Our Family Secret, My Mother's Lie


Book Description

This is a story about adoption. It is about direct adoption and family adoption. It also involves keeping a secret from one of those who is adopted. It forms a family secret that defines and destroys as it gets passed along. It is the story of my mother and her sister who get cast out into the cold and are taken in by family. However, they are split up by the family and live in two separate worlds. My mother is taken to California and never told the secret. Dorothy, mom’s sister, knows she is adopted and knows she has a sister. My mother is raised as the only child of the Haughts. She knows she was born in Ohio but knows nothing else. This is the way Norden and Mabel want it to be. They would be the only ones knowing the family secret. Mabel is paranoid that someone would find out and attempt to take Zona away from them. After mother learns the truth she takes on that paranoia. She lives and breathes it and it eventually takes over her life. Everything is done to protect that secret. Yet, when I turn 17 she decides it is time to tell me “the secret” and to take me back to meet my real aunt and uncle and cousins. This is a story of how the family secret transcends time and touches many lives. It is a story of how people react differently when told the secret. My cousins David, Barbara, and Joe are amazed that I just found out about them a few months before meeting them. They have known about me all their lives. They knew who I was and where I was and what all was going on. For me, all of that was shut out. I had to ask them tons of questions to find out about them. Even when doing my final research for this book I was still asking questions to all that were still alive. I am glad I went when I did because death would take the ones who knew the answers. Imagine if I would just now be finding all of this out at the ripe old age of 60? There would now be only a handful of people left to tell me and they would only have part of the knowledge. This secret has led me on many adventures. I am glad that I know the secret but sure wish it had come about differently. But then I would not have had to write this book. So welcome to Our Family Secret, My Mother’s Lie.




A Mother's Lie


Book Description

A compulsive family drama about a mother's desperate search to reclaim her daughter from the horrors of her own past, perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell's Then She Was Gone. Beth Fraser finally has her life together. She's built a successful career in the tech sector, has a bright fifteen-year-old daughter, and she's completely erased all evidence of her troubled past. At least that's what she thought. Dana Fraser always wondered why she's the only kid with two backup phones, emergency drills, and a non-negotiable check-in time every single day. When a stranger approaches her on the street claiming to be her grandmother, Dana starts to question what else her mother has been hiding. Soon Beth's worst nightmare is coming true: Dana is in grave danger, and unless Beth is willing to pull one last con job for her parents, she may never see her daughter again.




No Place to Lie


Book Description

On St David's Day 1981, Helen receives a phone call out of the blue in St Louis from her distraught father in Yorkshire, leading her to a heart-searing path of discovery.Her brother David's shocking death at only twenty years old in a remote country mansion triggers a lifelong quest to unravel truths long shrouded in secrets, buried in silence. Vividly evocative, Helen's debut memoir No Place to Lie takes the reader on an extraordinary journey through suicide, trauma and shame to shine a light on what really happened to her younger brother and the startling secret her mother took to her grave.Helen's courageous and uplifting book brings powerful messages about hope and survival, the healing power of talking, stepping towards recovery and connection to lead a life filled with humour, joy and love.




Wild Game


Book Description

On a hot July night on Cape Cod, at the age of 14, Brodeur became a confidante to her mother's affair with her husband's closest friend. Malabar came to rely on her daughter to help, but when the affair had calamitous consequences for everyone involved, Brodeau was driven into a precarious marriage of her own, and then into a deep depression. In her memoir she examines how the people close to us can break our hearts simply because they have access to them, and the lies we tell in order to justify the choices we make. -- adapted from jacket




My Mother's Secret


Book Description

Inspired by a true story, My Mother’s Secret is a captivating and ultimately uplifting tale intertwining the lives of two Jewish families in hiding from the Nazis, a fleeing German soldier, and the mother and daughter who save them all. Franciszka and her daughter, Helena, are simple, ordinary people...until 1939, when the Nazis invade their homeland. Providing shelter to Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland is a death sentence, but Franciszka and Helena do exactly that. In their tiny home in Sokal, they hide a Jewish family in a loft above their pigsty, a Jewish doctor with his wife and son in a makeshift cellar under the kitchen, and a defecting German soldier in the attic—each party completely unknown to the others. For everyone to survive, Franciszka will have to outsmart her neighbors and the German commander. Told simply and succinctly from four different perspectives—all under one roof—My Mother’s Secret is a testament to the kindness, courage, and generosity of ordinary people who chose to be extraordinary.




