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A rich young girl – Constance – is devoid of love from both her parents. Her self-esteem is extremely low and her ability to judge people correctly is distorted due to never receiving any true affection. This causes her to be attracted to a seemingly sensible lad and soon she is outcast when the unthinkable occurs! Many of the author’s books are set in South London, in locations with which Kitty is intimately familiar. She writes a lot about dysfunctional families and tragedies. The author married her first husband in 1966. Their son and daughter were born soon after. Then came the divorce, followed by a number of years during which Kitty struggled to survive as a single mother. Even as a child, Kitty had an incredible imagination. She was always telling her friends and family stories some of which were quite horrific; though, to her family, they were more of a source of amusement than a cause for concern. When Celia's husband leaves her and Thomas announces he is to marry Amy, she is more determined than ever to split them up.Celia needs an ally, so she writes to her elder son, Jeremy, asking him to come home.
Most modern authors would have used such affirmation as a reason to immediately make their mark in publishing. However, even though her writing talents were so clear to everyone who knew her, it would be years before Kitty Neale sat down to write fiction. A gritty tale of family and a love that holds no bounds, from the best-selling author of Nobody’s Girl and A Father’s Revenge Over time, her work began to take on a life of its own. Kitty found that she could take the people she had met over her lifetime and the experiences she had encountered and turn them into compelling stories. I have only read one Kitty Neale book before this one and I want to say it was a blog tour that brought her to my attention, I forgot how much I enjoyed it and will be adding more of hers to my wishlist. Set in Battersea, South London, 1956 we head to a small community with different social standings. For example Amy Millar comes from a working class family, scrimping by, her dad in a low paid job with his post war injury, her mum working double jobs but they are loved and happy. Amy's boyfriend Thomas Frost comes from a different type of family, his dad owns his own business, his mother Celia is a keeping up with the Joneses and feels Amy is far too common for her precious son, her marriage is not an overly happy one. We have wee characters in between, old Winnie next door, Amy's mum looks out for, even missing out on stuff to ensure Winnie does not. Mabel, Amy's mums friend and town busybody who reveals in dramas and gets herself in hot water sometimes. It is quite the small community but the dramas are huge and a plenty. She could do a little bit of everything but there wasn’t one skill she had truly mastered because no particular arena of employment ever satisfied her. And after a while, Kitty’s family came into the picture at which point they became the primary focus of her life.Even though Kitty knew that she enjoyed telling stories, it wasn’t until she arrived at Tennyson Street Secondary school that the notion of pursuing a career in writing and publishing finally took root in her mind. In the meantime, his ex wife Pearl Button has divorced him and remarried, determined to protect her son from knowing who his real father is. Craving affection, Constance falls into the arms of Albie Jones, the cook’s grandson. But one fateful encounter leaves her ashamed and pregnant, and she is soon shunned from the family home.
She might have never recovered if it wasn’t for a bereavement group she joined, one that constituted women who had lost children in tragic circumstances. The group allowed Kitty to heal. She is forced to marry this man who never wanted anything to do with her after their first affair. The offer of money from her father is the only reason the man agrees to marrying her and this results in a torturous marriage. Celia Frost has always thought herself a cut above the other residents of Lark Rise in Battersea. When her beloved son, Thomas, starts seeing Amy Miller, a girl from the bottom of the Rise, Celia disapproves, thinking her common. Abandoned on the cold stone steps of an orphanage, only a few hours old and clutching the object which was to give her name, Pearl Button had a hard start to life.Readers feel sympathy for young Constance and the story is so engaging that one desperately wills to advise her as they read along. However, as the story continues, Constance learns valuable lessons and as they say some lessons can only be learnt through experience.
We watch Pearl's growth as a young innocent girl into a grown woman, and her fight to gain a life that she could previously only dream about. But then she learned that she was adopted and she finally understood the true nature of her plight. Jenny would have loved nothing better than to find her real family and to finally understand where she came from.The Family Secret is a one can't put downable read, and boyo boy there's a lot along the way to surface as you read. Seventeen-year-old Constance has had a privileged upbringing in Clapham, with staff to attend to her every need. But her parents have always been cold and distant, never showing her love. Writing came into the picture soon after, an activity that added further stability to Kitty Neale’s life. She started out slow. At the insistence of a friend, Kitty started attending a regular gathering of writers. I liked Ethel, the Burton Blake's long-standing cook, who has her own secret and regrets; I loved how she cared for Constance and I was hoping that the past could be laid to rest. Can people forgive and bridges re-built?
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