This is a lovely dual time line novel about two women who are teachers spanning 1910 to the 21st century. Lizzie is restarting her life as a teacher at Elm Heath when she finds herself fascinated by the life of Edith, the woman who founded it. And what a life it was! Edith was a suffragette who is eventually imprisoned for her activism. Luckily, she has some good friends and a passion for teaching. She's also got a love interest in Joseph, a "copper." The details of her everyday life,her work, and her passion for women's rights made her a better character (sorry) than Lizzie. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A well done historical fiction with a strong female protagonist and good storytelling.

The Secret Letter was a really interesting story. I was definitely a lot more interested in Esther's storyline as a Suffragette, although I did appreciate the subtle ways it was interwoven into Lizzie's modern storyline. I appreciated the forbidden romance element to Esther's life, perhaps one of the better parts of the book. I did think the romance was unnecessary in Lizzie's storyline and I wasn't a massive fan of Danny's character. The ending was a little too predictable and cliched for me, so I wasn't in love with it. Also a SPOILER here, I did think that Esther's final 1971 chapter should have been written in third person POV, as writing your own death scene in past tense first person doesn't necessarily work.

Overall, I think this was a well-crafted story. Not necessarily something I'd choose of my own accord in a bookstore, but definitely one that I enjoyed reading.

This book has you rooting for the strong female protagonists and what they stand for which I LOVED. Kerry Barrett does such an amazing job making you connect with these women and their journeys in a way that I haven't experienced much over the last few reads I've completed!

We follow Lizzie, living in present day as she finds herself restarting her life after a divorce from her self-obsessed husband, Grant. She has a lot of baggage as she begins her new life as a teacher at Elm Heath Primary. This is a great school, founded back in 1911. Lizzie and the staff of Elm Heath Primary have to find a way to keep this school above water as a competitive school in another town becomes more popular and student numbers decrease gradually. Lizzie finds a heart for the community of Elm Heath and for a student's father named Danny. She tries to find some historical ties to make Elm Heath Primary a school worth keeping and investing in by diving into the history of how it began... which leads her to investigating the life of its founder, Esther Watkins.

Esther Watkins' story takes place in 1910 (and was the story that I was most interested in following!). She is a suffragette who is advocating for women's rights to vote and investing in the future of women around the country. She has been dealt a difficult hand with her father being an avid gambler, passing away, and leaving Esther and her mother with an insurmountable amount of debt. When Esther is thrown in prison for her protesting, she loses her job and isn't sure that her reputation will allow her to continue her passion of being a teacher. With tensions high between her and her mother, Esther is able to live with Agnes (also a suffragette) and Chris Oliver and be a governess to their children while picking up the pieces of her life. After a time, Esther meets Joseph, a policeman or "copper", and their love story is one that reminded me of Romeo and Juliette. Forbidden and dangerous. Esther keeps her work with the suffragettes a secret from Joseph to keep them together for as long as she possibly can.
The research done for this book is so incredibly thorough. Kerry Barrett did such an incredible job intertwining the lives of these two women into a story of love, loss, suspense, loyalty, perseverance, and hope. I absolutely adored this book and everything it stood for!

Thank you so much, NetGalley and HQ Publishers for allowing me to read this digital copy! I thoroughly enjoyed the journey!

A good historical novel, poignant and engrossing.
I couldn't help being involved in the dual line story and I felt for the well written characters.
The historical background is well researched and vivid.
It was a good read, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book it has a lovely story with characters that blend so well i will be looking out for more from this author.Thank you for the chance to read and review this book Netgalley and the Publishers.5*

I really enjoyed this story. I’m fond of dual timeline narratives and this one is very well done and balanced.

In the past, we meet Esther Watkin. a suffragette who has just been released from Holloway.

In the present, Lizzie Armstrong has just taken over as the head of Elm Heath Primary school, which is facing closure.

This story was well paced and very evenly balanced. Both narratives were given equal importance which made all the characters seem more rounded and real. I felt there were a few loose ends regarding Joseph, but this did not detract from my overall enjoyment of this book. I found the description of the suffragette movement very evocative and it was a very interesting read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will look to read further work by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

This novel is set in 1910-11 and 2019-20 and involves two women. Esther, a suffragette tells of her work as a suffragette, the hardships endured and imprisonments in the UK. She meets a copper (policeman) and they fall in love but she can’t tell him she is a suffragette because they are at odds with one another. Joseph finally finds out after Esther bests a copper and could once again go to jail )for 20 years). They don’t know who beat up Alf but Joseph knows it was Esther. He tells Esther she must leave London for good and never have anything to do with the suffragette movement again. Esther moves to the countryside with her friend Agnes. While there she sees how the children do not have an opportunity for schooling and starts to teach some children. She was a teacher before she went to jail the first time but lost her teaching job because of her jail time. Esther decides to stay in the countryside and open a school.
Lizzie’s husband gets into trouble at the school he is associated with and this spills over into her job as a head teacher so she decides to divorce her husband and start over somewhere else. She finds herself as head teacher at the school Esther founded. With enrollment declining and development encroaching Lizzie sets out to save the school. Lizzie meets Danny and they fall in love. At one of the council meeting to decide the fate of the school Danny arrives and gives a budget synopsis of the new development much to Lizzie’s dismay. Lizzie feels this is similar to what her Ex did to her. She refuses to have anything to do with him after that. At the next council meeting there is a surprising development. Will Lizzie and Danny find their way back to one another or will their relationship suffer the fate of Esther and Joseph? I would highly recommend this novel to fans of historical fiction. Thanks netgalley for this preview.