SHADOWS OF THE PAST
Alice Graysharp’s debut novel is a sympathetically written story of love, secrets, and regrets. On the eve of World War 2, fifteen-year-old Patricia Roberts is evacuated from her South London home to the Surrey town of Leatherhead. Away from the capital and the burden of keeping the lid on her family’s secrets, Patricia harbours the dream of becoming a teacher. It’s a brave ambition to have at a time when a woman could lose a teaching job if she married, making the possibility of love a distant prospect!
In the summer of 1940, just days before her sixteenth birthday, Patricia meets James a handsome young Canadian serviceman. Their relationship will change her life and as her youthful innocence gives way to a burgeoning maturity, she is faced with a difficult choice: should she reveal her inner secrets, or live out the rest of her life trapped in a nexus of guilt and shadow memories?
The Keeping of Secrets was inspired by the war time stories of the author’s family and the months spent documenting her mother’s memoir. The result of Graysharp’s detailed research is a sensitive, atmospheric novel that feels like a coming of age story.
Reviewed by Juliette Foster
