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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Everyone has an idea of what their perfect life is. For Agatha, it's Meghan Shaughnessy's.
'These two women from vastly different backgrounds have one thing in common - a dangerous secret that could destroy everything they hold dear.
Both will risk everything to hide the truth, but their worlds are about to collide in a shocking act that cannot be undone.
'THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS is a compelling psychological thriller that delves deeply into the psyche of the human mind, by internationally bestselling author Michael Robotham.' (Publication summary)
Adaptations
-
form
y
The Secrets She Keeps
( dir. Catherine Millar
et. al. )agent
Australia
:
Lingo Pictures
Network Ten
,
2019
15409942
2019
series - publisher
film/TV
crime
'In The Secret She Keeps, Meghan doesn’t know Agatha, but Agatha knows Meghan. Two women from vastly different backgrounds have one thing in common: explosive secrets that could destroy everything they hold dear.
'Two women have a chance encounter in a supermarket, in an affluent Sydney suburb. They are the same age, both heavily pregnant and due at the same time. Meghan (Jessica De Gouw) is a glamorous influencer on the rise, with an ambitious television sports reporter husband Jack (Michael Dorman), while Agatha (Laura Carmichael) works in the supermarket as a shelf stacker.
'Although they live near each other, the two women’s lives could not be more different…
'Agatha is a loner and barely above the poverty line. She’s ecstatic to be pregnant, pinning all her hopes and dreams on this much longed-for miracle baby. Yet the father of her child, Hayden (Michael Sheasby), a sailor on active duty, remains oblivious to her condition.
'Meghan is a sophisticated mother-of two who uses social media to reframe her imperfect life into a glossier, more aspirational existence. Despite posting enthusiastically about her pregnancy to her avid followers, including Agatha, behind closed doors this third baby is putting pressure on an already strained marriage.
'Both women have secrets. And both will risk everything to conceal the truth. But their worlds are about to collide in one shocking act that cannot be undone.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Notes
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Epigraph: I'm hurt, hurt and humiliated beyond endurance, seeing the wheat ripening, the fountains never ceasing to give the water, the sheep bearing hundreds of lambs, the she dogs too, until it seems the whole country rises to show me its tender sleeping young while I feel two hammer blows here instead of my baby's lips. - Federico Garcia Lorca, Yerma
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Mothers and Brothers in Peril, and More New Crime Fiction
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The New York Times Book Review , 13 August 2017; (p. 8)'A pregnant, unmarried grocery store clerk named Agatha dotes on her unborn child in THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS , Michael Robotham’s insightful psychological thriller about the joys and fears of impending motherhood. Agatha is consumed by all things prenatal, and especially the pregnancy of Meghan, a well-off and beautifully turned-out married customer, also in her third trimester, who represents perfection to a woman whose absent boyfriend wants no part of fatherhood.' (Introduction)
-
Taut Thriller Unfolds with Penetrating Insight
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15 July 2017; (p. 20)'West London in the present day. Two women have a chance encounter in a supermarket. They are about the same age, both pregnant, both due in early December.' (Introduction)
-
[Review Essay] The Secrets She Keeps
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 10 - 14 July 2017;'It’s amazing the airs trash fiction gives itself these days. The latest effort by Michael Robotham exploits the neat unstartling idea of a woman who works in a supermarket who steals a newborn baby of a posh woman she befriends. It has plenty of tension and drama but it is so long and so slow moving, so massively preoccupied with the power of its own articulation, that it’s an open provocation to watch Netflix instead.' (Introduction)
-
[Review Essay] The Secrets She Keeps
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 10 - 14 July 2017;'It’s amazing the airs trash fiction gives itself these days. The latest effort by Michael Robotham exploits the neat unstartling idea of a woman who works in a supermarket who steals a newborn baby of a posh woman she befriends. It has plenty of tension and drama but it is so long and so slow moving, so massively preoccupied with the power of its own articulation, that it’s an open provocation to watch Netflix instead.' (Introduction)
-
Taut Thriller Unfolds with Penetrating Insight
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15 July 2017; (p. 20)'West London in the present day. Two women have a chance encounter in a supermarket. They are about the same age, both pregnant, both due in early December.' (Introduction)
-
Mothers and Brothers in Peril, and More New Crime Fiction
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The New York Times Book Review , 13 August 2017; (p. 8)'A pregnant, unmarried grocery store clerk named Agatha dotes on her unborn child in THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS , Michael Robotham’s insightful psychological thriller about the joys and fears of impending motherhood. Agatha is consumed by all things prenatal, and especially the pregnancy of Meghan, a well-off and beautifully turned-out married customer, also in her third trimester, who represents perfection to a woman whose absent boyfriend wants no part of fatherhood.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2018 longlisted Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing — Best Novel
- 2018 winner Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian General Fiction Book of the Year
- 2018 longlisted Indie Awards — Fiction