Here are 99 books that The Art of Keeping Secrets fans have personally recommended if you like
The Art of Keeping Secrets.
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I’ve loved everything that has to do with writing all my life. My mother was a best-selling children’s book author, my father wrote a best-selling book about the music business, and writing was central to how I grew up. All the books on my list have to do with writers, whether they’re writing memoirs, novels, interviews, or keeping a diary. My passion for books about writers extends to having written Great Adaptations: Screenwriting and Global Storytelling (Routledge – 2nd place winner, 2019 International Writers Awards), but these books all had me hooked regardless of whether they made good movies. I love books – especially these!
What I loved about Bridget Jones’s Diary was the fun that its author had in writing a book that plays with the themes, characters, and some of the plot points of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
It’s wonderful when a writer knows her literary history and is comfortable enough to let us enjoy its evolution and laugh at it. Having lost 30 pounds in the last couple of years, I can honestly say that I appreciate a writer who not only references Jane Austen, but can write with wit and candor.
This was such an entertaining read, especially in its casual format – diary entries kept by a working woman who wants to lose weight. I also enjoyed the 2001 movie.
A dazzlingly urban satire on modern relationships? An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family? Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something?
As Bridget documents her struggles through the social minefield of her thirties and tries to weigh up the eternal question (Daniel Cleaver or Mark Darcy?), she turns for support to four indispensable friends: Shazzer, Jude, Tom and a bottle of chardonnay.
Welcome to Bridget's first diary: mercilessly funny, endlessly touching and utterly addictive.
Helen Fielding's first Bridget Jones novel, Bridget Jones's Diary, sparked a phenomenon that has seen…
Every picture tells a story, but it’s not always the one we expect or remember. Christmas Actually is a festive drama about family and forgiveness and a snapshot of modern family life, addressing Instagram to motherhood and everything in between.
Why Christmas? My publisher wanted my new novel to have…
Ever since I was a young girl, I have fallen deeply into the pages of novels that feature strong female characters, with Anne of Green Gables and Little Women capturing my imagination early. As an Australian, I’ve also always enjoyed books set here but anywhere where I can walk in a relatable character's shoes is fine by me. The magical experience of being immersed in ‘her’ world, feeling what she feels, relating to her, being frustrated with her, celebrating with her, loving with her…what are books if not gifting us such experiences? Every book I have penned has been based on this ideal, an intimate experience, a close relationship. A BFF.
The Three Miss Allens is a book I immediately immersed myself in and didn’t finish into the early hours of the morning. ‘Unputdownable’ is certainly true in this case. The story follows the lives of the three Allen sisters in 1934, Ruby, Clara, and Adeline, then jumps forward in time eighty-two years to the lives of three different women, including Roma, Ruby’s great-granddaughter. Both time periods are set in the sleepy, seaside town of Remarkable Bay. Mystery and intrigue are central to the plot, however it’s the underlying sense of je vu that really intrigued me. A thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating read with strong women I could really relate to.
From a bestselling Australian author comes a compelling narrative set in the 1930s and modern-day South Australia.
How much of who we are is destiny and how much chance?
In 1934, the three Miss Allens – Ruby, Adeline and Clara – arrive in the seaside town of Remarkable Bay for their annual summer holiday. It's the last time they'll spend summers as a family. Adeline is engaged, Ruby is weighing up an offer, and Clara is just eighteen and about to start her life. But by summer's end, the lives they have known will change irrevocably and a mysterious…
Ever since I was a young girl, I have fallen deeply into the pages of novels that feature strong female characters, with Anne of Green Gables and Little Women capturing my imagination early. As an Australian, I’ve also always enjoyed books set here but anywhere where I can walk in a relatable character's shoes is fine by me. The magical experience of being immersed in ‘her’ world, feeling what she feels, relating to her, being frustrated with her, celebrating with her, loving with her…what are books if not gifting us such experiences? Every book I have penned has been based on this ideal, an intimate experience, a close relationship. A BFF.
This book is the perfect read for a rainy day and I quickly fell in love with the main female protagonist, Georgina. Spirited, brave, and a bit foolhardy, she fulfills all the hopes you might have for a heroine in a historical romance, yet she will surprise you too. The river settings in Australia’s southeastern river belt in the 1890s are pure escapism and leave plenty of scope for adventure. Highly recommended.
A fast-paced historical romance adventure, set on the mighty Murray River in the 1890s with a flawed but loveable heroine.
1890s, River Murray, Northern Victoria
Georgina Calthorpe is unhappy living with her indifferent foster family the MacHenry's in their crumbling house on the banks of the River Murray.
