The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, by Eva Rice was an easy, enrapturing journey to England in the 1950's, where we are introduced to a generation of youth raised with food rations, bombings and war. Eva Rice offers an inside look into once privileged lives, whose titles, last names or addresses carried them to the pages of society magazines and notoriety. Some privileged, especially those with large property, were displaced and their homes used for the benefit of the country during the war. Most were left with a crumbling sense of self, of family and of the greatness that had defined them for generations.
Every character, young or old, is struggling to find new focus, new joys, and new horizons on which to build their futures from shattered pasts. They have all been altered and marred by war. Each character has a personal story. Yet the story of the book is their collective decisions to move forward, to focus on their vitality, on love and on music that screams with the promise of change.
Three characters, on the cusp of adulthood, come together by an incident of fate and form friendships that assist them in stepping forward to claim their futures. Their unexpected connection is multi-layered and fraught with complexity, but the desire to throw off heartache and loss like an old coat is what binds them.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was yearning for a captivating, understandable and moving story and The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets filled every expectation I had.
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