I have a little confession to make- yes yet another one. Although I have several of Kitty’s books on my ever increasing ‘to be read’ mountain, I haven’t actually read one before……until now that is. When I was invited to take part in the blog tour for ‘A Mother’s Secret’, I thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to get to know Kitty’s work. Having enjoyed reading ‘A Mother’s Secret’ as much as I did, I am now rather cross at myself for leaving it this long to realise just how flipping fantastic Kitty Neale is. I absolutely adored reading ‘A Mother’s Secret’ but more about that in a bit.
I absolutely loved the character of Winnie Berry, who is the landlady at the ‘Battersea Tavern’, and I warmed to her from the start. In fact it didn’t take me long to feel as though she had become a friend of mine. Winnie certainly sounds like the sort of person I could see myself sharing a cup of tea with and having a darn good gossip. Winnie is married although her husband is a bit handy with the fists and he dodges work when he can. Winnie has one son called David, who quite frankly needs a kick up the backside quickly followed by a few dozen slaps across the face with a wet flip flop. Without giving too much away, he is devious, highly manipulative and he expects handouts from his mother whenever he wants money, which is almost daily. Winnie has a big heart and tries to keep everybody happy. She’s supportive to those who need it and once she takes you under her wing, she will always look out for you. ‘A Mother’s Secret’ takes Winnie on one hell of an emotional journey. What happens? Well you will have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
To say that reading ‘A Mother’s Secret’ became addictive is a bit of an understatement. I made the fatal mistake of starting to read ‘A Mother’s Secret’ shortly before I went to bed. Let’s just say that I read into the wee small hours of the following morning and I had a distinct ‘lack of sleep’ hangover the following morning. I didn’t care though. This was one of those books that stayed on my mind whether I had it in my hand or not. If I wasn’t reading the book, I was thinking about the book and if I had to put the book to one side for any length of time then I would immediately look forward to being able to pick the book up again. I had my own theories as to what was going to happen so I had to see if I was anywhere near the truth or if I was way off the mark. I couldn’t turn the pages quick enough as I raced my way to the end of the book. I found ‘A Mother’s Secret’ to be the true definition of an unputdownable page turner of a read. I was gripped by the story from start to finish and I loved every minute of it.
‘A Mother’s Secret’ is superbly written. The author certainly knows how to grab your attention from the start and draws you into what proves to be one hell of a compelling story. For me, the story hit the ground running and maintained a fast pace throughout. I felt as though I was part of the story myself and at the heart of all the action, which is thanks to Kitty’s very realistic and vivid storytelling. I always think that a sign of a good book is when I get far too involved with the story. Well I certainly got involved with ‘A Mother’s Secret’. I found that as I was reading, I would say random comments out loud about what I would like to say to certain characters if I could catch up with them- the main one being David.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘A Mother’s Secret’ and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. I would go so far as to say that ‘A Mother’s Secret’ is one of my top ten reads of 2021. I will definitely be reading more of Kitty’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

So as soon as I finished my last book I could not wait to dive into A Mother's Secret! This is a book that has been staring me down for a long time and one that I knew no matter what I would enjoy.

Battersea Tavern is run by Winnie & Brian, but it is Winnie doing most of the running around. She was a wonderful character, someone who was there for everyone no matter what and listened to everyone. They was also her son David who could be exasperating but also very endearing. But he does cause his mum a lot of grief and definitely should have had more responsibility.

But one day Winnie receives a shock when a stranger comes to her doorstep and brings her past - and her secrets! - to the present. I do not want to spoil this for anyone but I loved the secrecy and mystery of it all. It was this story line that really kept me hooked on the book.

However, there are a lot of secrets in A Mother's Secret, ones that only a mother could know. And as they are slowly revealed throughout they will shock you. Repeatedly.

I also can't speak enough of Winnie, she is definitely one of my favourite characters, terrified of what the break out of War means for her family and pub, trying to look after her son. To do best even when it was hard. And then there are the other ladies of the book - Rachel, Jane and Hilda - whom you can just pull up a stool and have a chat with.

This is a moving tale of love, hope and family and one book. I cannot wait to see the next instalment of this series. But for now I have passed this book to my own mum as I know she will love it!