We All Have Our Secrets
As seen:
By Jane Corry
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1 review
You know she’s lying…
But so are you.
‘Grips with menace and dread, yet touches the heart’ Nicci French
‘I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough’ Claire Douglas
‘An utterly compelling story of female competition, with wonderfully drawn characters and plenty of twists’ Heidi Perks, The Whispers
‘Jane Corry writes consistently enthralling stories about the dark side of family life’ Peter James, Picture You Dead
‘Brilliant, with characters you care about and plots that knock you sideways’ Phoebe Morgan, The Wild Girls
‘A tense page turning drama but one that allows the humanity to shine through’ Jane Shemilt, Little Friends
‘Unmissable’ Imran Mahmood, You Don’t Know Me ‘Twisty, pacy’ Gilly MacMillan, The Long Weekend TweetReviews
St Just Monday Morning Reading Group 29th June 2026.
We All Have Our Secrets. Jane Corry.
This was felt to be a ‘light read’ or ‘beach novel’, by most of the reading group; however, everyone finished it and some said they enjoyed it. We did find though, that the plot was overly complex: the story started off in a believable fashion, with Emily’s arrival at her father’s house and her discovery of Francoise, a stranger, in residence there as carer to her father; but things then unravelled with the twists and turns of the sisters’ relationship. Possibly there were too many elements introduced into it – for instance the midwifery case seemed to have no relevance other than being a slightly clumsy device to get Emily down to Cornwall.
The narrative gave rise to a short discussion about the nature of parenthood – how much does biological parenthood matter (as opposed to adoptive), and how does a real parent behave, whether birth or adoptive?
We also talked about the PTSD, with episodes of violence and flashbacks, which prevented Harold from being an ideal father to Emily.
The writing style came over as stilted, we thought, and not as good as in some of the author’s other books. There was also, perhaps, too much of a contrived happy ending, with the ‘sisters’ as best buddies, which seemed less credible, and also the love interest going the right way.
We seemed to find quite a lot to criticise here, but nevertheless we found things arising from it to talk about, and it was admired by some!
