Brilliant book, well worth a read. Kerry Fisher tugs at the heart strings and transports you into the story.

Heart-breaking and powerful insight into families and secrets...

4*

Having read this author's previous book The Silent Wife, which I loved. I just knew I had to read this, her new book. Plus the book cover was so appealing and that was all before I'd even read the book blurb.

Well I'm happy to report that it was a great read from start to finish, a really well thought out story that was real. I was truly captivated throughout and couldn't wait to see how the story would all play out and ultimately how it would end.

The characters were well written and I loved how the story is told from two very different characters, first Susie and then later on in the book Grace.

I have to admit, that the story didn't turn out or end how I was expecting it too when I first started reading this book, but that is a good thing as it means that this book is definitely not predictable in any way.

I would highly recommend this book for those that are also fans of Diane Chamberlain, Rachel Hore or Susan Lewis books.

Oh my goodness this book had my emotions all over the place!

I honestly loved the book right from the first page through to the last, it is such a well written, heart tugging story!  It is so well paced for the plot and it has some brilliantly diverse characters too.

I was on a real roller-coaster with my emotions for this one and I definitely needed tissues - it's been a while since I have read a book to make me go  through so many emotions - so well written, a brilliant book!!  5 stars no hesitation - absolutely stunning read x

I’ve just finished this book and can just about see through my tears. This book will bring tears of joy and tears of sadness - so brace yourself!
I really enjoyed this story and really felt for Susie. She’s faced with a heartbreaking decision in the 60s and it’s one that has massive repercussions on her whole life.
Her daughters are like chalk and cheese and each faces their own struggles but their Mum has this huge secret weighing her down and it does affect her every day life.
This book highlights how difficult it was and sometimes still is for women facing such a huge dilemma and I think Kerry Fisher wrote about it sensitively and with the right amount of emotion.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for sending me a copy to read and review.

Kerry Fisher really knows how to write a brilliant story. I laughed and I cried and I got totally caught up and emotionally involved in this book. Susie gives her baby son up for adoption because her husband is away at sea and is not the father. This has an influence on her behaviour for most of her life. This is a beautifully written totally believable story that I read in one sitting. I got totally caught up in the story. It is told from Susie and Graces point of view and has a lot happening in it the whole way through.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This is a compelling and addictive read and I read this in one sitting. I loved all the characters and had me hooked from the beginning.

What an emotional read this book is. Susie is married to Danny, who is often away for 15 months, overseas, with the Navy. They have a daughter and are deeply in love with each other. But then Susie falls pregnant while Danny is at sea. Susie's mother send her to a home for mothers and babies where she will have to give up her child after it has been born. Susie has to live with the guilt of giving up her baby and living a lie for the rest of her life. This book draws you in in the first few pages and you go through every emotion with Susie. The pace is just right. A moving story which fans old and new will enjoy. This book would make a nice stocking filler this Christmas.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Kerry Fisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have read and thoroughly enjoyed a few of this author's books now so I was quit excited when I got my hands on this, her latest offering. With a good track record already, there was little trepidation as I dove in as I just knew I'd love it just as much; and I did!
Oh my, what an emotional read this was. It gripped me pretty much from the off and held me captive throughout. Susie has a secret. With a husband in the navy and pregnant, not with his child, she did the only thing she could, she had it in secret and gave it away. Already mother to Louise, she then went on to have a second child, Grace, but there was always that void. That something missing that she yearned for continuously. Her second child, the baby boy she gave away. This being a factor in the different ways she treats her two remaining children. The one before and the one after. But as all aficionados of the genre know, secrets will inevitably out and it's not long before a face from the past returns to her life, threatening all Susie has left.
Boy did this tale tug on my heartstrings. I was with Susie every step of the way as she battled to keep her secret. Well secrets, cos with an illegitimate child, there must be a conception story. But doing a bad thing does not make you a bad person so, instead of judging her, I stuck with her and the emotional turmoil she was going through. The way that she kept baby Edward alive in her own world whilst remaining in denial the rest of the time had me reaching for the tissues on more than one occasion. Our story follows the family over several years as Susie's two remaining children grow up and find their own voices. I have to give a special mention to long-suffering husband Darren at this point too. Oh my, what he went through, all the confusion and general misunderstanding of what was going on; boy, I really felt for him too. There were loads of times I was screaming at Susie to just tell all, but on the flip side, I can understand why she couldn't.
Pacing was also very good, with important information imparted at just the right times to keep me as a reader both interested and enthralled throughout.
It's a great story, well plotted, and played out with a cast of very well described and completely believable characters that I was well easily able to connect to and indeed emote with. This cements Ms Fisher very much on my one to watch list.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

A beautiful emotional read that spans over decades. Lovely.

Kerry Fisher writes beautiful, true to life emotionally charged stories.

Having already read After the Lie and The Silent Wife and thoroughly enjoying them, I knew I was in for another emotional read and I wasn't disappointed.

Every family has secrets. They often shape our future, how we react to events and to each other. Kerry has once again got the family dynamics right.

If you are looking for a well written compelling read with believable characters then look no further.

Highly recommended!

What an emotional read. How a secret can just about destroy you. Make people feel unloved. Well done again Kerry Fisher for another gripping read.. can't recommend this highly enough

4.5 Stars! The Secret Child is compelling and completely addicting! Kerry Fisher has managed to once again write a perfectly layered, emotional, deep, and beautiful story! I devoured this book in just a few hours. Suzie is incredibly flawed, but I was emotional invested in her story and found myself rooting for her until the very last page. Fantastic book and highly recommend!

