The Secret Wife: Love. Guilt. Heartbreak. Paperback – Illustrated, November 8, 2016

Really a good read and emotionally pulls you in, as any good book does. I could not put it down.

SYNOPSIS:Kitty’s modern story of broken love, denial, and resolution takes place as she cleans out and fixes up an isolated lakeside cabin inherited from an unknown grandfather. Running from a cheating husband, she turns her back on both him and her emotions by digging into the project of making the cabin inhabitable after 30 years of neglect.Who was he? Why did her family tell her that her grandparents were dead before she was born when that wasn’t the case? And how did a Faberge pendant with real jewels get under the rotting outdoor staircase?Those are the questions that open the door to the different time and place of her grandfather Dmitri’s life. Love, war, passion, regret, and resignation are the themes of his story that intertwines with one of the Russian Romanov sisters during World War I, the subsequent Bolshevik revolution, and picking up the pieces of his shattered soul to create a new life from the ashes of total loss.REVIEW:Kitty’s story in modern times is superficial and banal in comparison to her grandfather’s. It’s standard boiler plate and not much more. As a stand-alone, I give it 2 stars at best.It took a big leap of faith to accept that the glint of a small gold pendant laying in the dirt under a rotting outdoor staircase after THIRTY YEARS of snow and rain would catch her eye. Please.In addition, the resolution of her broken love story came way too easy. A long string of unread emails from her husband Tom, one letter read by Kitty, and no real conversation brings resolution? I’m sorry, but it goes against Kitty’s character profile as set up by the author.Then there was the “sex scene” at the end of Kitty’s and Tom’s first meeting after their break up. It literally made me groan out loud. Not because it was poorly written, but because it was (again) so superficial and boilerplate. After their dinner conversation of reconnection, a vulnerable exchange that ignites a spark of deep recognition on both sides would have more than sufficed as a reunion that opens the door to rebuilding a future together. The reader’s imagination could take it from there. As written, however, it only made me want to brush away Kitty’s story like you would a pesky fly buzzing around your ear.Dmitri’s story, however, is in a whole other league.The multi-textured backdrop for a complex protagonist with clear motivations makes it rich and rewarding on many levels. His story will stay with me for a long time.Without giving spoilers, the intimate look it gives you into the Russian side of World War I and the social ramifications of their revolution in the individual lives of the common man—as well as those of Tsar Nicholas’ Romanov family—will break your heart. There were moments when I gasped out loud and my hand flew to my face to cover my mouth as events unfolded.Insights to Dmitri’s motivations are honest and deep. The author perfectly captures the pure love—as well as raw angst—running rampant in Dmitri’s psyche as he struggles with his choices and their ramifications in a world that’s falling to pieces around him.How the author wove in the clues of the past to Kitty in the future was elegant and satisfying. All in all, I give Dmitri’s story a solid 5 stars.Put the stories together, the book earns 4 stars. But only because Dmitri, Tatiana, and Rosa carry the day.RECOMMENDED FOR:Lovers of historical fiction, Romance, and Russian history.

Whenever a historical novel blends fact and fiction, the rendition doesn’t always come up roses. However in The Secret Wife, by Gill Paul, fiction begins where fact strengthens the story, and the mixture is one that pulls at your heart strings.Delicately weaved, so delicate you sense the words whispered in your ear, as though you are meant to participate in the day-to-day occurrence of the events surrounding you.The tale takes place in a not so distant past, in the distant, foreign land of the turn-of-the-century Russia. We meet Dimitri Malama, a soldier in Tzar Nicholas II’s army, who falls in love with Tzarina Tatiana while she volunteers as a nurse at the local hospital where they gather wounded soldiers. Their meetings are chaste, and their love develops slowly over the lean times of war and oppression. I remember hearing about the Romanov’s as beautiful, caring people, and my heart always hoped they’d survived secretly somewhere pleasant.In the present time, we meet Kitty Fisher who is running away from a cheating husband, in London England to find refuge in America at Lake Akanabee, a rustic cabin left to her by her great-grandfather. She falls in love with the lake and the house and spends the summer fixing up the cottage, the quay, trying to heal from the disappointment of a broken heart. She also begins to research this great-grandfather she never knew existed. No one has ever mentioned him, and as more light shines on his identity, we find more questions she needs to answer.A poignant read, a must read for anyone loving well-researched, sensitive historical fiction.

Thank you for such a wonderful love story..I loved it and also loved The Lost Daughter..both were so good but so different. Love your stories!!