The Art of Keeping Secrets [Mass Market Paperback]

Patti Callahan Henry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2008

Annabelle has finally made peace with the loss of her beloved husband. Until she finds out he wasn?t alone when he died?

Since a plane crash killed her husband two years ago, Annabelle Murphy has found solace in raising her two children. Just when she thinks the grief is behind her, she receives the news that the wreckage of the small plane has been discovered?and that her husband did not die alone. He was with another woman. Suddenly, Annabelle is forced to question everything she once held true.

Sophie Parker knows the woman who was on that plane. A dolphin researcher who has lived a quiet life, Sophie has never let anyone get too close. But when Annabelle shows up on Sophie?s doorstep full of painful questions, both women must confront their intertwining pasts?and find the courage to face the truth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two years after Annabelle Murphy's husband Knox dies in a plane crash, the wreckage is found-and with him is the body of a woman. In the disappointing latest South Carolina Lowcountry saga from Henry (following Between the Tides), the firm ground under Annabelle's feet suddenly dissolves with questions as to who the woman was, and what her relationship to Knox might have been. Annabelle's teenaged daughter, Keeley, struggles with feelings of anger and betrayal; her college-aged son Jake mans up as best he can. Her close male friend, Shawn, may turn out to be something else entirely. And into all their lives comes Sofie Milstead, a sad young woman who studies dolphins, who avoids most relationships and who knew who the mysterious woman was. Sofie doesn't explain her connection to Knox until late in the story, and a sense of foreboding pervades the entire read. When all is finally explained, the payoff is meager, and a downer.
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From Booklist

Annabelle is still grieving for the husband she lost in a plane crash two years earlier when a group of lost mountain climbers find the plane and her husband’s body. But there’s a second body in the wreckage, a woman, and Annabelle has to come to terms with the possibility that her husband, a popular lawyer known for his pro bono work, was cheating on her. Ironically, Annabelle is an advice columnist, but she has no advice for herself. Her reality invalidated, Annabelle decides to find out just who this other woman was. But her search only leads to more questions and secrets. As the answers are revealed, piece by agonizing piece, Annabelle learns that the truth is often harder than the lies that take its place. Henry gently draws readers into her story and then keeps them fully engaged until her tale is completely told. Readers who crave books that sparkle with the sheer beauty of language can rely on her. --Shelley Mosley

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (June 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451223950
• ISBN-13: 978-0451223951
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #402,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patti Callahan Henry is the New York Times Bestselling author of seven novels--Losing the Moon, Where the River Runs, When Light Breaks, Between the Tides, The Art of Keeping Secrets, Driftwood Summer and The Perfect Love Song: A Holiday Story.

Patti was a finalist in the Townsend Prize for Fiction and twice a nominee for the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Association Fiction Book of the Year. Patti is hailed as a fresh new voice in southern fiction. She is a frequent speaker at luncheons, book clubs and women's groups where she discusses the importance of storytelling and anything else they want to talk about.

Patti grew up as a Minister's daughter, learning early how storytelling effects our lives. She grew up spending her summers on Cape Cod where she began her love affair with the beach, ocean, tides and nature of the coast. Moving south at the tender age of twelve, she found solace in books and stories. While attending Auburn University, she met a southern boy who later proposed on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, next to a historic lighthouse overlooking the Sound. After earning her Master's degree in Child Health, Patti worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist until her first child was born.

Patti is a full time writer, wife and mother living with her husband and three children outside Atlanta on the Chattahoochee River where she is working on her eight novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely and enjoyable read, June 30, 2008

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Keeping Secrets (Mass Market Paperback)

Annabelle Murphy has spent the last two years recovering from the death of her husband, Knox, who lost his life while flying alone in his plane on his way to go hunting...or so she believes. As she grieves and tries to balance her longing for him with her present life, her friends in South Carolina's Low Country surround her with love. In particular, Knox's best friend, Shawn, has stepped in to comfort Annabelle. Her life still has a "Knox-shaped emptiness," but she also has her children --- 16-year-old Keeley and college student Jake --- and her job as an advice columnist.

She is just recovering some of her equilibrium after the tragedy when the town sheriff arrives with startling news. They have finally found Knox's plane, which had gone down in the Colorado wilderness, and his body is there. Although Annabelle has known that Knox surely died, the finality horrifies her. But she is stunned when the sheriff reveals that her husband was not alone when he perished. A woman's corpse was also discovered inside his plane!

Annabelle is humiliated, dazed, and hurt beyond words. She has no idea who would have accompanied Knox on his hunting trip. Or was he even actually going hunting? Had his solitary hunting trips been a cover-up for an affair all those years? Suddenly, she has doubts about the most basic cornerstone of her life --- her loving, solid marriage. None of her and Knox's friends can explain the mysterious lady, and everyone is shocked and disbelieving that Knox would stray.

The story is about to hit the newspaper. Annabelle must tell her children the cruel news, which leads them to question who their father really was. Annabelle finds herself unable to decide if she should continue to have faith in her memory of her loving husband, in the face of what seems to be irrefutable evidence that he strayed.

Meanwhile, a young woman named Sofie Milstead in Newboro, North Carolina, studies dolphins at a research center. In spite of her relationship with her much older boyfriend, the dolphins are her one true love. The endearing mammals offer Sofie peace in a life filled with sorrow, lies and secrets. She has been so indoctrinated with the need to keep the real facts about her life hidden that she herself sometimes has problems discerning between the truth and the fiction of her past.

An art historian named Michael Harley begins hounding Sofie for answers about an artist he believes may be connected to Sofie's mother through her art studio. This is upsetting to Sofie, but not nearly so much as encountering a person from her past --- someone who expects Sofie to share her memories of Knox Murphy. How can she talk about him without telling of those forbidden truths? It's impossible.

In a lyrical voice, Patti Callahan Henry seamlessly weaves an intriguing mystery from the separate strands of Annabelle and Sofie's lives, while invoking the wonder of their seaside surroundings. Each character is multilayered, with believable emotions that arise as long-hidden secrets come to light. Riveting to the end, the plot twists and turns, giving us a complex enigma to puzzle over, along with a poignant exploration of the very nature of faith and love.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Formal, unrealistic dialogue for an OK story, August 19, 2008

By 

Tracie Nicholson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Keeping Secrets (Mass Market Paperback)

I purchased this book for the beach based on liking Between the Tides. Although the story was OK, the dialogue kept driving me batty. The characters ALL spoke formally and with all of these cliche words of wisdom. It was hard to feel empathy for the characters when their dialogue was so artificial and flat.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Keeping Secrets, July 5, 2008

By 

online shopper (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Keeping Secrets (Mass Market Paperback)

As we in the South politely describe a mediocre experience, reading this book was "pleasant." The Art of Keeping Secrets had enough intrigue to keep me reading, but the characterization - which I usually find to be the strong point of southern writers - was a little weak.