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Secrets - The Wallace Family
We all have things about ourselves that we don't tell each other. Little Secrets. They aren't meant to hurt anyone. They are just things we keep to ourselves. Carl and Ruth Wallace thought they had raised their five children to be open, no secrets. Now their son, Steven, was back home and asking them to keep a secret. It was proving to be more than Ruth could handle. How could a child expect a parent to hide such a thing from the family and act as if nothing were wrong? It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. Over the months that follow, Carl and Ruth learn that Steven had another secret and he was not alone.
323 pages, Paperback
First published October 27, 1998
2 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
James M. McCracken
19 books4 followersJames M. McCracken was born and raised in Oregon. He is the fifth of seven children. He lost his mother when he was eighteen. That is why family has always been important to him and features prominently in the stories he writes.
However, his love for writing began when he was a teen. At age 13 he went away to a seminary boarding school. It was there that he began to write but mainly for his own entertainment. He felt his ideas and stories weren't "good enough" to share. That changed his senior year when he saw a movie poster. The movie's storyline was the same as a story he had written two years earlier. He reasoned "If two people could have the same idea, then maybe my ideas aren't stupid after all."
It took another twenty years of writing while working full-time at the telephone company before his first novel was published, SECRETS The Wallace Family.
With the major shift and changes in the publishing industry, James turned to self-publishing, reasoning that authors Mark Twain, John Grisham, J. K. Rowling and many others self-published their own novels in the beginning before being picked up by 'traditional publishing' houses.
Two years after the release of his first novel, James published the first book in a new young reader series inspired by his teen years in a boarding school. CHARLIE MACCREADY The Ghost in the Attic. When the second in the series came out, problems with the foreign publishing company caused him to cancel his contract with them and go another route.
After retiring early from the telephone company, James began to focus more time to his writing. He has now broadened his range venturing into writing Sci-Fi with a post-apocalyptic novel AWAKE and also into Thrillers/Suspense with ELLENSBURG and STUMPTOWN.
In 2009 he left the Portland area and moved to Central Oregon where the quieter, slower-paced life affords him more time to focus and write.
However, his love for writing began when he was a teen. At age 13 he went away to a seminary boarding school. It was there that he began to write but mainly for his own entertainment. He felt his ideas and stories weren't "good enough" to share. That changed his senior year when he saw a movie poster. The movie's storyline was the same as a story he had written two years earlier. He reasoned "If two people could have the same idea, then maybe my ideas aren't stupid after all."
It took another twenty years of writing while working full-time at the telephone company before his first novel was published, SECRETS The Wallace Family.
With the major shift and changes in the publishing industry, James turned to self-publishing, reasoning that authors Mark Twain, John Grisham, J. K. Rowling and many others self-published their own novels in the beginning before being picked up by 'traditional publishing' houses.
Two years after the release of his first novel, James published the first book in a new young reader series inspired by his teen years in a boarding school. CHARLIE MACCREADY The Ghost in the Attic. When the second in the series came out, problems with the foreign publishing company caused him to cancel his contract with them and go another route.
After retiring early from the telephone company, James began to focus more time to his writing. He has now broadened his range venturing into writing Sci-Fi with a post-apocalyptic novel AWAKE and also into Thrillers/Suspense with ELLENSBURG and STUMPTOWN.
In 2009 he left the Portland area and moved to Central Oregon where the quieter, slower-paced life affords him more time to focus and write.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 8, 2012
First of all let me say that if this book had not been a freebie on Amazon I doubt if I would have chosen to read it. However it did turn out to be a very entertaining book but it did put me in mind of a television soap opera. The story revolves around the Wallace family and begins with a get together at the request of Steven one of the sons who had an announcement to make to the rest of the family - mother and father obviously knowing what his secret was and rather upset that he had not shared it earlier. Not wanting to spoil any shock value I will not divulge any secrets in this review. From the first chapter onward we get to know (or think we do) each member of the family and of course as the title states, secrets are revealed along the way.
To a greater extent what made this book interesting for me was the interaction between characters in the book and the dynamics within the family and how each person dealt with the secrets as they came to light. Most of the story was believable with a couple of notable "soap operish" exceptions. Interesting too was how the readers opinion of each character was manipulated by the author along the way. Had the book had a better ending then it would have deserved 4 stars but personally I felt cheated with a most unsatisfactory ending - probably the author was thinking about a follow up but I felt it could have been concluded better as there is plenty of interest in the family to keep the readers attention.
To a greater extent what made this book interesting for me was the interaction between characters in the book and the dynamics within the family and how each person dealt with the secrets as they came to light. Most of the story was believable with a couple of notable "soap operish" exceptions. Interesting too was how the readers opinion of each character was manipulated by the author along the way. Had the book had a better ending then it would have deserved 4 stars but personally I felt cheated with a most unsatisfactory ending - probably the author was thinking about a follow up but I felt it could have been concluded better as there is plenty of interest in the family to keep the readers attention.
April 30, 2012
Well written story of a family who lost their son/brother to brain tumor. After his death, they discovered that he had kept secrets from the family. Not just him, but everyone in the family had a secret or two kept to themselves. The head of the family, Ruth and Carl, handled the revealing of these secrets well and had strong foundation together as family and weather the storms caused by the revealing of these secrets well.
My father had always advised me to keep certain things to myself, especially if the revealing of them could hurt the family. Could understand the logic of being honest with spouse and children (have taught my own children to be honest and to be able to tell me anything) but everyone do and have some secrets of their own that the revealing of them serves no purposes at all.
My father had always advised me to keep certain things to myself, especially if the revealing of them could hurt the family. Could understand the logic of being honest with spouse and children (have taught my own children to be honest and to be able to tell me anything) but everyone do and have some secrets of their own that the revealing of them serves no purposes at all.
March 3, 2014
I enjoyed it, although a Lifetime movie kept playing in my head while reading it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews