Ruth Ellis: My Sister's Secret Life

Ruth Ellis: My Sister's Secret Life
Author: Muriel Jakubait
Publisher: Constable
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2012-11-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1472106946

The secret double-life of Ruth Ellis and the Establishment cover-up that led to her unjust hanging Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, was convicted fifty years ago for shooting her lover David Blakely. The case became a notorious part of British criminal history and was turned into the film, Dance with a Stranger. The story that has been perpetuated ever since is that of a peroxide tart who killed in a fit of passion. Yet, crucial questions were left unasked in the original trial. Ruth Ellis's sister, Muriel Jakubait, knew her longest of all. She has never given up her search for justice. Now after fifty years she has decided to reveal the hard facts about their shared upbringing, and seek to piece together the full true story of her sister. As she is at pains to point out, the jealous killer tag has never been substantiated. This is a story of power, espionage, lies, loyalty, poverty, sex and betrayal. It suggests a third man may have pulled the trigger for the fatal shots. And that he belonged to a web of espionage into which Ruth Ellis fell long before the shooting. Above all, it indicates that Ruth was being run by Stephen Ward, at least a decade before his name became public in the Profumo Scandal. Muriel's motive is about more than proving her sister Ruth's innocence. It's about reclaiming the right to tell the story of her own family, stripped bare of the many tabloid myths that have accrued over the decades. She shows that Ruth was somebody damaged at a very early age - who strove to make something of herself, only to be caught up in something much bigger and end up paying with her life.

The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2003-01-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780142001745

The multi-million bestselling novel about a young girl's journey towards healing and the transforming power of love, from the award-winning author of The Invention of Wings and The Book of Longings Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted Black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina—a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of Black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.

Her Sister's Secret

Her Sister's Secret
Author: S.E. Lynes
Publisher: Bookouture
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2021-07-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1800195206

‘WOW!!!… Will keep you on the edge of your seat to the final stunning ending!!… To say I loved this book is an understatement! This book is why I read thrillers! Kept me so captivated… A stunner!’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Why would you pretend your life is a dream when you’re living a nightmare? I thought my sister was happy. I thought what we all thought: that Annie and Dom led perfect lives in a lovely cottage in a quiet village by the sea, with flowers at the front gate and an apple tree in the garden. Everyone knew them: generous, loving Dom, creative, joyful Annie. But I never saw Annie as she sat waiting for Dom well into the night. I didn’t see her smiling through her tears. I didn’t know what the perfect couple were hiding. So when sirens break the silence of the night and flames rise against the dark sky, and I get the call I never expected, I’m left with a simple burning question: who was to blame? A brilliantly twisty tale of family secrets and the darkness that can lie behind closed doors, Her Sister’s Secret will keep you turning the pages till the final devastating revelation. Fans of Lisa Jewell, Gillian Flynn and Louise Candlish will love it. See what everyone’s saying about Her Sister’s Secret: ‘AMAZING… Susie Lynes is the one to blame for the bags under my eyes, for me being unable to focus on work because all I want to do is get back to reading… and for the palpitations in my heart as once again she spun her magical writing web and trapped me inside the pages!… Totally off the scale star rating for me!’ Chapter in my Life, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Incredible… Will stay with me for a loooooong time. Fantastic, Intense, Gripping, Phenomenal!!!!!!!… I loved it.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Suspense, secrets, loss, lies and a shocking ending!!!… Absolutely gripping… I LOVED it’ Bookworm86, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Wow! Just wow… Grabbed me by the throat from the outset and didn't relinquish its grip until the very end… Will have you gasping (I did literally scream out loud at one point).’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Delicious prose, well rounded characters and mind-bending plot twists… Read it. Devour it. Share it!’ Jenny O’Brien, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘S.E. Lynes does it again!… I didn’t see the final twist coming AT ALL!’ @elizabethsbooks, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A total thriller that will grab you at page one and keep you locked in until you finish… Kept me up way past my bedtime to find out what happened – it is THAT good!’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Wow!… Kept me guessing until the reveal almost at the very end! Fantastic!’ Girl Who Reads, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I couldn’t put it down because I so needed to know what was going on!… A twisty plot with one hell of a good finish, a real didn’t-see-that-coming ending… Compelling and compulsive… Completely blowing my mind’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Absolutely stunning… Twisty and thrilling… The kind of novel that you can’t put down, but you don’t want to finish. I absolutely loved it.’ Motherhood for Slackers, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Wow!… Refreshingly brilliant… A killer twist which you will not predict… I absolutely love it… you are completely engrossed and invested.’ @iheartbooks1991, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Do not pick up this book unless you devote time to read it because once you start… there’s no going back… Will shock you and definitely leave you breathless!’ Two Girls and a Book Obsession, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters

