The Last Secret Kept by Elaine Stock ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

"You asked me a lot about thinking.  And Talking.  I don't understand why other people can say what they want.  Or do what they want.  But they won't listen to me.  I'm not sure who is smart and who is dumb." (p271)   

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site.  A free book was provided for an honest review.

April 2025; Black Rose Writing; 9781685135904
audio, ebook (327 pages); historical fiction

This well-written and well-researched new book is about the women in a family during three time periods.  It's about family love and what happens to a family when important information is kept secret through the generations, and how it affects everyone when the secrets are finally revealed.

1925 - The Great War is over, and Helene is 22 and enjoying life in Berlin. Her only problem is that she doesn't have a boyfriend and has never been in love.  When she meets Willie, she falls in love with him, and she is sure that they will live happily ever after.  Several months later, when she tells him that she's pregnant, he disappears, and she has to tell her parents that she's pregnant.  They express their feeling by ignoring her, even though she lives in their home.

1943 - World War II is creating havoc and despair in Berlin.  Helene lives there with her teenage daughter Liselotte.  Their relationship is very rocky, and when Liselotte tells her mother that she's pregnant, Helene is distressed.  Liselotte has twin girls. Regina was born first and is healthy.  Rosa, born second, is mentally very slow.  Helene's main concern is to keep the government from finding out about Rosa because the Nazis want to get rid of mentally challenged people  When her daughter disappears, Helene is left with Regina and decides that they will emigrate to the United States when the war is over.

1961 - Regina, now called Gina, lives with her grandmother in Rochester. Even though she's 19, she's never had a boyfriend until she meets Kenny at the park.  Kenny is a happy person, but is mentally very slow.  He and Gina fall in love and get married.  Not too long after, Kenny is accused of a crime, and they find out that Gina is pregnant.  Fannie is one of the few female lawyers at this time and takes Kenny's case.  Fannie is a real fighter who has had to deal with gender discrimination for her entire career... This was 1961, and women were supposed to stay home.  Gina would love to know about her mother, but her grandmother refused to talk about her.  Most of the story takes place in this time period, with flashbacks to 1925 and 1943.

All of the characters in this book were well written, and they soon felt like friends.  My two favorite characters were Kenny and Fannie.  Kenny always stayed upbeat and happy despite what was going on in his world.  He was happy to be married to Gina and thrilled that they would soon have a baby.  Fannie fought the fight to establish herself as a good lawyer despite the fact that she was not well-liked because she was a female.

The three time periods in the book are all times that life was very unsettled -- World War I, World War II, and the building of the Berlin Wall.  There were times when people were separated from other people -- just like all of the women in the three generations of this family felt separated from their mothers.  It took three generations before secrets were shared and healing could begin.

 This is a beautifully written novel, and it's apparent that the author did considerable research in all three time periods.  This is the first book in a new series, and I can't wait for book two to learn more about Kenny and Gina.  If you enjoy historical fiction with well-written characters, this is a MUST READ!

Buy The Last Secret Kept at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

 

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