Book Review - "A Secret Kept"

Written by Tatiana de Rosnay, author of Sarah's Key, A Secret Kept is also a story about the past and its effect on the present. This book is told from the perspective of Antoine Rey, an emotionally wounded man, whose wife has divorced him.

A surprise trip with his sister Melanie for her birthday, to Noirmoutier Island opens the story. They have not visited the magical island since the death of their mother when they were quite young. Melanie was so young the last time they visited, at first she doesn't think she remembers anything. As they approach the island, she remembers Le Gois passage, a causeway that is only available about 4 hours a day at very low tide. If you search You Tube for  Le Gois, there is an amazing trip (by car) across the causeway in which the family just misses disaster!

By the end of the weekend, as Melanie and Antoine leave the island, Melanie is preoccupied. And as she begins to tell her brother what she remembers, she is loses control of the car causing a terrible accident. As Antoine pursues the memory, he uncovers not just the past, but the father and person he is meant to be.

The book club was generally pleased with A Secret Kept. A few members, but not the majority, enjoyed Sarah's Key more. While Antoine was not an immediately likable character, he became more appealing as he faces his life and his shortcomings as a father and partner.

Overall, a thumbs up!