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Skeletons in the Literary Closet: Five Novels That Dangle Family Secrets Before the Reader

Skeletons in the Literary Closet: Five Novels That Dangle Family Secrets Before the Reader

Susan Walter Recommends Celest Ng, Lisa Jewell, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and More

By Susan Walter | June 6, 2025

Spying is Lying: How David Cornwell Became John Le Carré

Spying is Lying: How David Cornwell Became John Le Carré

Adam Sisman on the True Identity and Backstory of the Pseudonymous Spy Novelist

By Adam Sisman | October 30, 2023

I Am Spasticus! On Discovering You Have Cerebral Palsy

I Am Spasticus! On Discovering You Have Cerebral Palsy

Greg Marshall Considers a Long-Held Medical and Family Secret

By Greg Marshall | June 14, 2023

A Gathering of Stones: Aimee Bender on the Earth’s Best Secret-Keepers

A Gathering of Stones: Aimee Bender on the Earth’s Best Secret-Keepers

“I felt a kinship with the stones.”

By Aimee Bender | August 1, 2022

Loose Lips and Sunken Ships: How Family Secrets Can Protect or Destroy

Loose Lips and Sunken Ships: How Family Secrets Can Protect or Destroy

Patricia Dunn on Books That Feature Dysfunctional Families

By Patricia Dunn | November 12, 2021

Joan Silber on Writing Double Maneuvers and Deception

Joan Silber on Writing Double Maneuvers and Deception

Secrets of Happiness Talks to Jane Ciabattari">The Author of Secrets of Happiness Talks to Jane Ciabattari

By Jane Ciabattari | May 11, 2021

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

of My Family">How Writing a Novel Helped Me Uncover the Secrets
of My Family

By Liese O'Halloran Schwarz | January 29, 2021

On Family Secrets and How We Deliver Bad News

By Rachel Beanland | July 7, 2020

Amelia Earhart">On the Lost Lyric Poetry of
Amelia Earhart

By Traci Brimhall | February 21, 2020

A Red Ink Conversation"> Why Families Keep Secrets: <br

Why Families Keep Secrets: <br

A Red Ink Conversation">

A Red Ink Conversation">Why Families Keep Secrets:
A Red Ink Conversation

With Kristen Arnett, Sion Dayson, Angie Cruz, Briallen Hopper, Elisabet Velasquez, and Michele Filgate

By Literary Hub | November 11, 2019

On the Haunted Lives of Girls and Women

On the Haunted Lives of Girls and Women

Rachel Eve Moulton Considers the Way Horror is Housed in the Body

By Rachel Eve Moulton | September 17, 2019

Is Any Story Too Private to Use In One's Art?

Is Any Story Too Private to Use In One's Art?

Rachel Lyon on Repurposing the Prismatic Material of Life and Love

By Rachel Lyon | February 28, 2018

Jane Eyre Written as a Secret Love Letter?"> Was <em

Was <em

Jane Eyre Written as a Secret Love Letter?">

Jane Eyre Written as a Secret Love Letter?">Was Jane Eyre Written as a Secret Love Letter?

An Autobiography Transformed Into a Novel

By John Pfordresher | June 26, 2017

Eight Secrets About Sex From People I Know

Eight Secrets About Sex From People I Know

A writer Divulges what She's Not Supposed To Tell

By Claire Dederer | May 9, 2017

On Decades of Diaries: Intimate, Profane, Honest

On Decades of Diaries: Intimate, Profane, Honest

Meg Elison Stole Her First Diary and Never Looked Back

By Meg Elison | November 28, 2016

PostSecret Really Accomplish?"> Secrets for Sale: What Does <em

Secrets for Sale: What Does <em

PostSecret Really Accomplish?">

PostSecret Really Accomplish?">Secrets for Sale: What Does PostSecret Really Accomplish?

There is Power in Telling Your Story, But It Probably Won't Fit on a Post Card

By Erik Anderson | November 2, 2016