This is one of those reviews where I don't know where to begin. I've previously read Fisher's 'After The Lie' and loved it so I already had an idea of the quality of writing I should expect with this book, but Fisher has surpassed herself. This book is amazing, so utterly compelling that I could not drag myself away for more than a few moments at a time meaning I devoured Susie's story in just one sitting.

At first its hard to understand how Susie could end up pregnant with another mans child whilst she claims to be happily married to Danny, but as her story unfolds we learn more about her situation back then including what led to her baby boys conception. And why she never told a single person. Unfortunately for Susie its a secret that haunts her for the rest of her life. She's never truly able to let go of her baby, which means shes never truly able to enjoy the life that shes currently living.

I felt incredibly sorry for her, but also for her children. Children she did her best for, always feeling like she had to prove she was a good mum which may mean that she was stricter with Louise, trying to persuade her against following a musical career, being more relaxed with Grace because she had been so strict with Louise, but ultimately failing both of her daughters in different ways, and then feeling like the odd one out in her family.

This story is heartbreaking, for many reasons, but in the end it's heartwarming with a reminder that there's good in the world. This is definitely going to make its way to my paperback shelf.

I loved Kerry Fisher’s first novel, The School Gate Survival Guide - it was fresh and funny, even if the title was a bit meh (apparently it’s now been retitled The Not So Perfect Mum, which is even worse). Anyway the book was great and made me an instant fan of the author. I’ve read and enjoyed her subsequent books too but none proved quite as memorable as the first; however I think The Secret Child just might.

It opens in heartbreaking fashion with Suzanne Duarte giving her six-week-old baby boy away for adoption in 1968. (The year I was born!) Susie’s not an unwed teenager though - she’s a young married woman with a child already and a husband away at sea. Knowing she can never explain the existence of baby Edward and at risk of losing everything, Susie has to make the devastating choice to give him up and pretend nothing has happened. But the corrosive effects of grief and deceit will tarnish everything for her.

This has the feel of a sprawling family saga, following Susie’s life and family from 1968 to the present day, examining how all her relationships - with her loving husband Danny, daughters Louise and Grace - are changed and damaged by the huge secret she can never reveal. Can Susie ever reconnect with the baby she lost, without destroying everything?

This was a very emotional read which had me gripped from the first page, desperate to find out how things would turn out, particularly towards the end. It’s narrated first by Susie and then in the second half by her rebellious younger daughter Grace, which works very well in showing us first why Susie is the way she is, then how that is perceived by others. It’s quite a long book and I can imagine that some people might find it too drawn out at times but it worked perfectly for me.

A powerful and frankly heartbreaking story with believable, nuanced characters.... highly recommended.

Review will also appear on my blog http://atickettoeverywhere.blogspot.co.uk and on Amazon.

So enjoyed this book which spanned not only 70+ years but hightlighted the change in attitudes and views really well written and yes l did shed a tear at the end ❤️

A very powerful emotional story with perfectly described characters, Wonderful writing from Kerry Fisher

Susie is married to Danny in the sixties and they have a daughter Louise but when Danny is away on a long tour of duty in the navy Susie gets pregnant by another man. Convinced that the only option she has is to give the baby up for adoption she goes into a mother and baby home and leaves her son there..... something that will have a profound affect on her life!

Danny and Susie have another daughter Grace but Susie cannot ever get over having to give up her son and as the years go by it eats away at her more and more which ends up with taking it out on her husband and daughters, who obviously can't understand why she is like she is

A brilliant emotional story, working well with Grace taking the narrative in the second part, it wad a sad story with Susie torn apart for so many years by her secret unable to share it with her family but a book that I couldn't put down and one that stayed with me long after I finished reading it

This is a novel of love, loss, betrayal and rejection. There is a commendable mix of wit and heartbreaking, emotional circumstances. Susie, the main character and mother harbours a big secret for fifty years which silently poisons the happiness of all her family. The secret grows like a cancer because she can't cope with the guilt and shame. Finally the family are faced with the final challenge. It was set in 1968 onwards and a nostalgic trip for me with the references to music like, "What becomes of the broken hearted" which remains a favourite of mine and the 11+ (not a good memory) and the mention of the Janet and John books with stories about a middle-class nuclear family and the reference to the Family Circle magazine. The characters were superbly painted and I enjoyed the sibling rivalry between Louise and Grace. They were like chalk and cheese. It requires a lot of empathy to read it without being judgemental and inevitably you think - what would I have done? Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture. I shall post my reviews where possible and on my blog.

Kerry Fisher writes hard-hitting, powerful stories of that there is no doubt!
This book explores a number of tough subjects; adoption, parenting, friendships, love, family, and the very apt themes of sexual assaults and the power abuse that is involved in them so very accurately. It is an emotional and harrowing book, it's not one for cheering you up on a rubbish day, however it is a phenomenal story and deals very cleverly with the long lasting effects of psychological trauma & secrets/ regret. The last third of the book, written from Grace's perspective is the pivotal part of the story and my favourite.

I honestly don't know how to say enough good things about this book! It is one that I just could not put down until I finished it. It is about a young girl who gets married to a sailor and has a little girl while he is out to sea. The navy is his career so he is gone for months at a time and while he is away she gets pregnant by someone else and in order to save her marriage she gives up her baby, a little boy, for adoption. The profound affect this has on her and her family for the next 30 years is unbelievable. This is a sad, gutwrenching, read that will bring you to tears and you won't foresee the ending. would give this book 20 stars if I could. It is amazing!