THE LOST ART OF KEEPING SECRETS, set in 1954 - 1955 is more than a fluent and very enjoyable love story. Although Eva Rice fails to resuscitate a war ravaged country house, she describes an evolving generation to a T. Gleefully, but with compassion, she makes light work of the heavier-than-air predicament of the young. Given a good editor and a modern setting, her next book could be a classic. I loved the book but could not help being aware of Enid Blyton and Nancy Mitford lurking in the walled garden and behind the suits of armour. I hope she will write with confidence of now or just yesterday. She has no need of dead poets: today is her time, her style and her joy. We need her now, with her breath of genius, we really do.
The Lovereading view...
Reviewed on Richard and Judy on 22 February 2006. This is a pure delight, a charming period piece of social change in the 50s when appearances and standards began to disappear as the impoverished middle-classes adapted to a new age. A tale of an unexpected friendship, of love, of heartache, music, youth and hope. It throbs with unexpected energy, a coming-of-age novel with an old-fashioned feel. I loved it.
Set in the 1950s, in an England still recovering from the Second World War, THE LOST ART OF KEEPING SECRETS is the enchanting story of Penelope Wallace and her eccentric family at the start of the rock'n'roll era. Penelope longs to be grown-up and to fall in love; but various rather inconvenient things keep getting in her way. Like her mother, a stunning but petulant beauty widowed at a tragically early age, her younger brother Inigo, currently incapable of concentrating on anything that isn't Elvis Presley, a vast but crumblng ancestral home, a severe shortage of cash, and her best friend Charlotte's sardonic cousin Harry... Eva Rice's novel is an utterly engrossing read, in the tradition of Nancy Mitford and I CAPTURE THE CASTLE.
Eva Rice's first book, A Guide to the Characters of Enid Blyton, was published in 1997. Her first novel Standing Room Only was published in 2000 and is available from Coronet. She lives in London.
