"The Secret Keeper" by Kate Morton

Synopsis:  This exquisite novel begins with sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson hidden away in her treehouse, daydreaming.  Laurel witnesses a stranger approach her family home and speak quickly with her mother, Dorothy.  What happens next is so shocking that Laurel vows never to speak of it again.  Fifty years later, Laurel visits her dying mother and decides to look more deeply into the events leading up to that fateful day.  The story jumps between 1941 London, detailing young Dorothy's life during the Blitz, and 2011 as Laurel learns her mother's shocking secrets. 

Review:  I highly recommend this book!  After devouring Kate Morton's magnificent The Forgotten Garden (If you have not read it, what are you waiting for?!) I quickly picked up the somewhat disappointing The Distant Hours, and The House at Riverton.  Morton's books are fairly formulaic, alternating between past and present to solve some mystery, which usually involves conveniently finding someone's journal or stash of letters and old photographs.  The Secret Keeper follows the formula, but was fresh and exciting.  The plot moves quickly and its many twists and turns make for a real page-turner.  I could not put it down!  (In the interest of full disclosure, I was out sick with a high fever during the two days it took me to read this book, so that may or may not have influenced my impression.) 

Spoilers:  Wow, what a book!  As Dorothy's character was developing, I kept finding myself liking her less and less which was such a disappointment.  And then when it turned out that she and Vivien had never been friends and that Dorothy was living an elaborate fantasy, I was worried that things were getting too convoluted for a satisfactory ending, but I was wrong.  The story's twists and turns were excellent, but I admit I never saw the ending coming.  How incredible!  My sole complaint is that Laurel bumping into Jimmy's family was too contrived, but it did add to the conclusion.