Three generations of women all tied together by secrets. In the book Cecile’s Secret by Ruth E. Hill, it all starts with one secret held by a woman named Cecile Legrand. The book opens on Cecile being recruited to serve as a spy and resistance operative in WWII France in 1944. While there she ends up working with the local resistance chapter to interrupt various German operations. However, she also ends up attracting the attention of Otto, a young German officer who wishes to pursue a relationship with the young French teacher. He is unaware she is a spy. At the same time though Cecile also starts falling for young Etienne, a member of the local resistance chapter Cecile is working with during her time in France. Things become tricky when Otto starts suspecting Cecile of being a spy and she ends up fleeing France in fear for her life. The story then picks up with her daughter, Stephanie, who grows up without her father and with never knowing the truth about her father or about her mother’s past. Over time, these secrets end up drastically souring their relationship and affects Stephanie’s relationship with her own daughter later on.
This book was a tricky one to get through because there were a lot of high emotions present throughout the book. In the early stages of the book we see this in Cecile as she feels torn between Otto and Etienne, ultimately committing to neither of them when she flees France and never returns. It was interesting to see the way Cecile was torn as she seems to have felt at least some genuine emotions for both of them but she is also torn between helping the resistance and not hurting Otto in the process. I honestly can’t say which dilemma was the worse one to be stuck in but it definitely helps showcase how you can’t really help you fall in love with, no matter how much you may want to. What I am curious about is if this indecision is what made Cecile never tell anyone about what happened and who Stephanie’s father is. I mean this is ultimately what the driving secret of the book actually is. The readers know the answer but Stephanie and her daughter do not which creates an odd dichotomy where we can see and understand Stephanie’s frustration about not knowing but can also understand why Cecile may not have ever told anyone. It does a good job of conveying the frustration Stephanie feels about her childhood but it also does a good job of showing how something small, such as Cecile keeping this secret, may have unintended consequences such as Stephanie doing something similar and having similar effects on her own daughter down the road. Family is a trick subject to navigate but this book does a good job with it. The only thing I wasn’t necessarily fond of is the lack of detail at times. There are a lot of areas where I felt things could have gone more in depth mostly because a story that spans three generations feels like it needs to have more to it than what was included. I really feel like this story only skimmed the surface at times in regards to the lives of the characters. It seems like it only touched on the important points in regards to the main storyline so they weren’t as fleshed out as they could be. Maybe that is just me but I felt like there could have been so much more depth to the story than what was present. Overall, a good book and I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
This was a good piece of historical fiction that spanned the majority of the twentieth century in the course of the book. I think that it would probably hold a good amount of appeal for readers who enjoy that genre, especially those who enjoy books that touch on WWII. It may also hold interest for readers who enjoy books about family histories or other similar themes since that seems to be a theme in this book. Considering the topics there is little explicit violence present in the book so I don’t necessarily see any reason it would potentially be unsuitable for teens or young adults to read if it sounds like something that they may like. As always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. This book was acquired through the early reviewers program at LibraryThing.