The Empathy Diaries


Book Description

Winner of the 2021 National Jewish Book Award in Autobiography & Memoir! “A beautiful book… an instant classic of the genre.” —Dwight Garner, New York Times • A New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2021 • A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • Named a Best Nonfiction Book of 2021 by Kirkus MIT psychologist and bestselling author of Reclaiming Conversation and Alone Together, Sherry Turkle's intimate memoir of love and work For decades, Sherry Turkle has shown how we remake ourselves in the mirror of our machines. Here, she illuminates our present search for authentic connection in a time of uncharted challenges. Turkle has spent a career composing an intimate ethnography of our digital world; now, marked by insight, humility, and compassion, we have her own. In this vivid and poignant narrative, Turkle ties together her coming-of-age and her pathbreaking research on technology, empathy, and ethics. Growing up in postwar Brooklyn,Turkle searched for clues to her identity in a house filled with mysteries. She mastered the codes that governed her mother's secretive life. She learned never to ask about her absent scientist father--and never to use his name, her name. Before empathy became a way to find connection, it was her strategy for survival. Turkle's intellect and curiosity brought her to worlds on the threshold of change. She learned friendship at a Harvard-Radcliffe on the cusp of coeducation during the antiwar movement, she mourned the loss of her mother in Paris as students returned from the 1968 barricades, and she followed her ambition while fighting for her place as a woman and a humanist at MIT. There, Turkle found turbulent love and chronicled the wonders of the new computer culture, even as she warned of its threat to our most essential human connections. The Empathy Diaries captures all this in rich detail--and offers a master class in finding meaning through a life's work.




After the Lie


Book Description

‘I just couldn't put it down … It's not very often when reading a book that you find yourself laughing, crying snotty tears, feeling sick with tension … Yes, honestly, it really is that good.’ Being Anne Reading ‘OMG, do I ever like this writer. I don't usually gush … But rarely have I come across a character that I so instantly identified with … The acerbic wit is my style. I want to meet and be friends with Lydia Rushfield.’ All Words Matter ‘An absolutely BRILLIANT read! Oh Gosh I wish I hadn’t finished it so quickly … sheer perfection … gripped me like Velcro from the very start and completely enthralled and entertained me right the way through.’ Beady Jan’s Books Your past will devastate your family. But your lies could destroy them. What would YOU do? Sometimes a lie can split your life in two. There is “before”, and there is “after”. Try as you might – you can never go back. When Lydia was a teenager, she made a decision that ruined her family’s life. They’ve spent the last thirty years living with the consequences and doing their best to pretend it never happened. Lydia’s husband, the gorgeous and reliable Mark, and her two teenage children know nothing about that summer back in 1982. And that’s the way Lydia wants it to stay. The opportunity to come clean is long gone and now it’s not the lie that matters, it’s the betrayal of hiding the truth for so long. When someone from the past turns up as a parent at the school gates, Lydia feels the life she has worked so hard to build slipping through her fingers. The more desperate she becomes to safeguard her family, the more erratic her behaviour becomes. But when the happiness of her own teenage son, Jamie, hangs in the balance, Lydia is forced to make some impossible decisions. Can she protect him and still keep her own secret – and if she doesn’t, will her marriage and family survive? From the author of THE ISLAND ESCAPE comes a powerful and heartbreaking story, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Diane Chamberlain. What people are saying about After the Lie: ‘I absolutely loved it … Kerry Fisher goes straight away to my 'most favourite authors' list … Yes, I was touched by this book as it is one continuous roller-coaster of emotions on a very twisty track.’ Relax and Read Reviews ‘Five out of five stars. Past collides with present in this compelling book.' Portobello Book Blog 'This book was - in a word - addictive.'Voracious Reader's Blog ‘I loved it! A brilliantly woven, emotional, page-turning tale of the damage caused to a family by secrets and lies across the generations’ Rachael Lucas ‘Five out of five stars! This was a real page turner for me, and as the story went on I just couldn't predict how it was going to pan out. ' Dee Cees Reviews 'If you like reading about real women and a compelling family drama then this is the book for you. A terrific read.' Jane Lythell 'This book will make you laugh, frown and cry in equal measure.' Claire Dyer 'Compelling and thought-provoking' Gill Paul 'Believable, relatable and oh so real!' Jo Bartlett 'I absolutely loved it. Her voice is pure gold. I bet her shopping lists are addictive reading.' Iona Grey Read what everyone is saying about Kerry Fisher: ‘Well written and pacey, stuffed full of characters you’ll warm to and a couple you won’t, and a thoroughly enjoyable experience.’ Daily Mail ‘Ms Fisher is a remarkable author with a unique voice, and one I would certainly watch out for.’ This Chick Reads ‘I really found this book compulsive reading, eager to find out what was happening next with Kerry’s writing which was inviting and down to earth.’ Rachel’s Reads




