Synopses & Reviews
"Now we're just alike." So begins Fiona and Patricia's friendship that warm autumn morning in first grade in Lake Charles, Louisiana, their bond forged ever closer by Fiona's abusive mother and Patricia's neglectful one. Their relationship is a source of continuity and strength through their move to L.A. to become actresses; through Fiona's marriage and Patricia's sudden fame. When husband and career pressures exact a toll, the women wonder if their friendship can survive. Then a dark secret from their past emerges, threatening to destroy not only their bond, but all they've worked for as well.
The Safety of Secrets is a beautifully written exploration of the bonds forged in childhood and challenged decades later, of the fulfillment of dreams and the damage they can cause, and of secrets being uncovered and the truth we find inside.
Review
Written with tremendous narrative velocity, The Safety of Secrets is almost impossible to put down. Dani Shapiro, award-winning, best-selling writer
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“The Safety of Secrets is a funny, keenly observed, deeply moving story of coming of age too soon. DeLauné Michels elegantly structured novel jumps back and forth between an imperfect childhood in Louisiana, and a complicated adulthood in Los Angeles. .” Warren Leight, Tony-award winning playwright of Side Man
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“a beautifully written book that takes you into the mind of a woman attempting the impossible; trying to make marriage, motherhood, friendship and a career as an actress all work in the gladiatorial ring of Los Angeles. DeLauné Michel writes with the precision and insight of an x-ray.” Merrill Markoe, New York Times best-selling author
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Funny and touching, this is a tale of childhood--and how it never ends. Cathleen Schine, New York Times bestselling author of THE NEW YORKERS
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“DeLauné Michel has written a terrifically funny book with a very tender heart. It manages to be wonderfully confessional and psychologically mysterious. The Safety of Secrets is the perfect curl-up-on-the-couch-and-read-all-day-long kind of book. It stays with you.” Jill A. Davis, Author of Ask Again Later & Girls' Poker Night
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“At once funny, moving, and richly evocative of contemporary Los Angeles, The Safety of Secrets more than confirms its promise.” Peter Biskind, best-selling author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
About the Author
Raised in south Louisiana, DeLauné Michel has worked as an actor and is the founding producer of Spoken Interludes, a reading series in New York and Los Angeles. Her short fiction has won awards. This is her first novel.