Secrets

What We Hide
by Marthe Jocelyn


Jenny and her brother Tom are off to England: Tom to university to dodge the Vietnam draft, Jenny to boarding school, Illington Hall. This is Jenny's chance to finally stand out, so she purposely tells a lie. But in the small world of Ill Hall, everyone has secrets. Jenny pretends she has a boyfriend. Robbie and Luke pretend they don't. Brenda keeps what happened with the school doctor to herself. Percy doesn't talk about his famous dad. Nico wants to hide his mother's memoir. Oona lies to everyone. Penelope lies to herself. 

Marthe Jocelyn seamlessly tells the story from multiple points of view and, in Percy's and Oona's narratives respectively, screenplays and letters. Jocelyn's strength as a writer, and what makes her so popular, is her ability to create believable characters and realistic situations that teens can readily identify with. What We Hide is an honest look at secrets - why we tell them, why we keep them, and what happens next, which is not entirely bad. 

Highly recommended.