A Secret in the Family  2 by Nancy Revell-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 30, 2025

1945, Sunderland. Ida Boulter makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave her five children behind as she escapes her husband and moves to London to start afresh with the love of her life.

1953, County Durham. Ida’s children have since built a new life in the beautiful home of Cuthford Manor – looked after by their eldest sibling Angie and her husband.

But their world is about to be rocked once again when their mother turns up out of the blue for the first time in eight years.

She has come back bearing a secret she can no longer keep from her family.

Will telling the truth cause more harm than good?

Only their love for one another will carry them through the turbulent times ahead

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REVIEW: This is the first book by Nancy Revell that I’ve read.

In 1945 Ida makes the decision to leave her family and start a new life with a new love.

Poor Angie, being the eldest child she makes the decision to bring up her siblings! But it’s not all plain sailing! Angie also has to deal with her own issues.

Then 8 years later, their mother decides to come back and see how the family are. If she expected them to greet her with smiles and warmth, she was soon put in her place! Not all of the children are happy to see her!

But Ida has secrets, and this could rock the family once again!

I really like the character Angie, she didn’t have to take her siblings on, she could have walked away, but as we find out in the book Angie is made of stronger stuff. And watching her deal with her siblings and her own issues had me reaching for the tissues more than once.

Ida I had no real sympathy for, i understand some women need to leave the home (for whatever reason,) but to leave your children! If I’d been one of her daughters I’m not sure I could have ever forgiven her!

The other siblings, Marlene/Danny/Bertie and Jemima are mentioned and we do see how their lives go, but it’s mainly Angie.

Marlene and Danny make life difficult for Ida, they don’t want anything to do with her. But Bertie and Jemima were a lot younger when she left, so they are more open to hearing their mother out.

And the secrets that Ida holds close to her chest! Well 🤐…. No, you’ll need to read the book in order to find out. Are they earth shattering? In my opinion not really (and I guessed almost straight away what it was.)

It’s not my usual read. But saying that, I throughly enjoyed the story. Set in times where women didn’t really leave their husbands I found it interesting.

Apparently it’s part of a series. I’ll probably go back at some point to find out about the rest of the series, as I really liked the characters and the style of writing.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Julie B 🦋