This article originally appeared in British
Weekly.
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Past Secrets…Secrets Don’t Stay Secret Forever SANTA MONICA, CA (British Weekly) 02/04/08 - In Cathy Kelly’s ninth novel, Christie Devlin an art teacher in Dublin Ireland who can see what’s in the future for everyone…except herself. She’s never developed her abilities, sees only glimpses of what could be. Her mostly happy 35-year marriage is jeopardized by a past secret that haunts her. Christie’s neighbor Faye Reid is a single mother who has her own secret, one she’s kept hidden for 18 years. Her daughter Amber needs to know the truth to avoid making the same mistakes. Maggie Maguire doesn’t tell her parents the real reason she’s returned home is not to help care for her mother, but because she’s devastated that her boyfriend cheated on her. |
Cathy Kelly’s characters come full circle in her stories. They end where it all began, and at the end you feel like you’ve been on a journey with all of them. Kelly also knows how to pull the emotional heartstrings. With her short stories in Irish Girls About Town, she writes wonderfully of relationships and how they tick. At times Past Secrets slows down in exposition, but you get through it and back on track without too much detour.
"My characters are normal people, with problems paying the mortgage and a huge load of ironing waiting to be done," says author Cathy Kelly. "Perhaps that's why the books are successful, but I don't know. I get so involved in my characters’ lives that sometimes when I'm writing, I talk the dialogue as I write it, which probably looks very strange to the window cleaner or anyone else peering in the window."
Kelly is an Austen fan. "I adore Jane Austen," says Kelly, "and Anita Shreve and Maeve Binchy." Kelly is still an avid reader. "I never stop reading, which is why I don't spend enough time vacuuming! I'm writing this in my study which is covered in books." Kelly loves autobiographies and finds books about China fascinating. "I try to read historical factual books to educate myself," says Kelly. "I obviously didn't pay enough attention in history in school! When I write, I honestly don't think about putting a cross-section of modern women in my books. I just start developing characters who interest me and it goes from there."
Cathy Kelly was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and grew up in Dublin. She started her career as a journalist at an Irish national newspaper. She was a news and feature reporter, the paper’s film critic for five years, and the "agony aunt" for seven years. Kelly’s first book, Woman To Woman, was published in 1997.
Past Secrets. Trade paperback 496 pages. Publisher: Avon, An imprint of Harper Collins (November 6, 2007). Language: English. ISBN- 987-0-06-134142-7 $13.95