The Secrets Between Us by Louise Douglas


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm reviewing this book as part of the Transworld reading challenge 2011.

The Blurb:

A chance encounter: When Sarah meets dark, brooding Alex,she grasps his offer of a new life miles away from her own. They’ve both recently escaped broken relationships, and need to start again. Why not do it together?


A perfect life: But when Sarah gets to the tiny village of Burrington Stoke, something doesn’t add up. Alex’s beautiful wife Genevieve was charming, talented, and adored by all who knew her. And apparently, she and Alex had a successful marriage complete with a gorgeous son, Jamie. Why would Genevieve walk out on her perfect life? And why has no one heard from her since she did so?


A web of lies: Genevieve’s family and all her friends think that Alex knows more about her disappearance than he’s letting on. But Sarah’s fallen in love with him and just knows he couldn’t have anything to hide. Or could he?The story is about Alex and Sarah who meet in Sicily, Sarah has just been through a traumatic time; she has had a stillborn baby boy and her boyfriend Laurie cheated on her with one of her friends. Alex’s wife Genevieve has walked out on him and their young son Jamie. Alex is not coping with looking after Jamie / working / keeping the home clean and offers Sarah a job, which she accepts. She moves from Manchester to a small village called Burrington Stoke to be Jamie’s nanny and Alex’s house-keeper, with the promise of more.


When Sarah arrives in Burrington Stoke she faces a lot of hostility from everyone in the village, Genevieve came from a wealthy family and was extremely liked. Sarah finds herself torn from wanting to care for Jamie and to be Alex’s lover but she wants to find out the truth of what has happened to Genevieve and if she can truely trust Alex.


This was the first book I had read from Louise Douglas so I had no expectation of what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, there are comparisons to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. I kind of guessed quite early on how the story was going to end, but it didn’t spoil it. Great read, would highly recommend it 4/5.


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