Thomas’s story. Is it a short and yet ultimately tragic section of the story and goes from great joy and hope to ultimate devastation in just a couple of chapters. We then move swiftly to Beth and Michael’s story, and that of their son Jake, whose story sets us up for the central section of the novel. Set in 1976, the majority of the action from about a third in is the telling of the fateful trip to Blackpool and the way in which is links Mary’s story through to that of Beth in the current day.

The characters in this story are all well developed. We don’t really have much time to get to know Mary and Thomas and yet we get a clear picture of how happy they are and how much in love, making what happens to them especially poignant. With Beth and Michael’s story, Kathryn Hughes has created two very sympathetic characters, being torn up by their son’s illness and yet being united in their desire to do anything to help. And as for the group from 1976, the bunch are as diverse as they come, but all add their own touch to the story. Babs and Daisy are the key characters for me and we follow both of their stories and their struggles quite closely. Both women are endearing in their own way, and both have a reserve on inner strength and generosity which you don’t see in many of the other characters from this period.

The section set in 1976 was ultimately inevitable. You knew from the newspaper clipping that Beth found just how the trip was going to end, and the surprise that Babs and Daisy got was not entirely unexpected, nor was it when the other outstanding question was answered by Babs and Selwyn’s daughter Lorraine. The clues were all there. However, there were two twists in the tale which I honestly didn’t compute and I was left with an oh-my-god moment when it finally dawned on me. It is clear how Beth is linked to the events of the past. What I didn’t even notice was the secondary link between past and present, it was so subtly done. And as for the final surprise – well I really was expecting it to have gone another way entirely so well done to the author.

The pace of the story was just right. It was not fast paced action, but the majority of the story took place and a leisurely day out in Blackpool. I wouldn’t expect it to be. The descriptions put me in mind of family days out and play scheme trips to the beach – the donkeys, the fish and chips and the ‘kiss-me-quick’ hats (although in my day it was ‘Damned Seagulls’ instead ;-) ). I read through this over two nights, with only work getting in my way and although I thought I knew where the story was heading, I still didn’t want to turn away. I wanted to know what happened to the characters and to see how they all lived with the consequences of the decisions they made on that fateful summer day.

‘The Secret’ is a tale of enduring love - husband to wife, parent to child - and the things that people will do to protect those they hold dear. There are some very touching moments, and elements where is it tinged with real sadness. I wasn’t sure quite how I felt when I finished reading it, having been moved in the first three chapters, worried through the next half dozen, frustrated through parts of the central section and finally slapping myself on the forehead at the end. But in honesty, this book made me think and I was still thinking rather than falling asleep some many hours after finishing it. The twists really did surprise me and the plots felt almost like standalone stories and yet were beautifully interwoven too. All threads are pulled together in one final heart-warming and optimistic conclusion.

A very warm and ultimately smiley 5 stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and publishers Headline for the copy of ‘The Secret’ by Kathryn Hughes in exchange for my review.

Beth and Michael are desperate, their son Jake is dying of kidney failure and neither of them are suitable donors, and they have no close family members that they can call on. Beth's mother has recently died and she never knew her father who died before she was born.

Clutching at straws Beth decides to go through her mother's paperwork with a fine toothcomb to see if she can find any clue to who her father was and if she has any living relations.......and she finds a bombshell!

A great story told in two timelines -present day and back in the seventies when you find out the family history. Definitely a page turner that I couldn't put down