From the bestselling author of The Double Bind, Midwives, and Skeletons at the Feast comes a novel of shattered faith, intimate secrets, and the delicate nature of sacrifice.
"There," says Alice Hayward to Reverend Stephen Drew, just after her baptism, and just before going home to the husband who will kill her that evening and then shoot himself. Drew, tortured by the cryptic finality of that short utterance, feels his faith in God slipping away and is saved from despair only by a meeting with Heather Laurent, the author of wildly successful, inspirational books about . . . angels.
Heather survived a childhood that culminated in her own parents' murder-suicide, so she identifies deeply with Alice’s daughter, Katie, offering herself as a mentor to the girl and a shoulder for Stephen – who flees the pulpit to be with Heather and see if there is anything to be salvaged from the spiritual wreckage around him. But then the State's Attorney begins to suspect that Alice's husband may not have killed himself. . .and finds out that Alice had secrets only her minister knew.
Secrets of Eden is both a haunting literary thriller and a deeply evocative testament to the inner complexities that mark all of our lives. Once again Chris Bohjalian has given us a riveting page-turner in which nothing is precisely what it seems. As one character remarks, “Believe no one. Trust no one. Assume all of our stories are suspect.”
Awful! Completely predictable, oddly crude, filled with drivel about angels that seems to have no real purpose and a load of completely unlikeable characters. If I hadn't paid money for it, I wouldn't have finished. A total waste of time. ( )
Every time I read Bohjalian it is like discovering a new author. No two books are alike and, with the exception of one, I have not been disappointed. From the first line, I found myself immersed in this story and a desire to see beneath the surface of Pastor Stephen Drew and to unravel this mystery. ( )
Read this book after I got it at the library book club. They were talking about Hunger Games, loved it, and then they passed around this book for the next meeting. It was okay, I read "Midwives" by the same author. This one was about an abusive marriage, which is always depressing. The woman gets killed and then they try to solve what actually happened. I thought the most interesting character was the pastor that the woman was having an affair with. I found his break of faith really well thought out and very human. I probably won't attend the book club to chat this one up... ( )
Small town Vermont is rocked by the tragic murder of a wife at the hands of her abusive husband, and his suicide after murdering her.
There is a history of abuse. The minister of the local church is very aware of the circumstances. Yet, the author does not choose to have this character report or intervene.
Slow to read, at times I wanted to skip ahead. The minister flees his congregation, and finds a relationship with a woman who writes books about angels. This seems to be thrown into the story without a common thread.
Disappointing because I've read other books written by the author. This was a dud. ( )
Fans of Bohjalian's 11 other novels (including Midwives) know to expect the unexpected and, thanks to his creativity and cunning, readers usually get walloped by one heck of a plot twist by book's end.
In Secrets of Eden, the old saw that none of us knows what really goes on in a house when the shades are drawn rings chillingly true.
But for sorrow there is no remedy provided by nature; it is often occasioned by accidents irreparable, and dwells upon objects that have lost or changed their existence; it requires what it cannot hope, that the laws of the universe should be repealed; that the dead should return, or the past should be recalled. -- Samuel Johnson
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. - - Genesis 2:24-25
From the bestselling author of The Double Bind, Midwives, and Skeletons at the Feast comes a novel of shattered faith, intimate secrets, and the delicate nature of sacrifice.
"There," says Alice Hayward to Reverend Stephen Drew, just after her baptism, and just before going home to the husband who will kill her that evening and then shoot himself. Drew, tortured by the cryptic finality of that short utterance, feels his faith in God slipping away and is saved from despair only by a meeting with Heather Laurent, the author of wildly successful, inspirational books about . . . angels.
Heather survived a childhood that culminated in her own parents' murder-suicide, so she identifies deeply with Alice’s daughter, Katie, offering herself as a mentor to the girl and a shoulder for Stephen – who flees the pulpit to be with Heather and see if there is anything to be salvaged from the spiritual wreckage around him. But then the State's Attorney begins to suspect that Alice's husband may not have killed himself. . .and finds out that Alice had secrets only her minister knew.
Secrets of Eden is both a haunting literary thriller and a deeply evocative testament to the inner complexities that mark all of our lives. Once again Chris Bohjalian has given us a riveting page-turner in which nothing is precisely what it seems. As one character remarks, “Believe no one. Trust no one. Assume all of our stories are suspect.”
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