The Secrets We Kept

by Lara Prescott

They had their satellites, but we had their books. Back then, we believed books could be weapons—that literature could change the course of history.

At its heart, THE SECRETS WE KEPT is about the power of books and how Doctor Zhivago changed the course of history. The CIA believed books had the power to change people’s hearts and minds, and thus, they effectively used them as weapons. I’m often asked if I think books still have that power. I know this much to be true: books have certainly changed my own life. Books like Edward P. Jones’s THE KNOWN WORLD, Toni Morrison’s THE BLUEST EYE, J. M. Coetzee’s DISGRACE, and Patricia Highsmith’s THE PRICE OF SALT all had a hand in changing the way I view the world. To me, there is no greater way to build empathy than storytelling. Books allow us to experience others’ lives, visit other time periods, and walk the streets of places we’ve never been. In a time where there is so much talk that emphasizes all that makes us different, it is almost a revolutionary act to imagine all that makes us similar.