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The Safety of Secrets | 
 enlarge | Author: Delaune Michel
Publisher: Avon A
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $4.78
You Save: $9.17 (66%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 69683
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0060817364
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780060817367
ASIN: 0060817364
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
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Product Description
"Now we're just alike." So begins Fiona and Patricia's friendship that warm autumn morning in first grade in Lake Charles, Louisiana, their bond forged ever closer by Fiona's abusive mother and Patricia's neglectful one. Their relationship is a source of continuity and strength through their move to L.A. to become actresses; through Fiona's marriage and Patricia's sudden fame. When husband and career pressures exact a toll, the women wonder if their friendship can survive. Then a dark secret from their past emerges, threatening to destroy not only their bond, but all they've worked for as well. The Safety of Secrets is a beautifully written exploration of the bonds forged in childhood and challenged decades later, of the fulfillment of dreams and the damage they can cause, and of secrets being uncovered and the truth we find inside.
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| Customer Reviews:
Read it! June 23, 2008
Can't-put-it-down readable with a secret at its core, this book is a sensitive, canny portrayal of a decades-long friendship. It works as a great beach read because of Michel's funny insights into the Hollywood actors scene, but like an iceberg, it has unexpected solidity under the surface. It's depth snuck up on me. It's an atypical coming-of-age story in that rather than simply covering the familiar territory of the jump from girl-to-woman; it explores the maturity that is required to jump from young-woman-to-mother. The crisis in the main character Fiona's relationship with her childhood friend Patricia, coming at the same time as the birth of Fiona's first child, enables Fiona to step into her true female adulthood--to access the maturity required to be a stable and loving example to her baby. Having witnessed Fiona's journey into unconditional love and forgiveness, we are assured that her child will be protected from at least some of the pain and tragedy that Patricia and Fiona endured. I loved it from the beginning to the sweet and moving last page. Read it!
dangerous faultlines June 7, 2008
Maybe it's because I'm in the midst of deciding what to do about one of my own old relationships that this book hit me so hard. Like Fiona in the book, I'm struggling with a friendship that has emerged as a two-headed hydra--and that's what Michel gets at so trenchantly: just how difficult it is to maintain a long-standing friendship and to keep that monster the ego from taking over and sucking every bit of air out of the garden. Oh, and the mother is quite a piece of work, too.
Michel is a pull-no-punches kind of writer with a terrific way with a metaphor. SAFETY OF SECRETS reads like a thriller, the pacing is so taut, and in fact there is a very real crime committed within its pages. In Michel's hands this scene is both subtle and crushing. A lessor writer would have yielded to its prurient potential; Michel instead reveals her power to pull us deep into the character's feelings. A compelling read.
 A Secret Among Friends June 1, 2008
We have all kept a secret at one time or another. Some of us even thought keeping secrets with our friends when we were little was a fun game. But I'm talking about fun secrets such as "Don't tell Neil I like him". The Safety of Secrets explores what happens when two girls, Fiona and Patricia, promise each other they will hold on to a dark secret forever. They formed a close bond when they met in the first grade and kept that bond through adulthood. The book begins when they are both actresses in Los Angeles. Fiona is a successful working actress and Patricia is famous for hosting a sports reality show. Fiona finds out she is pregnant at thirty-five after having a miscarriage in the past. Fiona and Patricia have their friendship tested after a dark secret that may be revealed during Patricia's wedding to a famous movie star.
The Safety of Secrets explores many themes. The first and main theme is that of lifelong friendship. Fiona and Patricia both come from abusive mothers, which helps them bond. The chapters that go back during that time period are heartbreaking. The abuse that Fiona goes through from her mother one summer was especially moving. I could also relate with Fiona's present day anxiety of being pregnant after experiencing a miscarriage. The Lamaze class Fiona and her husband go to was a laugh out loud chapter. I found it highly interesting to learn about the Los Angeles acting culture and could picture the city from Delaune's vivid descriptions. The heart of the story, though, was about forgiveness and mothers. Since most of us can relate to both, I highly suggest you put this lovely book on your reading list
deep character study June 1, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
They met a quarter of a century ago as first graders in Lake Charles, Louisiana over a pair of socks. Fiona Marshall and Patricia Woods became friends with both eluding odious mothers. Whereas Fiona's mother was abusive, Patricia's was negligent. They left Bayou country soon after high school to make it in Hollywood.
Each was married and divorced; they survived the Hollywood night culture that has destroyed so many young. Both share a secret that no one else knows until now. Twenty-five years of best friend sisterhood may end with that secret revealed. Fiona and Patricia reexamine their friendship, other relationships over the years, and the difficult realities that have surfaced for them.
The story line moves back and forth between the present and past in Southern California and their childhood in Louisiana as events today have the lead females looking back in time. Fiona and Patricia are fully developed characters, but it is their deep friendship forged back in elementary school that DeLaune Michael focuses on. Though loving best friends who would do anything for the other, with warmth and caring comes hurts and anger. Healthy relationships have a down side to them even when they are mostly loving, upbeat, and supportive. THE SAFETY OF SECRETS is a deep character study that will leave readers examining their strongest relationships.
Harriet Klausner
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