Ever read a book that you don't want to end? I actually put down THE LOST ART OF KEEPING SECRETS for weeks at a time - so not because it lost my interest and I didn't want to flip pages - because I wanted to savor it, keep it as a treat for when lesser books let me down.
THE LOST ART OF KEEPING SECRETS beautifully evokes England post World War II, as a shell-shocked nation comes out of rationing and the second half of the 20th century beckons. Eighteen year old Penelope Wallace lives in her family's ancestral home, a centuries' old stately house called Milton Magna, which is falling down around her family's ears. There is no money to fix Magna as her father was killed in the war, and her mother, Talitha, is a famous beauty who married very young and remains somewhat immature and impractical. It's up to Penelope and her younger brother Inigo to save the house, but Inigo yearns to play guitar in America. He is constantly being sent down from school for playing his records, especially the ones featuring an obscure new singer named Elvis Presley.
Penelope's sheltered life changes when she meets Charlotte Ferris, a sophisticated London resident who takes a shine to the country girl. Before long Penelope is pulled into Charlotte's world, meeting her Aunt Clare, who is writing her autobiography, and Clare's son Harry. Harry is an amateur magician who performs for haute London society, and he is madly in love with an American heiress. When the heiress announces her engagement to a perfectly respectful but staid member of the British aristocracy, Harry schemes to get her back - by using Penelope to make her jealous (and dangling tickets to Penelope's crush object, the American singer Johnny Ray, as bait). But is Penelope's heart as immune to Harry's charm as she insists?
The title works on many levels. There's the lost world of Talitha, as exemplified by Milton Magna. There's the fact that the brave new world of Penelope and Charlotte, the world of nascent rock n' roll and Teddy boys, is long lost to the contemporary reader. There are secrets aplenty, from Harry's magic to Charlotte's lover to the secret that binds Clare and Talitha together - to the new secret that Penelope will keep past the novel's end. The novel works thematically on many levels.
THE LOST ART OF KEEPING SECRETS is a charming and absorbing read, with engaging characters and a skillfully drawn setting. It is far from cliched, and sparkles with wonderful detail and authentic feeling. Highly recommended.
