Customer Reviews

Secret Keepers

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great balance of well-written prose (you keep your brain cells active!) and engrossing characters (you can't help but turn the pages). I found myself looking forward to my nightly read to learn more about what would happen next to Emma Hanley, her adult children, and her grandchildren. (The book narrates a summer's events from many of their perspectives.) The writing had a great comic touch and was particularly strong in all matters gardening. What I liked most about this book (and I found the same was true of Mindy Friddle's first book, The Garden Angel) were the characters: endearing, quirky, yet all too human, each with their own foibles. During my morning walk not long after finishing the book, I found myself ruminating over Jake, Dora, and Bobby, some of the main characters in the story, as though they were real friends or neighbors. A great summertime read!

I had high hopes for Secret Keepers. I'm not ashamed to admit I judge books by their covers and this one is fabulous. The synopsis uses words like "wayward past," and "old flame," and "mysterious, potent botanicals and resurgent memories." Sounds good right? Unfortunately Secret Keepers didn't really find its true potential until the last third of the book, at which point it was nearly over.

Secret Keepers circles around Emma Hanley and her children. Told in alternating past/present snippets, we learn that Emma's ancestor had a penchant for gardening with foreign plants; her oldest son died in a war; her other son hears voices and sees people who aren't there; her daughter Dora was once wayward and lost until she became found by a religious zealot; and Dora's teenage son Kyle is trying to balance his father's religious demands with dreams of his own. Then Dora's old flame comes back to town, stirs stuff up, and all hell breaks loose. So much potential, just not a stellar execution.

Secret Keepers plods along until the end when things get fanciful and dramatic and one whiff of a flower sends people reeling in memory to their favorite places and times. It seems like it was trying to be magical realism, but took to long to figure that out. In general, I am left feeling underwhelmed and slightly disappointed that it didn't peak until the end.

I love Mindy Friddle's writing. I was hooked after The Garden Angel, another great read. She employs touches of magical realism -- reminiscent of Alice Hoffman -- and consistently delivers endearing or eccentric characters that keep the pages turning. In this one, I love how she also pokes a little fun at Christian fundamentalism, while showing how controlling parents can do more harm than good. Anyone who loves gardens will appreciate Friddle's careful attention to botanical details, too. Atmospheric and entertaining -- perfect for summer.

In Palmetto, South Carolina, septuagenarian Emma Hanley plans to see the world. However, she has to put on hold her tour when her spouse Harold suddenly dies while having coffee with his female admirers. Emma has no time to consider her loss as her adult children need her and make demands on her.

She is the sole caretaker of Bobby whose illness left him mentally incapable of caring for himself. Dora has turned to religion, compulsive shopping and a martinet spouse. Even Will, who died decades ago in Vietnam, seems to haunt his mom. Dora's former lover from her hippie days Jake Cary comes home to mend a broken heart and fix gardens like that on the neglected estate of Emma's late grandfather Amaranth and indirectly people too so they flourish.

On the surface, SECRET KEEPERS seems like the zillionth southern dynasty saga, but is actually much more as Mindy Friddle looks at how the present turns the past into a family mythos in which facts are irrelevant. Each of the key players in the hamlet extended family including the late patriarch, grandfather and Will seem like real persons with each one possessing a personalized definition of what heaven on earth would be to them; however that denotation is always out of reach. Filled with pathos and eccentricity, readers will enjoy the misadventures of the SECRET KEEPERS.

Harriet Klausner

This was a great book full of wonderfully flawed but likeable characters - so much so that I found myself thinking about them during the day when I wasn't reading, and even now even though I have finished the book. That, to me, is the mark of a good story teller. While I didn't love Secret Keepers as much as Ms Friddle's first book, The Garden Angel, I did thoroughly enjoy it. It was a little slow at times, but it is well worth the time to read. If you love Southern tales and the Southern way of life, you can't help but enjoy this and all of Mindy Friddle's tomes.

