Secrets She Left Behind by Diana Chamberlain: (2010-07-27) 
If you're looking for a book that will take you on an emotional roller-coaster, then look no further. "Secrets She Left Behind" by Diana Chamerlain is an emotionally moving novel that looks at family relationships...and dysfunctions! The back blurb is pretty accurate so I won't repeat the general plotline except to say that Ms. Chamberlain always, ALWAYS manages to provide a twist that most readers never see coming. Her 'families' don't usually meet the two-parent-2.5-children model. Instead, they have pasts and issues that continue to effect changes in their daily life...and their relationships.

As normal for this author, her setting and pacing are beautiful. The story flows and it doesn't take long to find yourself immersed in the world of this family with their many problems. Indeed, if nothing else, you can read it and be thankful that your family has (hopefully) so much less to deal with!! But it's still a beautiful, if heart-wrenching, story that will doesn't tug on your emotions...it yanks them...hard.

Enjoyed thoroughly: (2010-07-06) 
Initially I found the character-jumping format annoying. This did not last for long and it was actually easy to follow the the story as it drifted along and even flashed back. This approach allows the reader to "get to know" each character--moms, siblings, cousin. The story dramatically outlines the human flaws of each character as well as the consequences of their choices and actions. Each character finds varying degrees of empathy on the journey.
Life, selfishness, mental illness and geography bring Sara and Laurel together. Their initial bond is sealed more with guilt but it sets in place a journey filled with love and tragedy. Fetal alcohol syndrome, physical and emotional handicaps, self-absorbed decisionmaking, the fair/unfair twists in life, and the binding love of family hold this story together. Definitely read this one. It is the first novel I have read by Diane Chamberlain but I will be picking up some of her other work now.

Intricate plot: (2010-06-18) 
Secrets She Left Behind had me staying up late in the night hanging onto every word.
This novel takes place on an island where a woman's history is deeply intertwined with a man and other women. I fell in love with the characters and I cried laugh and cried along with them.
The characters were cleverly crafted and aside from a few nuances, they were amazing. Jen, a girl later presented in the book was a puzzling character and she really helped drive the story. There were many subplots that kept it moving it along.
Although the different point of views were annoying at first, it really gave me a personal view into each person's life and how it connected with everyone else's.
A great writer who knows how to keep the reader hooked.

So Much Dysfunction: (2010-06-16) 
I definitely see how Diane Chamberlain has earned her reputation as the Jody Picoult of the south. In fact, in some ways I think Chamberlain's writing is more complex and well-plotted than Picoult's.

This book could have been a flop in the hands of a less adept writer. It's not only told from multiple points of view, it also jumps back and forward in time. The combination of these two elements could've created a jumbled mess, but Chamberlain handles it easily, and it actually gels to make a compelling flow as suspense builds.

The book starts with 19-year-old Maggie Lockwood coming out of prison after serving a 12-month sentence for arson, which led to the death of three people and the injury of multiple more -- including her half-brother. The book follows her family's and the community's reaction to her re-entry into their midst. Along the way, Maggie must learn to forgive herself.

But the dysfunction made me feel like I was reading a script of All My Children. Multiple infidelities. Alcoholism leading to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Missing people. Drug addiction. Arson. Obsessive love. Attempted murder. On and on and on... As much as I want to believe in the redemptive power of love (and fiction) I don't believe the characters in this book are going to make it out the other side.

The past won't go away quietly: (2010-06-05) 

Have you ever come fifteen minutes late to a meeting and spent the next hour and three quarters trying to fill in the blanks? Missed the introductions and the part where the chairperson summed up the situation to date? That's the feeling I had with Secrets She Left Behind. There seemed an odd lack of back-story and the characters knew each other's history while I was scrambling to figure it out. At last I realized that this book is a sequel, which had not been apparent from the editorial notes I read before ordering.

With that knowledge on board I just inferred what I could and took the story at face value. Maggie Lockwood, age 19, is being released from prison after a one-year incarceration for arson. Seventeen-year-old Keith, her half-brother, is badly scarred and in chronic pain from injuries he sustained in the fire. Keith's mother Sara (who is Maggie's mother Laurel's former best friend) goes to the store and doesn't come back. Keith nurtures his hatred of Maggie and manages on his own, but badly. Maggie's younger brother Andy, whose personality is clouded by fetal alcohol syndrome, is just trying to grow up with no more disasters in his life.

There are many more twists to the family relationships than I can possibly share here without giving the story away--but this is a story about passions of the past spreading misery to the next generation. Can Laurel's honesty about her troubled past bring redemption to her daughter and damaged son? Can she find happiness with her dead husband's brother who was a part of that troubled past? Will the truth about Keith's past heal his pain? What happened to Sara and will she be reunited with her son?

Author Diane Chamberlain's writing is absorbing and clear. She uses the voices of Maggie, Keith and Andy to tell their stories in alternating chapters, interspersed with sections from the missing Sara's journals drip-feeding the past to us. This alternating-narrator technique is quite popular and often effective, but in this case with one of the four narrators writing from the past, I found that it broke the pace of the story. In spite of that, once I understood the context of the book it was a good read--though disconcertingly complex and not served well by the ending which was too tidily wrapped up for my taste.

Read the first book first (Before The Storm). In fact, if you have a lazy vacation planned, take them both along. Read them while you're away from real life and can suspend your disbelief. You'll be entertained in an unchallenging way, and you can decide for yourself if everyone gets what they deserve. Three and a half stars.

Linda Bulger, 2010