
Paula Newman
Three Great Books with a Secret
Updated: Nov 28, 2021

In each of my book recommendations hiding the truth causes emotional suffering. Characters are anxious that their deeds will be discovered. They live with their guilt, shame and regret and they cease to be open and fully themselves in relationships.
A good book helps me to see events from various points of view and to experience the emotions of its characters. I like to put myself into their shoes and to consider how I would react in their circumstances.
As a counsellor and supervisor I see the relief and healing that can come from sharing a secret. I also recognise that sharing often takes great courage .
Waking Lions
~Ayelet Gundar-Goshen~
Eitan, a skilled Israeli neurosurgeon is shocked when he accidently hits and kills a man. Thinking that he has not been seen, Eitan decides to leave the body and to keep quiet about his involvement in the man’s death.
However, the next day the man’s widow Sirkit, an Eritrean immigrant knocks on Eitan’s door and she is holding his wallet. Sirkit lets Eitan know that he can continue to live his life as usual during the day, but at night he must work in her hospital. The price that Eitan pays for Sirkit’s silence becomes detrimental to his career, his home life and at times his safety.
On top of the original secret, Eitan is now obliged to keep his evening whereabouts from his wife Liat. Frequently he is tired and preoccupied, and their relationship is affected. The distance between them widens. We see how this unfolds from both Eitan and Liat’s perspectives.
As one secret leads to another Eitan's life becomes increasingly complicated. There is danger and a series of dilemmas. I am eager to discover what will happen next and interested in how Eitan will deal with the moral and personal dilemmas that he is faced with.
The author brings important social themes to her story including poverty, privilege and discrimination, giving me plenty to reflect upon.

The Paying Guests
~Sarah Waters~
The novel takes place in London during the 1920’s. Frances and her widowed mother are both grieving for Frances’s brothers who have perished in the great war. Their financial circumstances have changed and in order to continue in their grand home they take in lodgers.
A young couple Leonard and Lillian arrive. At first Frances is horrified by their gaudiness which is so out of tune with her middle-class way of life. Gradually Frances gets used to her neighbours and their presence in her home.
There are two secrets in this book. The first is the relationship between Frances and Lillian. Friendship soon becomes a date in the park and then an affair. This leads to the second secret…
The story is full of twists and turns, suspense and tension. At times I found it hard to put the book down. In the developing relationship between Frances and Lillian, Frances seems to become the driving force. Perhaps for her this relationship is more of an obsession than true love. As their story continues Frances and Lilian's second secret impacts upon their relationship.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
~Kim Edwards~