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This Secret We're Keeping
This Secret We're Keeping
Apr 21, 2025 10:29 AM

Author:Rebecca Done

This Secret We're Keeping

A pupil and a teacher. Is it ever right to break the rules?

Jessica Hart has never forgotten Matthew Landley.

After all, he was her first love when she was fifteen. But he was also ten years older and her school maths teacher. . .

Their forbidden affair ended in scandal with his arrest and imprisonment.

Now, seventeen years later, Matthew returns to Norfolk, with a new identity and a long-term girlfriend and a young daughter, who know nothing of what happened before.

Yet when he runs into Jessica, neither of them can ignore the emotional ties that bind them together.

With so many secrets to keep hidden, how long can Jessica and Matthew avoid the dark mistakes of their past imploding in the present?

This Secret We're Keeping is a powerful and provocative novel about the ties which can keep us together - or tear us apart.

Reviews

You might be surprised who you find yourself rooting for in this engrossing and intelligent tale of forbidden love. I enjoyed it hugely

—— Louise Candlish

This is no conventional love story. Great stuff

—— heat

Packed full of passion and romance

—— Sunday Mirror

Honest, funny and cringingly relatable

—— Glamour

Funny and honest this is a refreshing look at the modern dating scene

—— Essentials

Laugh-out-loud funny

—— Elle

Melissa's engaging voice and sharp humour lift this above other dating novels

—— Bella

A clever premise, wittily delivered in upbeat, wisecracking style. Lauren's encounters provide a colourful snapshot of modern men and dating mores, while her breezy promiscuity makes Bridget Jones look positively nun-like. All good, dirty fun - and there's a great twist to how she gets her guy in the end. American Pimentel writes lyrically of her adopted city, and her insights into the British are as spot-on as they are hilarious

—— Daily Mail

Witty, frank and candid, this book takes the reader on a hilarious tour through the world of modern dating

—— Heat

Frank, refreshing...such a satisfying read

—— Stylist

Pages devoured: 216. Embarrassing laugh-out-loud moments on public transport: numerous. Overall thoughts on latest Bridget Jones book: V.v.v. gd. Helen Fielding reminds us once again that she’s the queen of encapsulating the female experience in all its messy, funny and emotional glory… Short, pacy and perfect.

—— Kate Whiting , UK Press Syndication

There’s delight to be had in sharing her happy ending.

—— Deirdre O'Brien , Sunday Mirror

With a deft wit, Fielding lampoons 21st century life but amongst the humour there are some serious points about the way in which we judge ourselves and others…[Fielding] is certainly back to her witty best.

—— Scotsman

A gloriously funny, touching story of baby-deadline panic, maternal bliss, and every kind of chaos.

—— Gransnet, Book of the Year

The Bridget we were all clamouring to see.

—— Woman's Way

More than enough chuckles to keep you turning the page.

—— World of Cruising, Book of the Year

A clever premise, wittily delivered in upbeat, wisecracking style. Lauren's encounters provide a colourful snapshot of modern men and dating mores, while her breezy promiscuity makes Bridget Jones look positively nun-like. All good, dirty fun - and there's a great twist to how she gets her guy in the end. American Pimentel writes lyrically of her adopted city, and her insights into the British are as spot-on as they are hilarious

—— Daily Mail

Witty, frank and candid, this book takes the reader on a hilarious tour through the world of modern dating

—— Heat

Frank, refreshing . . . such a satisfying read

—— Stylist

Praise for The Vacationers

—— -

Now this is what I call good holiday reading. Straub writes beautifully and amusingly . . . hard to beat for sheer charm and gentle wit

—— Daily Mail

Emma Straub puts the fun back in dysfunction

—— San Francisco Chronicle

There's nothing more addictive than a darkly funny dysfunctional domestic drama. Straub's novel-set during a fraught family vacation in Mallorca-is pretty much the perfect beach read

—— Entertainment Weekly

Charming and absorbing, this is a novel that demands to be read in long, satisfying gulps

—— Maggie Shipstead, author of , Seating Arrangements

Emma Straub is a magician, full of brilliance and surprise

—— Lorrie Moore, author of , Bark

A gorgeous and witty storyteller

—— Elizabeth Gilbert, author of , Eat, Pray Love

Witty and big-hearted . . . leaves you smiling for days

—— Maria Semple, author of , Where’d You Go, Bernadette

For those unable to jet off to a Spanish island this summer, reading The Vacationers may be the next-best thing. . . . [A] gorgeously written novel . . . When I turned the last page, I felt as I often do when a vacation is over: grateful for the trip and mourning its end

—— The New York Times Book Review

Delicious . . . richly riveting . . . The Vacationers offers all the delights of a fluffy, read-it-with-sunglasses-on-the-beach read, made substantial by the exceptional wit, insight, intelligence and talents of its author

—— People (four stars)

I loved The Vacationers; funny and poignant and beautifully observed

—— Jojo Moyes, author of , Me Before You

Straub's novel is cast from the same mould as the likes of Liza Klaussmann's Tigers in Red Weather and Maggie Shipstead's Seating Arrangements . . . The Vacationers is a holiday read in every way with a gently witty narrative that slips down as easily as a beachside cocktail

—— Independent

Emma Straub is a gorgeous and witty storyteller

—— Elizabeth Gilbert

Intimate, epic, beautifully observed

—— Jennifer Egan

Witty and big-hearted ... leaves you smiling for days

—— Maria Semple

Charming and absorbing

—— Maggie Shipstead

Funny, poignant and beautifully observed

—— Jojo Moyes
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