Family Secrets by Judith Henry Wall

My first thought about the book was that it wasn't what I expected. Sure, the story itself was a great idea - three sisters fly across the country in search of their long-lost grandmother, the woman who had given birth to their late father - but the grandmother's story seemed far fetched (as one of the sisters thought at one point). But I really liked reading about the relationships between the sisters - and as anyone with at least one sister can attest - they can be complex. The girls, with their underlying issues, chose to take on something as enormous as meeting a relative for the first time, and in doing so, learned more about each other and how to deal with their father's death as a family. I will agree that there is nothing like a cross-country trip to change one's perspective, as I myself moved from Michigan to Florida and life has never been the same.

The title really does sum up the story - family secrets are certainly revealed; the grandmother's story from rags to riches and her reasons for staying mum all her life are definitely not how I pictured the story unfolding, but I understand why she wanted to keep the secret. Should anyone ever set out to find someone who has so clearly tried to bury the past and start anew?

You'll have to read for yourself to discover the secrets. I assure you, it's a good read, it just wasn't what I expected. But then, isn't that what makes a book good sometimes - the 'wow' factor?

What am I reading now?

I'm about 50 pages into Judith Henry Wall's Family Secrets, and so far it's a little slow moving, but I've heard good things about it. I'll probably finish in a couple of days.

Yesterday I took some books to my local used bookstore, and no one else was in there at the time, and the owner struck up a conversation about some of the books I took in. Then she mentioned the books she had finished, and the books she had gotten in recently or was reading to review, all things bookish really! It turns out she had just gotten a copy of Garden Spells, Sarah Addison Allen's first book, and when I mentioned it, she took it off the shelf and sold it to me! This is a book I've picked up and put down several times in Barnes and Noble; I know I really want to read it, but I couldn't bring myself to pay full price (and I'm actually NOT a huge fan of hardcover books in the first place). She told me to bring in a copy of the list of books I want and she'll call whenever she gets some. I swear the longer I live, the more I realize it pays to know people :)

Happy reading to all!