Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Mystery, Murder & Love in The Secret Keeper

Kate Morton, bestselling author of The Distant Hours, has released The Secret Keeper, a spellbinding new novel set in the English countryside. In 1959, Laurel witnesses her mother stab and kill a stranger. Though she is shocked that her loving mother is capable of such an act, she keeps the secret for decades. Years later, as her mother lays dying, Laurel seeks to uncover the mystery of what happened that day and many layers of family secrets are exposed. This novel has a little something for everyone; friendship, desire, jealousy, betrayal...and an ending that you won't believe.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

Mystery, Murder & Love in The Secret Keeper

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