VANCOUVER, BC, December 28, 2012 (Press-News.org) Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper takes you back in time to the early 1960s, where we meet 16-year-old Laurel, who witnesses her mother commit an unspeakable act at her baby brother's birthday party.
Opening with such a strong plot point could make you wonder if the book will succeed in maintaining momentum, but there isn't any concern of that when Morton then plunges us back in time even further, to the unique period of World War II, when relationships, lives and decisions were all dictated by the harsh living conditions resulting from years of ongoing war. Here we get a glimpse into Laurel's mother in her early 20s, navigating love, ambition and friendships while volunteering for the war effort and witnessing and experiencing tragedy during the endless bombings in London.
The book is separated into volumes, each focusing on one character - first Laurel, then her mother Dorothy, then Vivien, Dorothy's friend in the 1940s. However, each volume still dedicates sections to each of the various protagonists, and therefore I found this volume segregation redundant and confusing. There is also a lot of jumping back and forth between the 1940s and present day England - 2011 - in which a 66-year-old Laurel is struggling to discover the truth about what really happened on that day 50 years earlier, realizing that her time is limited as her mother lies on her deathbed.
This jumping back and forth in time serves a purpose, but ultimately becomes confusing as the reader is given information that Laurel does not yet know, and thus keeping track of who knows what in which time period becomes an arduous task on its own and can distract the reader from the book's narrative.
However, the book picks up pace nicely in the final third and I struggled to put it down, staying up till 3am to finish the book off at last. The characters are well fleshed out and real, though funnily enough I found the 1940s wartime characters far more relatable and understandable than the modern-day ones - and the impact of the war is certainly felt. You do not feel as though the war was merely a backdrop, but rather a character itself in the way it impacted the outcomes of the characters' lives and perhaps even provided reasons for their actions.
While at times confusing and repetitive, this book is definitely worth a read if you're looking for a gripping whodunit combined with in-depth character and relationship depictions.
About Prompt Proofing
Prompt Proofing is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and was officially launched in 2010 by a team of editing and writing professionals who have over 40 years of experience in the education, news media, public relations and recruitment fields. Prompt Proofing prides itself on affordable services delivered with fast turnaround times, without sacrificing quality or accuracy.
Offering content writing, editing and proofreading services, Prompt Proofing takes care of your individual or business content needs. We have customers throughout North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia and Australia.
Visit our website for more information at http://www.PromptProofing.com.
We offer coupons, news and more through our social media sites:
Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/promptproofing
Like us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/promptproofing
Prompt Proofing Blog Post: Book Review - The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper takes you back in time to the early 1960s, where we meet 16-year-old Laurel, who witnesses her mother commit an unspeakable act at her baby brother's birthday party.
2012-12-28
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
How excess holiday eating disturbs your 'food clock'
2012-12-27
If the sinful excess of holiday eating sends your system into butter-slathered, brandy-soaked overload, you are not alone: People who are jet-lagged, people who work graveyard shifts and plain-old late-night snackers know just how you feel.
All these activities upset the body's "food clock," a collection of interacting genes and molecules known technically as the food-entrainable oscillator, which keeps the human body on a metabolic even keel. A new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is helping to reveal how this clock works on ...
Ultrasound diagnoses appendicitis without X-rays
2012-12-27
Children suspected of having appendicitis are more likely to receive CT scans, which involve radiation, if they are evaluated at a general hospital, a new study by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has shown.
Similar patients who went to St. Louis Children's Hospital were more often evaluated with an ultrasound scan, a safer option that uses sound waves instead of radiation to confirm or rule out the need for surgery to remove the appendix.
Use of either scanning technique can potentially reduce the occurrence of unnecessary surgeries and expedite ...
Liquid crystal research, future applications advance
2012-12-27
AMHERST, Mass. – Contributing geometric and topological analyses of micro-materials, University of Massachusetts Amherst mathematician Robert Kusner aided experimental physicists at the University of Colorado (UC) by successfully explaining the observed "beautiful and complex patterns revealed" in three-dimensional liquid crystal experiments. The work is expected to lead to creation of new materials that can be actively controlled.
Kusner is a geometer, an expert in the analysis of variational problems in low-dimensional geometry and topology, which concerns properties ...
Benefits of higher oxygen, breathing device persist after infancy
2012-12-27
By the time they reached toddlerhood, very preterm infants originally treated with higher oxygen levels continued to show benefits when compared to a group treated with lower oxygen levels, according to a follow-up study by a research network of the National Institutes of Health that confirms earlier network findings. Moreover, infants treated with a respiratory therapy commonly prescribed for adults with obstructive sleep apnea fared as well as those who received the traditional therapy for infant respiratory difficulties, the new study found.
In the original 2010 ...
Development of new corneal cell line provides powerful tool
2012-12-27
Human corneal endothelial cells (HCEnCs) form a monolayer of hexagonal cells whose main function is to maintain corneal clarity by regulating corneal hydration. Cell loss due to aging or corneal endothelial disorders, such as Fuchs dystrophy, can lead to cornea edema and blindness, resulting in the need for cornea transplants.