This book set off a variety of thoughts and opinions while I was reading it. First, I thought it began a little slow. The novel is about a family Emma, who just lost her husband, Dora her daughter, Bobby, Emma's mentally disturbed son and Kyle, Dora's son. Emma is trying to adjust to being a widow. A likable character, I liked the transformation the author made with her. She goes from a passive wife to a strong, ambitious widow. Dora is married to Donny. Donny is very religious and down right rigid. Dora accepts this marriage as a punishment for her actions long ago. She is living with guilt from the past. This guilt transforms her from a rebellious wild teenager to a meak, lost soul who is so consumed with her own issues, she can't see through the blinders she has put on. Kyle is a typical teenager. He has incredible love and patience with his Uncle Bobby and together they take a job with a landscaper, Jake, who has just returned to his childhood town. Jake is also an ex-boyfriend of Dora. The middle of the novel picked up and peaked my interest. I was excited to continue the story. I loved the characters Emma and Kyle. I could not stand Dora. The author was on a roll until the end. I felt a bit cheated. I thought there were things missing from this story. I didn't think the author did a very good job resolving the conflicts. I appreciate the gardening tie in with the rare flower the landscapers were planting through the town. But the author pulled the plug on this part of the story too soon, I thought, and almost made it irrelevant. I am not thrilled about this book and hesitate to suggest it to anyone. There are too many other, better reads out there to waste time on this one.

I bought this based on the reviews posted on Amazon and I have to say this book was boring and not well written as posted. I saw no point and I have an idea that the reviewers might have gotten the book and not read it at all. The plot is not all that engrossing nor is the town of Palemetto South Carolina. I never felt anything for any character. Very shallow writing. Keep the secret.

The Secret Keepers by Mindy Friddle is absolutely excellent.
I enjoyed her Garden Angel book, but I think this one even surpasses
that one.
The Secret Keepers is full of quirky characters, but lovable, interesting, and endearing ones.
The book moves right along, from the very first page. It's the kind of book that not only don't you want to put it down, but you don't want it to end either.
Great work by Mindy Friddle.
I look forward to her next one.

First off I have to say how much I love this cover! I love anything vintage and having to do with gardening, not that I am a great gardener. This book begs to be read on a front porch or in a garden gazebo while drinking a glass of sweet tea. It is a quiet southern fiction book about a family coming to terms with changes in their lives. We meet Emma Hanley who at age 72, is getting ready to take of on a trip of a lifetime with her husband, Harold and mentally ill son, Bobby. Her husband has an accident that takes his life and changes Emma's life. Her daughter, Dora and her husband, Donny have very different plans for Harold's funeral but Emma has her mind set and does things the way she sees fit. Of course this starts a family battle. Donny and Dora belong to a very zealous church set up in a mall built on property once belonging to Emma's grandfather. I can't say how many times I found myself laughing at the shenanigans that go on in this mall where all the stores are involved around the church. When Jake, Dora's high school sweetheart decides to open up his own landscaping business in town things get very interesting. Soon he realizes he needs help and hires an unlikely bunch of characters; Gordon, a homeless veteran, Kyle, Emma's rebellious grandson who hates his parents and Bobby. Soon secret, magical plants and lifetime secrets are revealed. If you enjoy southern fiction and dysfunctional quirky families then I think you will enjoy this book. There is a nice balance between the story and a hint of magic that is not overdone.

Emma Hanley is about to go on a trip of a lifetime. She's waited her whole life to see the world. And then the unexpected happens. As a result, Emma starts to make decisions on her own and refuses to back down. This impacts Emma's family and they are not pleased.

One day a man from the past knocks on Emma's door. Jake was her daughter Nora's first boyfriend and now he'd like to tend Emma's yard. Jake runs a lawn service that employs people who seem to be down on their luck. Eventually he hires Emma's son and grandson. Bobby (son) is a bit of a savant but also struggles with schizophrenia that seemed to grow worse after the death of his brother in Viet Nam. Kyle (grandson) is fourteen and is feeling frustrated living under his parents' careful watch. In a small way, working for Jake opens up a new world to them.

Jake soon finds his lawn service in demand all around the small town of Palmetto. One of his workers starts to plant an amazing flower in all the gardens they work on. People are thrilled with the resulting blooms and the effect they have when smelled. A specialist is called upon to explain the what and why about this magical flower. He turns out to be a man that can teach Emma about more than just the flower. He can help her discover secrets about herself she hadn't faced in the past thereby allowing her to find a wonderful future.

There is so much more to this quiet novel. I really liked the atmospheric story of people who thought life may have passed them by. It's a hopeful story that would be a good book club selection. Discussion questions are provided.