Unlike the rest of the family, she isn't looking forward to the return of prodigal son Dane. With good reason. Dane MacHenry is furious when on his return he finds his homestead in grave decline. Unaware that his father has been drinking his way through his inheritance, he blames Georgina and…
The Pact is a contemporary fiction novel about Australian sisters, Samantha and Annie, who are doubles tennis champions. This story amplifies the usual sibling issues and explores their professional partnership and personal relationships – similarities, differences, motivation, competition, abandonment, and grief – and how they each respond to the stress…
Ever since I was a young girl, I have fallen deeply into the pages of novels that feature strong female characters, with Anne of Green Gables and Little Women capturing my imagination early. As an Australian, I’ve also always enjoyed books set here but anywhere where I can walk in a relatable character's shoes is fine by me. The magical experience of being immersed in ‘her’ world, feeling what she feels, relating to her, being frustrated with her, celebrating with her, loving with her…what are books if not gifting us such experiences? Every book I have penned has been based on this ideal, an intimate experience, a close relationship. A BFF.
Yes, she is one of ‘the’ Moriartys, and this surprise shift away from her usual young adult fiction works is more than worthy of her famous surname. This book is sublime, whimsical, dreamy, chatty, fun, sad, joyous, and all with a sense of surreality that you strangely and completely enjoy. I found myself swept away as the lead character, Abigail, seeks to find answers to the tragedy that has haunted her since she was young and oh, how I walked that path with her. The strange retreat she is on will keep you guessing and the sweetness of her story will stay with you long after the final page.
'Author Jaclyn is the sister of Liane Moriarty (Big Little Lies) and has the same talent for great plots. This unusual novel tugs at the heartstrings.' - Good Housekeeping
Twenty years ago, Abigail Sorenson's brother Robert went missing one day before her sixteenth birthday, never to be seen again. That same year, she began receiving scattered chapters in the mail from a mysterious guidebook, whose anonymous authors promised to make her life soar to heights beyond her wildest dreams.
These missives have remained a constant in Abi's life - a befuddling yet oddly comforting…
I am and have always been fascinated with supernatural creatures, particularly if they have horns and dwell in the dark swamps of wooded hinterlands. I spent a greater part of my childhood in the African bush. A formative experience was the day an isangoma(witchdoctor) cast knuckle bones at me in a particularly energetic frenzy. Rather than being scared, I was fascinated by the power these little bones had to command spirits and creatures I had only seen in my nightmares. An obsession was born.
One word: Mr. Jitters. After her filmmaker dad is attacked and nearly killed in New York City, Lola Nox is sent to live with the grandmother she’s never met in an eerie town called Harrow Lake, the shooting location of her dad’s most iconic horror movie. But Harrow Lake is a sinister little town full of strange legends and the locals seem determined to keep it that way. With disappearances that the police shove under the rug and now a ghostly presence that has started following her everywhere, Lola is about to meet the thing that keeps this backwater little town in its firm, creepy grip. This novel reminded me of everything brilliant in The Babadook and Mr. Jitters might even give him a run for his money.
A must-have thriller that will keep you gripped, keep you guessing, and keep you up all night.
"A captivating and creeping mystery full of brilliantly twisting turns and dark secrets. You will race through this chilling, thrilling book." --Holly Jackson, bestselling author of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Lola Nox is the daughter of a celebrated horror filmmaker--she thinks nothing can scare her.
But when her father is brutally attacked in their New York apartment, she's quickly packed off to live with a grandmother she's never met in Harrow Lake, the eerie town where her father's most iconic horror…
I’m a writer, and an enthusiastic reader, of crime fiction. And although I love dark fiction, I’ve realised that subtle humour is the spice that takes a book to the next level for me. Whether it’s a turn of phrase that makes me guiltily cheer along or an interaction with a partner or colleague that makes me wince with recognition, I love dark books that make me smile! These are some of my favourites – I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
I should perhaps be concerned about how much I liked the main character in C.J.Skuse’s Sweetpea given that she’s a murdering psychopath. She’s very normal on the surface but, oh the things she does to men who follow women on dark canal paths… I’m sure we’ve all had little fantasies about doing the same (I hope it’s not just me). She’s rude, funny, and extremely violent!
'If you like your thrillers darkly comic and outrageous this ticks all the boxes' The Sun
The last person who called me 'Sweetpea' ended up dead...
'I haven't killed anyone for three years and I thought that when it happened again I'd feel bad. Like an alcoholic taking a sip of whisky. But no. Nothing. I had a blissful night's sleep. Didn't wake up at all. And for once, no bad dream either. This morning I feel balanced. Almost sane, for once.'
Rhiannon is your average girl next door, settled with her boyfriend and little dog...but she's got…
I’ve been fascinated with the paranormal since I was a little girl and used to talk to the old lady on the edge of my bed. That old lady turned out to be my grandma, who had passed when I was in my mother’s womb. My entire family is touched by the curiosity and love that comes with the paranormal, so much so my mother is a working psychic medium. For years, I have spent every birthday attending haunted houses with a paranormal team to “investigate.” For some strange reason, I love to be terrified, and I fear I will never stop chasing the thrill.
