Secrets She Kept by Cathy Gohlke

The secret a mother was forbidden to share . . . the consequences a daughter could not redeem—but will risk everything in her attempt.

All her life, Hannah Sterling longed for a close relationship with her estranged mother. Following Lieselotte’s death, Hannah unlocks secrets of her mother’s mysterious past, including the discovery of a grandfather living in Germany.

Thirty years earlier, Lieselotte’s father, ascending the ranks of the Nazi party, demands a marriage for his daughter to help advance his career. But Lieselotte is in love—and her beloved Lukas secretly works against the Reich. How far will her father go to achieve his goal?

Both Hannah’s and Lieselotte’s stories unfold as Hannah travels to Germany to meet her grandfather, who hides wartime secrets of his own. Longing for connection, yet shaken by all she uncovers, Hannah must decide if she can atone for her family’s tragic past, and how their legacy will shape her future.

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About The Author

Cathy Gohlke is the two-time Christy Award–winning author of the critically acclaimed novels Secrets She Kept, Saving Amelie, Band of Sisters, Promise Me This (listed by Library Journal as one of the best books of 2012), William Henry Is a Fine Name, and I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires (listed by Library Journal as one of the best books of 2008), which also won the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year Award.
Cathy has worked as a school librarian, drama director, and director of children’s and education ministries. When not traipsing the hills and dales of historic sites, she, her husband, and their dog, Reilly, divide their time between Northern Virginia and their home on the Jersey Shore.


My Review

What an emotional book, from beginning to end, and the worst of it, is that it could all be true. What a horrible time for mankind, and although part of the book takes place in the 1970’s, we spend a lot of time in Hitler’s Germany.

When the book opens you never expect all that is about to happen, and Hannah’s Aunt is really not forth coming with any information. So when she opens a strong box and finds letters from Germany, she is about to open a way to family, and horror.

I will tell you that once I started reading this, I could not put it down, it is an amazing story, and one everyone needs to remember. Hannah’s worlds are about to collide in answering a lot of questions about her parents, and why Lieselotte, her mother, was rather distant with her. I would never imagine!

With all the secrets, that make her sick, she has to deal with the hardest of all, Forgiveness. I loved the author putting one of my most admired woman in this story, and knew that parts of this is really a true story, so in the end this is fiction based on fact.

How did people fall under the spell of that monster, and yet it happens as history starts to repeat itself, and in the name of religion.

A must read, and a story that will linger with you for a long time.

I received this book through Net Galley and Tyndale House Publisher, and was not required to give a positive review.