Secrets Mothers Keep
Secrets Mothers Keep traces how three lives are entwined. A young English boy with learning difficulties and the precursors of mental illness, learns to cope with his 'black moods' and poor social skills. He faces numerous challenges and finds support and strategies that enable him to survive. Finally an event makes him crack.
A brutal murder occurs on an isolated farm in the 1920s in Western Australia and the victim's wife and children are violently abused, scandalising the whole country. The killer has no apparent motivation but admits his guilt and the abused wife has to rebuild her shattered life.
Some Secrets Should Not Be Shared
Lilly is a feminist with a strong social conscience; the novel follows
her life and her loves until she marries her eminently capable partner
Harold. Harold is murdered and Lilly and her children are subject to
horrific abuse. The resultant infamy of the case threatens her
reputation and her core values. Her strong convictions lead her to
respond in a most unlikely manner. The interplay of characters combine
to create a story reflecting the values of their time in history but
with themes which still resonate today.
Clifford Hulme
The Back Story...
In 2012, Linda's husband Mike found out that his grandfather had been brutally murdered. 'Secrets Mothers Keep' is the fictionalised account of what led to this event and the impact that this horrific occurrence had on the people involved.>Mike had always been told that his grandfather died in an airplane crash, a hero performing his duty in the First World War.
The reality was that he had been shot in the back by a trusted employee in Wubin, Western Australia, ten years after the war had ended. The murderer had also brutally abused his wife and the three children.
Linda has now brought this story to the public, a fascinating labyrinth of deception and misunderstandings but interspersed with wonderful acts of humanity and kindness. 'This is an amazing story and right from the beginning I wanted to research and understand not only what occurred but why it happened to such a lovely, apparently normal family. Our own involvement in it led to our initial interest but the more we explored the more we uncovered a spellbinding yarn; the radically different understanding and treatment of the mentally ill in that era, created this situation. The murderer today may have received treatment so perhaps this event would not have happened and my husband's family's history would have been radically altered.'
'I was also horrified when I read about the graphic reporting of the crime in the newspapers of the day. In 1928, these publications put our worst scandal rags into perspective, they invaded every aspect of the victim's privacy. The morality of reporting the exact truth, despite the devastating effect on a victim, is a theme that still resonates in every reporter's mind today.'
>'So after seeing the very public exposure of a very private humiliation, I can better appreciate why the story was kept hidden and not talked about. The strict morality of the time and the shame of the abuse led to the family weaving a fabric of subterfuge to keep the story quiet. Now, nearly one hundred years on, I feel that this amazing tale needs to be told. Our state has been built by inspirational people and often these people were responding to events they did not choose. Secrets Mothers Keep tells the story of some of these amazing pioneers.'
So please purchase and enjoy Secrets Mothers Keep.