I felt like I was on the Truman Show reading this book. With every page turned I knew something was wrong, that something odd was happening but I couldn’t have ever thought in my wildest dreams that what was occurring was the plot twist.
As I found out what was happening along with the main characters, I was shocked.
This book truly made me feel like I was reading a YA version of Don’t Worry Darling, the movie.
Their lives are a lie. Their memories may not be real. A new young adult psychological thriller by #1 NYT bestselling author, Kelley Armstrong.
Blythe and her friends — Gabrielle, and brother and sister Tucker and Tanya — have always been a tight friend group, attending a local high school and falling in and out of love with each other. But an act of violence has caused a rift between Blythe and Tucker . . . and unexpected bursts of aggression and disturbing nightmares have started to become more frequent in their lives.
I’ve been an avid reader since I was a kid. Werewolf books have always called to me, and so has the moon—but that’s another story. Ha! In all honestly, I love the sense of loyalty and family that comes with werewolves and their packs. Family means a lot to me, and that bleeds over into the type of stories I write. I’ve been an Indie Author for over 10 years now with 50+ books under my belt. I have a passion for writing about shifters of all types (including werewolves), small towns, and romance.
Werewolves on the Titanic. I know. It sounds crazy, but I’m telling you it works. I was so engrossed in this story! I was skeptical about how the author would blend the tragedy, the historical time period, and werewolves together but she pulled it off exceptionally. I loved Tess and Alec. The last section of the book had me on the edge of my seat because I knew (as we all do) that the Titanic was about to sink.
A tragic tale of falling in love aboard the Titanic as heroine, Tess, discovers darker secrets lying beneath the doomed crossing... and a hidden brotherhood threatens to tear her lover from her forever.
The RMS Titanic is the most luxurious ship ever built, but for eighteen-year-old Tess Davies it's a prison. Travelling as a maid for the family she has served for years, Tess is trapped in their employ amid painful memories and family secrets.
When she meets Alec, a handsome upper class passenger, Tess falls helplessly in love. But Alec has secrets of his own... and soon…
I’ve always been fascinated with the first-person voice, the way it magically pulls us into a story through the character’s/narrator’s perspective, and how when done well, can feel so natural and personal. I’ve tried to write in this perspective over the years, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. I hope I have done it adequately with this current novel. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert when it comes to the first-person, but I am an interested participant. I am a creative writing professor, but I am also a student of writing and always will be. The more I investigate, the more I read, the more I learn. Focusing on this topic has been no exception.
There such an intimate sense of discovery in this novel, narrated by Linda, a teenage girl taken under the wing of a strange family.
Linda guides us through this natural world, the cold woods of Minnesota, both mysterious and beautiful. Her simple descriptions of place always build on a subtle sense of dread in her voice, “The sky between the branches looked like sunburn. It was twenty minutes through the snow and sumac before the dogs heard me and started braying against their chains.”
Linda’s is a vulnerable first-person voice, not in command of her world, but constantly open to its possibilities, for better or worse. As authentic as it gets.
"So delicately calibrated and precisely beautiful that one might not immediately sense the sledgehammer of pain building inside this book. And I mean that in the best way. What powerful tension and depth this provides!" Aimee Bender
Fourteen-year-old Linda lives with her parents in the beautiful, austere woods of northern Minnesota, where their nearly abandoned commune stands as a last vestige of a lost counter-culture world. Isolated at home and an outlander at school, Linda is drawn to the enigmatic, attractive Lily and new history teacher Mr. Grierson. When Mr. Grierson is charged with possessing child pornography, the implications of…
As a psychologist who writes psychological suspense I love reading similar books where other writers bring their knowledge of psychology to their craft. Aside from writing, I enjoy cryptic puzzles, and I find that reading crime and suspense novels exercises similar lateral thinking as I try to identify the red herrings and work out the twist. And don’t we all love it when we get it right? But if you’re like me, you get an even bigger buzz when you’ve been fooled by a clever misdirection or plot twist. And gosh, are they fun to write!
The opening of the book hooked me as it was written from the perspective of a psychotherapist and was very true to life. However, there were other sections written from the therapist’s perspective which seemed a bit ‘off’. This puzzled me as the author clearly understood the therapeutic relationship. But eventually, it became clear why these excerpts bore little relationship to my own training and the behavior of the psychotherapists I know! You will have to read the book to find out.
This novel has creepy elements as the couple begin to feel watched in their new home, a frightening situation that is easy to imagine. The tension ratchets up when the protagonist discovers that the previous owner – a therapist called Nina – had been murdered there. And her husband had known all along but not told her.
The multimillion-copy New York Times bestselling author B.A. Paris returns to her heartland of gripping psychological suspense in The Therapist―a powerful tale of a house that holds a shocking secret.
When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive…
As Alice is getting to know her neighbours, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before.
Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together…