Studying human corneal endothelium has been difficult for cell biologists because limited cellular model systems exist and have significant drawbacks. The major drawback is that HCEnC cells do not divide and there is a limited source of these cells ...
New technique catalogs lymphoma-linked genetic variations
2012-12-27
As anyone familiar with the X-Men knows, mutants can be either very good or very bad — or somewhere in between. The same appears true within cancer cells, which may harbor hundreds of mutations that set them apart from other cells in the body; the scientific challenge has been to figure out which mutations are culprits and which are innocent bystanders. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have devised a novel approach to sorting them out: they generated random mutations in a gene associated with lymphoma, tested the proteins produced by the genes to see how they ...
Ability to metabolize tamoxifen affects breast cancer outcomes, Mayo Clinic-led study confirms
2012-12-27
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- For nearly a decade, breast cancer researchers studying the hormone therapy tamoxifen have been divided as to whether genetic differences in a liver enzyme affect the drug's effectiveness and the likelihood breast cancer will recur. A new study by researchers from the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center and the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group provides evidence that genetic differences in the enzyme CYP2D6 play a key role in how well tamoxifen works.
"Our findings confirm that, in early breast cancer treated with tamoxifen, genetic alterations ...
Immune system changes may drive aggressiveness of recurrent tumors
2012-12-27
PHILADELPHIA – Nearly half of the 700,000 cancer patients who undergo surgical removal of a primary tumor each year suffer a recurrence of their disease at some point, and many of those patients will eventually die from their disease. The traditional view of recurrent tumors is that they are resistant to therapy because they've acquired additional genetic mutations that make them more aggressive and impervious to drugs. Now, however, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania show in an animal model that the enhanced aggressiveness ...
Piranha kin wielded dental weaponry even T. rex would have admired
2012-12-27
Taking into consideration its size, an ancient relative of piranhas weighing about 20 pounds delivered a bite with a force more fierce than prehistoric whale-eating sharks, the four-ton ocean-dwelling Dunkleosteus terrelli and – even – Tyrannosaurus rex.
Besides the force of the bite, Megapiranha paranensis appears to have had teeth capable of shearing through soft tissue the way today's piranhas do, while also being able to pierce thick shells and crack armoring and bones, according to Stephanie Crofts, a University of Washington doctoral student in biology.
"If our ...
Doctors call for evidence-based appropriateness criteria for elective procedures
2012-12-27
Many of the most common inpatient surgeries in the United States are performed electively. These surgeries are expected to significantly increase with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. In a new perspectives article, published in the Dec. 27 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine, a team of Weill Cornell Medical College researchers are recommending the nation's health care leaders and medical community join forces to establish evidence-based appropriateness criteria to determine which patients are most in need of elective procedures, such as joint replacement ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
New perspective highlights urgent need for US physician strike regulations
An eye-opening year of extreme weather and climate
Scientists engineer substrates hostile to bacteria but friendly to cells
New tablet shows promise for the control and elimination of intestinal worms
Project to redesign clinical trials for neurologic conditions for underserved populations funded with $2.9M grant to UTHealth Houston
Depression – discovering faster which treatment will work best for which individual
Breakthrough study reveals unexpected cause of winter ozone pollution
nTIDE January 2025 Jobs Report: Encouraging signs in disability employment: A slow but positive trajectory
Generative AI: Uncovering its environmental and social costs
Lower access to air conditioning may increase need for emergency care for wildfire smoke exposure
Dangerous bacterial biofilms have a natural enemy
Food study launched examining bone health of women 60 years and older
CDC awards $1.25M to engineers retooling mine production and safety
Using AI to uncover hospital patients’ long COVID care needs
$1.9M NIH grant will allow researchers to explore how copper kills bacteria
New fossil discovery sheds light on the early evolution of animal nervous systems
A battle of rafts: How molecular dynamics in CAR T cells explain their cancer-killing behavior
Study shows how plant roots access deeper soils in search of water
Study reveals cost differences between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare patients in cancer drugs
‘What is that?’ UCalgary scientists explain white patch that appears near northern lights
How many children use Tik Tok against the rules? Most, study finds
Scientists find out why aphasia patients lose the ability to talk about the past and future
Tickling the nerves: Why crime content is popular
Intelligent fight: AI enhances cervical cancer detection
Breakthrough study reveals the secrets behind cordierite’s anomalous thermal expansion
Patient-reported influence of sociopolitical issues on post-Dobbs vasectomy decisions
Radon exposure and gestational diabetes
EMBARGOED UNTIL 1600 GMT, FRIDAY 10 JANUARY 2025: Northumbria space physicist honoured by Royal Astronomical Society
Medicare rules may reduce prescription steering
Red light linked to lowered risk of blood clots
[Press-News.org] Prompt Proofing Blog Post: Book Review - The Secret Keeper by Kate MortonKate Morton's The Secret Keeper takes you back in time to the early 1960s, where we meet 16-year-old Laurel, who witnesses her mother commit an unspeakable act at her baby brother's birthday party.