The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters
Author: Nadiya Hussain
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2017-01-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0008192278

‘Breezy, funny and winning’ Daily Mail ‘Packed with humour and warmth’ Heat 5* ‘A lovely story about family, faith and self-acceptance’ Red magazine * * * * *

Her Sister's Secret Life

Her Sister's Secret Life
Author: Pamela Toth
Publisher: Silhouette
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 155254821X

Seeing the woman who'd left him without a backward glance was painful enough for Steve Lindstrom—but Lily Mayfield hadn't returned to their hometown alone. Just the sight of the heartbreakingly lovely single mother and her son awoke bittersweet yearning for what might have been. Walking away from the only man she'd ever loved had left Lily with enough regrets for two lifetimes. Now, after years of harboring her unhappy secret, the time had come to tell the truth. If Steve could give her a second chance, she'd have every intention of showing him where her heart had always been…with him.

The Secret Language of Sisters

The Secret Language of Sisters
Author: Luanne Rice
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2016-02-23
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0545839564

New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice makes her dazzling YA debut with this gorgeous, unputdownable story of love, hope, and redemption. When Ruth Ann (Roo) McCabe responds to a text message while she's driving, her life as she knows it ends. The car flips, and Roo winds up in a hospital bed, paralyzed. Silent. Everyone thinks she's in a coma, but Roo has locked-in syndrome -- she can see and hear and understand everything around her, but no one knows it. She's trapped inside her own body, screaming to be heard.Mathilda (Tilly) is Roo's sister and best friend. She was the one who texted Roo and inadvertently caused the accident. Now, Tilly must grapple with her overwhelming guilt and her growing feelings for Roo's boyfriend, Newton -- the only other person who seems to get what Tilly is going through.But Tilly might be the only person who can solve the mystery of her sister's condition -- who can see through Roo's silence to the truth underneath. Somehow, through medicine or miracles, will both sisters find a way to heal?

Searching for Sylvie Lee

Searching for Sylvie Lee
Author: Jean Kwok
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2019-06-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0062834339

An Instant New York Times Bestseller! A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick & Emma Roberts Belletrist Book Club Pick! NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK BY New York Times • Time • Marie Claire • Elle • Buzzfeed • Huffington Post • Good Housekeeping • The Week • Goodreads • New York Post • and many more! “Powerful . . . A twisting tale of love, loss, and dark family secrets.” — Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train and Into the Water A poignant and suspenseful drama that untangles the complicated ties binding three women—two sisters and their mother—in one Chinese immigrant family and explores what happens when the eldest daughter disappears, and a series of family secrets emerge, from the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Translation It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother—and then vanishes. Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn’t rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love. But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it’s Amy’s turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister’s movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets . . . secrets that will reveal more about Amy’s complicated family—and herself—than she ever could have imagined. A deeply moving story of family, secrets, identity, and longing, Searching for Sylvie Lee is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive portrait of an immigrant family. It is a profound exploration of the many ways culture and language can divide us and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone—especially those we love. “This is a true beach read! You can’t put it down!” – Jenna Bush Hager, Today Show Book Club Pick

The Invention of Wings

The Invention of Wings
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2014-01-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0698175247

The newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection: this special eBook edition of The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd features exclusive content, including Oprah’s personal notes highlighted within the text, and a reading group guide. Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women. Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love. As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements. Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better. This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved. Please note there is another digital edition available without Oprah’s notes. Go to Oprah.com/bookclub for more OBC 2.0 content

In His Secret Life

In His Secret Life
Author: Mel Bossa
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2018-05-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1634866444

Allan has always tried to do the sensible thing. So when his sister Elsie became pregnant eight years ago and was ditched by her boyfriend, he stepped up to the plate. Since then, he's been his sister's support system and father figure to his niece. Allan's world is turned upside down when Elsie becomes engaged and he meets her fiancé's older brother, Davinder -- a beautiful, brooding artist with a thousand secrets in his eyes. But Davinder is a married man and father of two young boys. From the moment they meet, Allan and Davinder walk along the edge of their secret lives, never allowed to push open the gates. Though their love is a head-on collision, a meeting of the minds, a fusing of two lost souls, both men know that it is also -- and above all -- impossible.