Can You Keep a Secret? [Paperback]

Sophie Kinsella (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2005

With the same wicked humor, buoyant charm, and optimism that have made her Shopaholic novels beloved international bestsellers, Sophie Kinsella delivers a hilarious new novel and an unforgettable new character. Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets:

Secrets from her mother:
I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur.
Sammy the goldfish in my parents’ kitchen is not the same goldfish that Mum gave me to look after when she and Dad were in Egypt.

Secrets from her boyfriend:
I weigh one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. Not one eighteen, like Connor thinks.
I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.

From her colleagues:
When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day.) It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times.

Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world:
My G-string is hurting me.
I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is.

Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.

But come Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from
the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things couldn’t possibly get worse—Until they do.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Things are suddenly starting to look up for the hapless but optimistic Emma Corrigan. She has kept her job at Panther Cola for nearly a year, has the perfect boyfriend and hopes for a promotion to marketing executive should her first opportunity to strut her stuff and land a business deal be successful. Unfortunately, things don't go quite as planned, and on her unusually turbulent return flight from a disappointing client meeting, in a terrified state, she confesses her innermost secrets to the good-looking stranger sitting beside her. When she shows up at work the next morning, she is horrified to discover that her mystery man is none other than the revered and brilliant Jack Harper, American CEO of Panther Cola, on a weeklong visit to the company's U.K. branch. Thus begins a series of chaotic, emotionally exhausting and funny episodes that thrust Emma, with her workaholic best friend, Lissy, and their awful flatmate Jemima, into a world of fairy tales, secrets and deceit. Venturing beyond Saks and Barney's, the bestselling author of Confessions of a Shopaholic and Shopaholic Ties the Knot entertains readers with backstabbing office shenanigans, competition, scandal, love and sex. The plot is gossamer thin (Jack is keeping secrets of his own) and the lopsided romance not entirely believable, but Kinsella's down-to-earth protagonist is sure to have readers sympathizing and doubled over in laughter.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The author of the Shopaholic trilogy offers up a delightful new novel, filled with her trademark wit and humor. When her plane en route from Glasgow to London experiences horrible turbulence, Emma Corrigan is convinced she is going to die. She babbles all of her most intimate thoughts and secrets to the handsome American man sitting next to her. But the plane lands safely, and Emma bids him an awkward good-bye. When she enters the office on Monday and learns the CEO of the company, Jack Harper, is in for a visit, Emma is horrified to learn Jack is actually the man in whom she confided on the flight. He knows everything, including that she hates her job and that she is not quite sure she loves her boyfriend. But Jack does not fire her on the spot; instead, he quietly replaces the office coffeemaker she hates and gives her advice about her personal life, which she finds infuriating. So why can't she stop thinking about him? Kinsella has another irresistible hit on her hands. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback; First Paperback Edition, First Printing edition (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385338082
• ISBN-13: 978-0385338080
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (673 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sophie Kinsella is a writer and former financial journalist. She is the number one bestselling author of Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddesss, Remember Me? and the hugely popular Shopaholic novels. She lives in London with her husband and family. She is also the author of several bestselling novels under the name of Madeleine Wickham, all published by Black Swan. Visit her website at www.sophiekinsella.co.uk.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

179 of 186 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'll Tell You A Secret---I Love This Book!, April 28, 2004

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Can You Keep a Secret? (Hardcover)

It's light, fun, and totally entertaining. No deep plot, no bio-terrorism or horrific religious scandal. Just a breezy and funny slice of life as seen through the eyes of Sophie Kinsella's newest heroine, the endearing Emma Corrigan.

Already a white-knuckle flyer, Emma goes to pieces when her flight from Glasgow to London encounters severe turbulence. Thinking the end is near, she spills every secret she has ever had to the stranger next to her. How she lost her virginity, what she really thinks of her boyfriend, the petty stunts she pulls on co-workers, the way she killed her parents' goldfish while they were on vacation and replaced it without their knowledge, her deepest thoughts on g-strings, cousins, Charles Dickens, and more. When the plane miraculously lands, Emma is thankful she will never again see this man who knows every little secret of her life.

Emma returns to her job as a junior marketing executive and as she attempts to climb the corporate ladder, every embarrassing secret of her life is exposed. How Emma combats this public humiliation and discovers another person's secret makes for a rollicking good read.

Emma is very reminiscent of Kinsella's other heroine, the shopaholic Becky Bloomwood. Equally appealing are Emma's two flatmates---her life-long friend Lissy and the irrepressible Jemima who will have you laughing hystericaly at her thoughts on men, jewels, and all things fashionable.

This is a quick and fun read, sure to satisfy fans of the Shopaholic series or chick-lit in general.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Promise you won't tell!, April 14, 2004

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Can You Keep a Secret? (Hardcover)

Readers who've been enchanted by the Becky Bloomwood character of Sophie Kinsella's SHOPAHOLIC series will not be disappointed by CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?

Emma Corrigan is a Junior Marketing Assistant in the London HQ of Panther Corporation, which makes, among other things, Panther Cola and Panther Bars. Sent solo to Glasgow to conclude the formalities of a marketing alliance with Glen Oil, thought to be a sure thing, the deal suddenly falls apart. Attempting to salvage the agreement, Emma spills a can of Panther Cola all over the shirt of a Glen Oil VIP. Distraught, Emma boards a plane for the flight back to London - and she's afraid of flying. Unusually strong air turbulence makes the flight terrifying. Her tongue loosened by the certainty of impending death, Emma blabs all her personal secrets to her seatmate, a reserved American. As a matter of fact, she spills her guts: her relationship with her boyfriend, girl roomies, family, and co-workers, and the details of her sex life, her underwear, and the little lie she put on her Panther Corp job application. You get the picture. Absolutely everything, including the fact that she accidentally killed her parents' pet goldfish and substituted a look-alike.

The following Monday, the quiet Yank shows up at Panther Corporation. As it turns out, he's multimillionaire Jack Harper, the company CEO and one of its co-founders, who's making a tour of his European offices. Corrigan's life will never be the same. But Jack has a secret also.

Except that Emma doesn't have Becky's relentlessly spendthrift habits, the two are soul sisters. Both are young, naive, just a little ditzy, otherwise intelligent, pretty, generous, charming, kind-hearted, and with a propensity for infinite self-deception. Both are incredibly endearing despite their faults.

Author Sophie Kinsella is a genius at creating absurd situations from which her heroines must extricate themselves. Her books are gems in the genre of Humor. As I read CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET on the train to work, fellow travelers must have looked at me strangely as I occasionally giggled.

This is light reading with a capital "L", but I heartily recommend it.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a fun vacation read, April 7, 2004

By 

Amy B - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can You Keep a Secret? (Hardcover)

I read Can You Keep a Secret in about one day, and I really enjoyed it. I found Emma to be a good character- one that I actually enjoyed more than Becky from the Shopaholic series. Becky always made me cringe because of her actions (I can't watch movies like that either), but Emma had a good, solid head on her. I laughed out loud at Emma's actions, and really empathized with her, whereas I always wanted to sit Becky down and give her a good talking to.

The plot was a tad predictable, but so were all the Shopoholic books, and that didn't stop me either! I really enjoy British chic-lit (it's my guilty pleasure), and I hope that Sophie Kinsella keeps writing fun books with engaging characters.