This was a total impulse read.  I saw it on the shelf at the library next to Kate Atkinson books I was looking at and grabbed it.  I am also a sucker for the dark family secret type plots so this was right up my alley.

Kali, is the mother of young child, whose own mother, Elena, has just died and who suspects her husband is cheating on her with an attractive ex.  Devastated by the betrayal by her husband and the loss of her mother, who she had been distant from her whole life, Kali decides to follow up on some clues from her mother’s house to try to learn about Elena’s life.  Kali flies to Canada on this quest to find out who her mother really was and why she never connected to Kali or Kali’s young son in any meaningful way.

The book has a nicely paced beginning and end, but could have used a touch of editing in the middle to trim it down as it began to drag a little there.  Kali as a character seems fully fleshed out, but a little slow to sense the instability that Susannah is pretty clearly exhibiting.  Susannah and Elena are really interesting characters as told in the current time line, through journal entries and letters, and in memories.  Elena, in particular, with her fatal flaws and the tragic consequences is so well done.  The resolution felt authentic and worked with the characters and the story.

Enjoyable quick read about the secrets family’s keep and the consequences of exposing them to the light.