The Secret Ever Keeps [Hardcover]

Art Tirrell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2007

High adventure and chick lit combine as billionaire tycoon Jake Eastland nears the end of a long life of shady dealings, lost love, and failed relationships, and is given one final chance to atone. Themes of greed, lust, guilt, family karma, and the power of forgiveness play out as a granddaughter arrives whose relationship with Jake could change everything for both of them. This sprawling epic adventure of feuding families, prohibition rum-runners, and present-day treasure hunters is equally thrilling and heart-warming.  

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Captivating and utterly engaging...a rolicking ride on the choppy waters of Lake Ontario. Tirrell writes with authority and confidence; he is truly in command of this ship! Wonderful!"  —Garth Stein, author, How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets

"YA adventure for the older set."  —Kirkus Reviews

"Written in a crisp, entertaining style, this engaging tale offers both adventure and depth. It's perfect for a summertime read while on the hook."  —Sail Magazine

"This seamless blend of action and fun with heart-warming cross-generational character-story shouldn't work, but here it does. A reader can enjoy this on both levels. A perfect summer read."  —Films & Books Magazine

"Mr. Tirrell has written an interesting and intriguing novel with colorful and well-developed characters. His knowledge of Lake Ontario, sailing, and marine biology are related in the course of the story in a way that adds to the momentum. His portrayal of Jake as a man who rises from poverty to a position of wealth, the power wealth can buy, and the self-destruction it causes is superb."  —The Historical Novels Review

From the Publisher

"Learning the truth about yourself doesn't necessarily make you happy," Jake Eastland says. He should know. At ninety-three, he contemplates his life as a bootlegger and a thug, a tycoon and a killer with regret, not for the crimes he's committed, but for the family he's never known.

All that changes when Laurel Kingsford shows up on his doorstep. A dynamic young woman with a distinguished background in oceanic research, Laurel retreats to the only place she's ever felt safe following the loss of her job, her life savings, and her fiancé. A genteel old inn overlooking Lake Ontario's southern shore, the Twice Told Hotel was where Laurel spent idyllic childhood summers in the company of her grandmother, Jean. Jake Eastland built the Twice Told in 1940 and it was where he, too, retreated after his marriage to a society gold digger named Jean ended. Obviously, Jake and Laurel have much in common. They should: unbeknownst to Laurel, Jake is her grandfather.

If this were merely another derivative "sins of the father" saga, such coincidences would be improbable, if not imponderable. Fortunately, Tirrell capitalizes on his lifelong background as a resident of Lake Ontario's shoreline communities and his penchant for competitive sailing to craft a high-seas thriller replete with expected elements--killer storms, sabotaged equipment, and a race-against-time quest for sunken treasure--plus one stunning twist: said treasure implicates George Washington in a devastating political scandal.

If such cloak-and-dagger intrigue isn't stimulating enough, Tirrell throws in not one, but two, romantic triangles for good measure. This is an ambitious plot for a first-time author to navigate, but Tirrell does an admirable job of making it all coalesce by endowing his character-driven narrative with a romantic sensitivity and his intricately-crafted story line with a riveting focus. It is Tirrell's rhapsodic description of Lake Ontario's tortuous shoreline, however, that lends the novel its authenticity and allure: "horizontal slabs of black-tinged slate...devoid of life, beautiful in its raw wildness. And yet something more, some darker tension seemed compressed within, as if the place held its breath and waited."

Jake Eastland has been holding his breath, waiting for someone to love for ninety-three years. As he relates his life story to Laurel as a way of preparing her for the eventual revelation that she's his granddaughter and heir, Tirrell's multigenerational saga segues effortlessly between the internecine wars of Prohibition-era rum runners and the insidious perfidy of modern-day fortune hunters. Learning the truth about her connection to Jake's notorious background may not make Laurel happy, but it does make for an accomplished and assured fictional debut.

Carol Haggas, from ForeWord Magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Kunati Inc. (April 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1601640048
• ISBN-13: 978-1601640048
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,870,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Art Tirrell (1941) was raised in Syracuse, New York and in the summers on the shore at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where his love of all things nautical began. After a career as a self-employed businessman, his first novel, "The Secret Ever Keeps," was published in 2007, and his second, "The Vitaman Effect," in 2010. He enjoys writing character-driven adventure with generous dashes of romance and is currently at work on a new novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This novel's mysteries unfurl with grace, October 10, 2007

By 

Karen Harrington "Author, Janeology" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret Ever Keeps (Hardcover)

The Secret Ever Keeps opens with a great start, the opening lifting off the page and not mired with a huge amount of exposition. This technique pays off in Tirrell's very readable, though flash-back filled, story of family wounds and secrets and adventure. Through the alternating views of a grandfather and granddaughter, the reader is immersed in the history of rum runners during the age of prohibition, with family dynamics and loyalties playing out across generations. If you enjoyed the unraveling mystery of Chris Bohjalian's The Double Bind, you will also love this story.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant underwater scenes...tremendous suspense, November 1, 2007

By 

Meg Westley (Stratford ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret Ever Keeps (Hardcover)

In The Secret Ever Keeps, Art Tirrell weaves a rich story of bitter family rivalry, Depression Era wheeling and dealing, and thrilling underwater treasure hunt. Set on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, the novel shifts effortlessly between the present and the 1930s. Jake Eastland, a hard-nosed billionaire nearing the end of his life, attempts to make amends for his unscrupulous dealings in the past by reaching out to his sole living relative, a young woman who is unaware she even has a living grandfather. As they get to know each other, their disparate pasts arise to haunt them.

Tirrell's depiction of their slow-growing relationship is delicate and moving, but it is the suspenseful plot that keeps one flipping the pages. Tirrell quite simply writes the best underwater scenes I have ever read. He takes the reader down into the depths, and no matter how unfamiliar one is with this eerie, potentially deadly setting, one feels one knows exactly what it would be like to dive into the bowels of a sunken ship, to get one's line snagged or air cut off, to be caught and whipped away by a sudden current. Suffice it to say, you'll be breathless, until the secrets and ancient treasures are revealed.

The Secret Ever Keeps is a terrific debut novel for Tirrell. I know he has another in the works and can't wait till it hits the shelves.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chick Lit Meets Adventure Tale, April 11, 2007

By 

Joan Adler MD - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret Ever Keeps (Hardcover)

I bought a copy of this book because my significant other grew up on the
shores of Lake Ontario. It sounded like the sort of adventure yarn that he
loves to read. I picked it up four days ago when he was away and I couldn't put
it down.
This is the first book that he and I have agreed about since Kafka On the Beach.