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The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets
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Set in 1950s London The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets centers around Penelope the wide- eyed daughter of a legendary beauty Talitha who lost her husband to the war. Penelope with her mother and brother struggles to maintain their vast and crumbling ancestral home while postwar London spins toward the next decade's cultural revolution. Penelope wants nothing more than to fall
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Paperback, 352 pages
Published
April 1st 2007
by Plume Books
(first published October 24th 2005)
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Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets

Jun 10, 2011
Mariel
rated it
liked it
Recommends it for:
Rory and the Storms
Recommended to Mariel by:
Mariel and Hurricanes
This is another vaguely rip-offish version of I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. Confession? I'm not original about selecting books to read. I was looking at different book sites on the web and putting in favorite books to see what came up when I came across The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets. I'd read all of the books that were like all of my other favorites, except for Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle (I'm still planning on reading the others, as well. Bring on the Elvis impersonators!). I ne
...more

”We were young and the world revolved around this.”
Delicious. Utterly delectable and delightful. I adore this book 💕
What a beautiful story. From the opening page where Penelope and Charlotte meet while waiting for a bus, I fell in love, and read blissfully on.
This is a gentle romp about manners, falling in and out of love, and growing up. Set in 1950s England, where the war is slowly being forgotten and rationing has come to end. Sunnier times are on the horizon. People can start to buy what the ...more
Delicious. Utterly delectable and delightful. I adore this book 💕
What a beautiful story. From the opening page where Penelope and Charlotte meet while waiting for a bus, I fell in love, and read blissfully on.
This is a gentle romp about manners, falling in and out of love, and growing up. Set in 1950s England, where the war is slowly being forgotten and rationing has come to end. Sunnier times are on the horizon. People can start to buy what the ...more

Sep 20, 2010
Bethany
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
absolute-favourites,
comfort-reads
Before I read this book, I had a feeling that I was going to like it a lot. Whether it was the vintage dresses displayed on the cover or the numerous comparisons to "I Capture the Castle", I am not sure. But needless to say, I was not disappointed.
This book is neither suspenseful nor innovative but I couldn't put it down until I had finished it.
I love the characters Eva Rice has created. They are undeniably quirky, but not so much as to make them unbelievable.
And I was enchanted with the desc ...more
This book is neither suspenseful nor innovative but I couldn't put it down until I had finished it.
I love the characters Eva Rice has created. They are undeniably quirky, but not so much as to make them unbelievable.
And I was enchanted with the desc ...more

I think this book is going to find a spot on my list of favorite books of all time. I loved the characters, I loved the story, I loved everything about it. It reminded me a little of Pride & Prejudice, just set in a different era and with a different plot.
This snippet of conversation between two of the main characters pretty much sums up my love of this book:
Charlotte: "[My mother] hates having me at home - plowing through the books in her library and kicking my heels up at night. She thinks I' ...more
This snippet of conversation between two of the main characters pretty much sums up my love of this book:
Charlotte: "[My mother] hates having me at home - plowing through the books in her library and kicking my heels up at night. She thinks I' ...more

Jun 07, 2018
Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
humour,
food,
british,
illustrations,
lovely-illustrations,
romance,
eva-rice,
music,
1950s
The first of my ‘theme’ reads this month. This is a story of England in the mid-1950s, when rationing was coming to an end, Jazz ruled large, Elvis was first appearing on the scene (though not yet in England), but the shadows of war still loomed large. Our ‘heroine’, eighteen-year-old Penelope Wallace, lives in her crumbling old ancestral home, Milton Magna, with her rather young mother, society-beauty, Talitha, and sixteen-year-old brother Inigo, who attends school but whose whole life is music
...more

What wonderful read in which nothing quite so amazing occurs until you're absolutely, positively addicted to the world of the novel and just don't know how it happened.
Penelope writes her story of the awkward turning point from girl to woman. The minimal tidbits which revealed her older and wiser voice do not overpower the present tense of main story, but rather added small insights about the future.
As characters moved in and out of her life I would mourn their departure, celebrate returns, an ...more
Penelope writes her story of the awkward turning point from girl to woman. The minimal tidbits which revealed her older and wiser voice do not overpower the present tense of main story, but rather added small insights about the future.
As characters moved in and out of her life I would mourn their departure, celebrate returns, an ...more

Sep 14, 2009
Josie
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
fans of I Capture the Castle/Love in a Cold Climate
Recommended to Josie by:
LibraryThing
Shelves:
general-fiction,
books-i-own
I knew I'd love this book when I opened it up and saw that the author had written (among others) a non-fiction book titled Who's Who in Enid Blyton. Classic.
It's 1954, and six-foot-nothing Penelope Wallace lives with her younger brother Inigo, and her beautiful mother Talitha in their enormous family 'home', Milton Magna. It is falling apart, yet they cannot afford to repair it, and their financial struggles are becoming concerning. (Sound familiar, Dodie Smith fans?) Penelope studies English an ...more
It's 1954, and six-foot-nothing Penelope Wallace lives with her younger brother Inigo, and her beautiful mother Talitha in their enormous family 'home', Milton Magna. It is falling apart, yet they cannot afford to repair it, and their financial struggles are becoming concerning. (Sound familiar, Dodie Smith fans?) Penelope studies English an ...more

