WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT: THE SECRETS THEY KEPT
“Joanne Tombrakos has written a story filled with characters as real and compelling as people we all know. The author has a gift of storytelling that completely absorbs the reader. Reading this novel was like watching a movie on the big screen - you could picture everything down to the very last detail.” Michela Rabia, Neokosmos Book Review
“Excellent debut novel! …Women—strong women—take center stage in this story, distinguishing it from your run of the mill novel.” Colette Martin, author
“THE SECRETS THEY KEPT has it all, the story of a family, complex main characters whose growth we experience, an ending that answers most of our questions but leaves room for imagination. At times comedic, at times tragic, it is the story of secrets woven so deeply into the fabric of Elena's Greek-American family that they remind us of our own. I recommend the book to all who read not just for pleasure or to be swept up into a new world, but for self-knowledge.” Susan Russo Anderson, author.
OVERVIEW:
Every family has its secrets. Elena Poulous knew that. As an attorney she witnessed such deception every day. But she never thought her Greek-American family was like everybody else’s, not until the Saturday morning, the police knock on the door of her New York City apartment and inform her of the death of Yannis Poulous, a man she had never heard of, a man who has listed her as his next of kin.
A box of old letters she unearths in his Brooklyn apartment help to unravel the mystery of who he is. But the biggest part of the puzzle - why everyone in her family, especially her mother Kristina refuses to talk about him - proves the most difficult to discover.
The Secrets They Kept is a multi-generational story, of cultural and religious influences, of secrets kept and discovered, all in the name of love and of family.
More praise:
“Anyone who enjoys a good family drama will enjoy this book.” Dees Reading Room
“Joanne Tombrakos has written a story filled with characters as real and compelling as people we all know. The author has a gift of storytelling that completely absorbs the reader. Reading this novel was like watching a movie on the big screen - you could picture everything down to the very last detail.” Michela Rabia, Neokosmos Book Review
“Excellent debut novel! …Women—strong women—take center stage in this story, distinguishing it from your run of the mill novel.” Colette Martin, author
“THE SECRETS THEY KEPT has it all, the story of a family, complex main characters whose growth we experience, an ending that answers most of our questions but leaves room for imagination. At times comedic, at times tragic, it is the story of secrets woven so deeply into the fabric of Elena's Greek-American family that they remind us of our own. I recommend the book to all who read not just for pleasure or to be swept up into a new world, but for self-knowledge.” Susan Russo Anderson, author.
OVERVIEW:
Every family has its secrets. Elena Poulous knew that. As an attorney she witnessed such deception every day. But she never thought her Greek-American family was like everybody else’s, not until the Saturday morning, the police knock on the door of her New York City apartment and inform her of the death of Yannis Poulous, a man she had never heard of, a man who has listed her as his next of kin.
A box of old letters she unearths in his Brooklyn apartment help to unravel the mystery of who he is. But the biggest part of the puzzle - why everyone in her family, especially her mother Kristina refuses to talk about him - proves the most difficult to discover.
The Secrets They Kept is a multi-generational story, of cultural and religious influences, of secrets kept and discovered, all in the name of love and of family.
More praise:
“Anyone who enjoys a good family drama will enjoy this book.” Dees Reading Room
