We All Have Our Secrets by Jane Corry

Emily Gentle is a midwife in London. When an incident happens with a new mother Emily flees to her childhood home, rather than face the consequences. When Emily gets to her childhood home she discovers that her father, Harold, has employed a carer. The carer, Francoise, is a young French woman. Emily immediately suspects that Francoise is simply using her position to gain money from her father.

I really struggled with this story. It starts well, Emily is good at her job as a midwife and when something goes wrong I was full of sympathy and desperate to know more. Unfortunately Emily chooses to ignore all forms of contact from her employer and flees to her childhood home. 

When Emily gets home she discovers that her father Harold, who's in his nineties, has employed Francoise as a carer and this immediately causes friction. I found it difficult to engage with any of the main characters. As the title of the novel indicates, each of them has a secret, however the revealing of the secrets wasn't subtle.

The story jumps around, including reminiscences of France during WWII. These episodes in France are meant to explain Harold's erratic nature but I just felt he was a horrible, petulant and controlling  individual. I also lacked belief in a man in his mid-nineties who was able to drive but unable to read because of his failing eyesight.

Everything comes together reasonably neatly at the end - and I did enjoy the final twist, unfortunately not enough to make me like this story.

We All Have Our Secrets by Jane Corry will be published on 23rd June 2022 in paperback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books for a review copy.