All My Secrets. Lynn Austin. 2024. 400 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: Adelaide Stanhope sat at her father's graveside, as still and upright as the surrounding tombstones.
All My Secrets is a generational historical romance (of sorts). The stories of a daughter, mother, and grandmother are interwoven. The story unfolds in a series of storytelling flashbacks--a revealing of past secrets. The three women are at a crossroads (of sorts). Difficult choices remain to be made. Will they fight to keep their mansion and their lifestyle even if it comes at great personal cost? Sylvia wants her daughter, Adelaide, to marry for money--and quickly--before the rumors start to spread of their change of fortune. Junietta wants her granddaughter, Adelaide, to choose a different path, a different life, to hold out on marrying until she falls head over heels in love. Junietta sees the dangers of wealth. It comes with great responsibility, but it corrupts and taints. Adelaide spends time listening to her mother AND listening to her grandmother. What will she decide? And how will she feel about the secrets of her mother and grandmother?
I don't always love stories told from multiple points of view. But I found all three narrators (and their stories) compelling--for the most part. The setting is New York in the nineteenth century. The "present" day is 1898/1899. The past occurs many decades before--also in New York.
Faith does play a role in the story but not in a stuffy way.
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