I can't say exactly what it is about this book that is so captivating... but it truly is. It's beautifully written, almost poetic, here is one of my favorite lines during a lull in an intense "duck supper" conversation; "Like the curious pause that takes place before blood seeps out from a cut finger, we all sat quite still...".
Flipping through the pages was more like hearing the narrative of an actress like Emma Thompson with a wonderful British accent rather than reading. After a session, I wa ...more
Flipping through the pages was more like hearing the narrative of an actress like Emma Thompson with a wonderful British accent rather than reading. After a session, I wa ...more

I *loved* this book. The whole reading experience was self-indulgent. God knows why I picked it up - I liked the look of the cover, I think, after reading someone else’s enthusiastic Goodreads review.
It is I Capture the Castle Lite. Or I Capture the Castle set 20 years later on, in a giddy 1954/1955 England gorging itself on butter and sugar and bacon and pop music after 15 years of austerity and rationing. The castle in question is the wonderful, decaying and doomed Great House Milton M ...more

I suggested this as January’s book club book because I was looking for something that was not too taxing, but still respectable, and this turned out to be the perfect choice. It is the story of Penelope Wallace (actually Lady Penelope, though not too much is made of that), an impoverished noblewoman (or rather an impoverished eighteen year old girl), whose family owns a stately home of England, but one that is falling apart since her father died in the war hot on the heals of her grandparents an
...more

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets takes place in 1950s England, after the war is finally over and people are learning to live again.
That's what this book is about. This book is color and vitality and giddiness and euphoria. Life is an endless stream of thrilling, heady adjectives, a whirling mass of energy and joy and excitement; every occurrence is larger than life in a way that it would be had it been forbidden or impossible just years back.
For careful Penelope, the protagonist, learning to liv ...more
That's what this book is about. This book is color and vitality and giddiness and euphoria. Life is an endless stream of thrilling, heady adjectives, a whirling mass of energy and joy and excitement; every occurrence is larger than life in a way that it would be had it been forbidden or impossible just years back.
For careful Penelope, the protagonist, learning to liv ...more

OH. This really wonderful, but I'm left a little disappointed because the ending just wasn't ENOUGH for me. I needed a little more closure. (view spoiler)
But wonderful atmosphere and wonderful characters. Loved the 50's setting. Just sooooo close to being a perfect book for me, but missed the mark and now I will probably forget it. :( ...more
But wonderful atmosphere and wonderful characters. Loved the 50's setting. Just sooooo close to being a perfect book for me, but missed the mark and now I will probably forget it. :( ...more

Before I say anything else about this book, I'd like to state for the record that I am definitely not a fan of 'chick lit'; anything with a pastel cover promising a stereotypical romantic storyline usually sends me running for the hills. So when a friend recommended this novel to me, I was initially unsure; but the 1950s setting and glowing reviews persuaded me to read on. I'm very glad I did.
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is a real treat - the literary equivalent of a huge slice of chocolate c ...more
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is a real treat - the literary equivalent of a huge slice of chocolate c ...more

This is a delightful confection of a novel by the daughter of lyricist Tim Rice. It's a coming-of-age story set in 1954-55 Britain- moving back and forth from London to the narrator's crumbling mansion home in the country. To call the novel "chick lit" would be to dismiss the wonderful characterization and detailed portrait of privileged young people in post-war swinging London- where Johnny Ray was king and war was a distant memory...for some...
But A.S. Byatt it isn't! It's a sweet, easy read w ...more
But A.S. Byatt it isn't! It's a sweet, easy read w ...more

Jan 17, 2017
Finn
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-i-own,
books-to-read-in-2016-2017
I really couldn't get on with this at all, to the point where I had to give up! I even tried reading another book and then going back to it, but I just found that I wasn't interested. it started well and got me hooked and then I just found myself drifting off and thinking about other things... I wouldn't even be able to say what it is about!
I have friends who have highly recommended it, so I'd like to try it again, but there are just so many books that I'd like to read!! ...more
I have friends who have highly recommended it, so I'd like to try it again, but there are just so many books that I'd like to read!! ...more

Fluff, and badly-edited fluff at that, full of anachronistic cultural references. It makes no sense from the word go (a strange young woman asks the protagonist to come to tea with her, to run interference between her and her aunt and cousin in spite of the fact that she apparently interacts with them on a daily basis); even the title, which is also used as the closing line, seems to have little to do with the story, leaving one with the impression that the author thought of the phrase, then tri
...more

I picked up this book expecting a bit of fluff...and found myself wonderfully surprised. Not fluff at all but rather a poignant story of 18 year old Penelope of a formerly wealthy but now impoverished family in 1950's England, teetering on the edge of womanhood. The book is replete with marvelous characters, Penelope's beautiful, young widowed mother; her younger musically-inclined brother named after Inigo Jones; her friends, Charlotte and Harry; and Aunt Clare. Full of literary and musical ref
...more