Sometimes I Lie


Book Description

ALICE FEENEYS NEW YORK TIMES AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER “Boldly plotted, tightly knotted—a provocative true-or-false thriller that deepens and darkens to its ink-black finale. Marvelous.” —AJ Finn, author of The Woman in the Window My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie. Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?




My Mother, Munchausen's and Me


Book Description

There was a time when I loved my mother. It's shocking to imply that I stopped loving my mum because mothers always love their children and always do their best for them. Mothers are supposed to be good. But my mother wasn't good. Ten years ago, Helen Naylor discovered her mother, Elinor, had been faking debilitating illnesses for thirty years. After Elinor's self-induced death, Helen found her diaries, which Elinor wrote daily for over fifty years. The diaries reveal not only the inner workings of Elinor's twisted mind and self-delusion, but also shocking revelations about Helen's childhood. Everything Helen knew about herself and her upbringing was founded on a lie. The unexplained accidents and days spent entirely on her own as a little girl, imagining herself climbing into the loft and disappearing into a different world, tell a story of neglect. As a teenager, her mother's advice to Helen on her body and mental health speaks of dangerous manipulation. With Elinor's behaviour becoming increasingly destructive, and Helen now herself a mother, she was left with a stark choice: to collude with Elinor's lies or be accused of abandoning her. My Mother, Munchausen's and Me is a heart-breaking, honest and brave account of a daughter unravelling the truth about her mother and herself. It's a story of a stolen childhood, mental illness, and the redemptive power of breaking a complex and toxic bond.




My Mother's Secret


Book Description

Sheila O'Flanagan's MY MOTHER'S SECRET is a thought-provoking and unputdownable novel about a family reeling from the news that nothing about their parents' marriage is what they believed it to be. A wonderful read perfect for fans of Veronica Henry and Lisa Jewell. When Steffie helps her two siblings organize a surprise wedding anniversary party for their parents her only worry is whether they'll be pleased. What she doesn't know is this is the day that her whole world will be turned upside down. Jenny wants to be able to celebrate her ruby anniversary with the man she loves, but for forty years she has kept a secret. A secret that she can't bear to hide any longer. But is it ever the right time to hurt the people closest to you? As the entire family gather to toast the happy couple, they're expecting a day to remember. The trouble is, it's not going to be for the reasons they imagined... What readers are saying about My Mother's Secret: 'A novel with humour and heartache and a believable ending. Heart-warming, entertaining and very enjoyable' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Sheila O'Flanagan always seems to create a cast of characters that you can identify with and care about. My Mother's Secret is no exception. I found myself instantly connecting with them' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'A great book in true Sheila O'Flanagan style. The characters are all great warm-hearted Irish folk and there are many laughs and twists and turns along the way' Amazon reviewer, 5 stars