Jun 20, 2015
Trish at Between My Lines
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
reviews-done,
historical-fiction
I love books about female friendship and at the very heart of this book is a friendship that is exuberant, fun and full of life. Actually the whole book is full of that too.
First Line of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice:
“I met Charlotte in London one afternoon while waiting for a bus.”
My Thoughts on The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice:
The setting of this book is fab. It’s set in post war England at a time of huge change. Teenagers are now a thing and they are ready to throw of ...more
First Line of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice:
“I met Charlotte in London one afternoon while waiting for a bus.”
My Thoughts on The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice:
The setting of this book is fab. It’s set in post war England at a time of huge change. Teenagers are now a thing and they are ready to throw of ...more

This opens in a way that brought hope to my chest. An English girl is waiting for a bus, a totally strange girl comes and asks her for tea, there's some sprightly conversation over tea that didn't quite make me smile but hinted I might eventually. Then the girl goes home and the author falls into the conditional and I get a bunch of historical detail that doesn't connect to anything in the first scene. Every once in awhile a sentence appears in real time, like the girl hangs up her coat, but onl
...more

Aug 02, 2009
Elizabeth K.
rated it
liked it
Recommended to Elizabeth by:
Constance
Shelves:
2009-new-reads
The most important thing I took away from this novel is that author Eva Rice is most likely a kindred spirit who has read all the right kinds of books. It's the story of two teenage girls in 1950s London, and not having enough money to keep the family house going, and being fascinated with American singers, and going to parties with boys. It so puts you in mind of Alconleigh and Hetton Abbey and Scoatney but it's one of those things where it never manages to stop being an homage, there's a self-
...more

Aug 01, 2009
CLM
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
fans of Atonement, I Capture the Castle
Penelope is waiting for a bus in London when swept away by Charlotte, an impetuous young woman wearing homemade clothes, who needs someone to share a taxi. Charlotte brings Penelope home to meet her aunt Clare and cousin Harry, and Penelope is pulled into a more entertaining world than offered by the Wiltshire countryside where she lives with her mother and slightly younger brother. It is the 1950s, and on the one hand Penelope is still affected by the loss of her father in WWII but she and her
...more

This review was originally posted on [Between My Lines]I love books about female friendship and at the very heart of this book is a friendship that is exuberant, fun and full of life. Actually the whole book is full of that too.
First Line of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice:
My Thoughts on The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice:
The setting of this book is fab. It’s set in post war England ...more
First Line of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice:
"I met Charlotte in London one afternoon while waiting for a bus."
My Thoughts on The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice:
The setting of this book is fab. It’s set in post war England ...more

Jun 28, 2015
Cleopatra Pullen
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
womans-fiction
Regular readers will know that this is quite unlike the dark books I usually read but I chose this on a whim drawn no doubt by the pretty cover.
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is set in the 1950s where eighteen year old Penelope Wallace lives with her beautiful mother Talitha and her younger brother Inigo in the formerly magnificent Milton Magna. One day she has a chance meeting with the lively Charlotte who takes her to tea with her aunt and cousin in Kensington. Meeting Charlotte changes Penel ...more
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is set in the 1950s where eighteen year old Penelope Wallace lives with her beautiful mother Talitha and her younger brother Inigo in the formerly magnificent Milton Magna. One day she has a chance meeting with the lively Charlotte who takes her to tea with her aunt and cousin in Kensington. Meeting Charlotte changes Penel ...more

I loved this, it was original and quirky and funny and delightful. A lot of similarities to I Capture the Castle, but that can only be a good thing. I particularly enjoyed Julian the Loaf (I laughed and laughed over that conversation when Harry was calling someone weird and Penelope was like 'look who's talking, you kept a loaf of bread as a pet' and Harry was like 'leave Julian out of this'.) I loved Harry in general, he was my favourite character, along with Charlotte, who I pictured as lookin
...more

Penelope and Inigo Wallace live with their young, beautiful and widowed mother in a glorious, crumbling medieval English mansion. It is one of the last of the great houses and it is falling down around them as they have no money to keep it up. The year is 1954, Penelope is 18 and Inigo 16. Jonnie Ray is all the rage as a pop star, rationing has ended, the youth of England are bursting with life and change. Elvis Presley is about to be discovered in the U.S.
Into this setting enter Charlotte and ...more
Into this setting enter Charlotte and ...more

What a delight! I've always felt that the 1950s is a neglected decade as far as fiction goes and in Eva Rice's hands the decade (or at least the years 1954/55) are tellingly drawn. I love the descriptions and the feel of the house Magna, the parties at Dorset House and the Ritz and the afternoons at Aunt Clare's.
This is an intelligent and atmospheric book which is very well written. It is a pity because of these things that there were a few discrepancies. For one I couldn't get Penelope's age r ...more
This is an intelligent and atmospheric book which is very well written. It is a pity because of these things that there were a few discrepancies. For one I couldn't get Penelope's age r ...more
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Goodreads Librari...: Page Count | 2 | 205 | May 26, 2018 03:05AM | |
Vintage Book Group: The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets | 6 | 28 | Sep 06, 2013 07:56AM |
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