The latest book from Jane Corry, We All Have Our Secrets is due for release in June 2022. Once again, readers will be delighted and intrigued by the liberal sprinkling of unexpected twists, and surprising reveals. It addresses many human dilemmas in a realistic yet entertaining way. The conflict between the two female lead characters, Emily and Françoise, is skilfully teased out. The gripping plot progresses with Emily determined to care for her ailing elderly father despite the constant interference and undermining by Françoise, the beautiful housekeeper who is equally determined to look after her employer. Told from both women's points of view, and set against a modern Cornish backdrop, it is definitely a must-read novel. Highly recommended with a well-deserved 5 stars for this excellent page-turner. Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for supplying me with an advance copy.

This is a domestic thriller which will keep you guessing right up until the end - and even then, there are still a few more secrets to be revealed! It just goes to show that when we keep secrets, people make assumptions and jump to conclusions about what's going on when simply talking could clean up so many misunderstandings.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

Emily is a midwife working in London, who returns to her childhood home in Cornwall when disciplinary action is taken against her at work following a mistake she makes during a delivery.

Here she finds that her father, Harold’s health has been rapidly deteriorating. She also finds an unexpected house guest – Harold has employed a live-in carer named Francoise – and Emily takes an instant dislike to her.

Whilst at home, Emily ignores her calls and letters from the hospital and focuses her energy on working out Francoise’s motives for moving in with her father – and her suspiciously close relationship with him. She also finds herself involved once again with her first love, and struggles with emotions and vulnerability from her past.

We switch between Emily and Francoise’s point of view – with occasional accounts from Harold of his experiences as a 15-year-old during the war.

Everyone seems to be hiding a secret. Who can be trusted? And what are their motives? Who is Francoise?

Whilst elements of We All Have Our Secrets were intriguing, and I wanted to know how the story unfolded, I’m afraid I did find it a bit plodding and hard work at times. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters and was hoping for a big OOMPH moment of excitement which never really came.

What a wonderful story about life, love and loss!
I was hooked from the start and loved being able to explore the different characters and their lives/perspectives.

The tale of two sisters and the unravelling of their lives an engaging emotive read from start to finish.

Great character development I found myself invested in the outcome of both sisters and their plights.

Harold was a interesting character and I found his flashbacks added depth and strength to the story.

Jane Corry is a very talented author whose work never fails to draw you in.

This was exactly what I expected from a Jane Corry book , really well written , great characters and an excellent tale . when Emily goes home to visit her elderly father she is more than a little surprised to see a young woman living there , Francoise is his carer and Emily does not trust her right away and wonders what her motives are , we are told the story from both the point of view of Emily and Francoise , we soon discover the reason Francoise has come to England . Another very enjoyable read

It took me a long time to write a review for this book, every time I started I had to pause and come back to it. The story revolves around an old man, his absent daughter and a French carer suddenly appearing. There are many dimensions to this story, in time, location and perspective which gives it an interesting structure.I cannot say I loved or hated it but it did linger with me since I have turned the last page. Worth a read as at least it made me feel!

3.5 rounded up.

We all have our secrets it’s true but 93 year old Harold Gentle, his midwife daughter Emily and his new carer Françoise have more than most. The story is told by Françoise and Emily in the present and by Henry from 1945.

The novel starts really strongly and once Emily returns to Cornwall from her job in London (for reasons which soon become apparent) you could cut the atmosphere with a knife as the presence of Françoise is somewhat of a surprise. Emily‘s feelings of lack of trust, suspicion and certainly jealousy are very well done and her hostility to Françoise comes across loud and clear. She feels like a cuckoo in her own nest. There are some tantalising secrets hanging over them all which are unsettling and there are some chilling frissons as if there’s icy cold breath on the back of your neck. Some characterisation is very good, I like the complexity of Harold and to a certain extent Emily and the uncertainty surrounding Françoise. There are some interesting confrontations as lives begin to intertwine and guilt becomes part of the mix and a she said/she said scenario unfolds.

So far so good, it’s shaping up well and then we get the Françoise perspective and that’s when it starts to drift away from the very strong first half. The plot begins to get a bit overloaded, I enjoy the power-play between Emily and Françoise but so many things then get chucked into the mix it gets rather dizzying. The alternating points of view of Emily and Françoise also lead to repetition which is unnecessary. I’m not keen on the ending as there’s a lot of 180° twists and turns and it just feels too nice after all the angst.

Overall, it’s a more than a decent read but in my opinion not as strong as the authors previous work however, there are sufficiently strong elements to push it into a four star rating.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penguin General for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Thanks net galley and Jane Corey for this wonderful story.
Love it, could see the house in my mind and especially Francoise.
She was a terrific character.
Francoise was hired to look after Harold Gentle, in his beautiful house, as his daughter Emily never came home that often as she was a midwife in London.
But after an incident at work she came home to look after her father, and was horrified to discover someone else doing that job.
Loved the story between the two woman it was terrific.
I

This is another fantastic read by Jane Corry. I was quickly taken in by the story and characters and really enjoyed this book.
It’s one I’d definitely recommend.

thankyou to Netgalley, Penguin and Jane Corry for the loan of this book
I am already a fan of this author's books, having read most of them, and this book just made me into an even bigger fan that I already was.
The book is set in Cornwall, but jumps to the past in France. Emily is a midwife in London, but makes an error of judgement and is suspended so has no alternative but to hibernate at her childhood home. When she arrives in Cornwall, she's surprised when confronted with the gorgeous Francois who is her elderly father's carer. Having recently arrived from France, Francois is charm personified and cannot do enough for Emily's father. Emily is suspicious and keeps a keen eye on the carer when it becomes apparent that her father appears to prefer Francois to Emily. Why is Francois to close to her father? What does she want? And what secret is she hiding?
Throw Emily's love of her life into the mix, illicit affairs and illegitimate children and you have a mix of intrigue and mystery. All of which make up a brilliant thriller with a fabulous emotive twist at the end!! Go buy it!!

I really enjoyed this one! There was always that sense of unease and it just left you feeling off balance until the final reveal which I loved. There was nothing too over the top or just thrown in for shock value which added to the realism and relateability. The struggles with an aged parent who was ill was also incredibly well portrayed and that trauma and guilt that the suriving relatives are left with really did pull at the heart strings. All the characters were so well written and so relatable in their own ways, this is a perfect one to indulge I and just shut the world away!

Excellent book that makes you want to know more about their lives and secrets. Parts of the book are sad, but happy conclusion.

Another winner from Jane Corry. Certainly a page turner.

Emily, a midwife, goes to work even though she is feeling under par, and she makes a slight mistake that has repercussions for her and she decides to return to her parental home and visit with her father. On arriving she finds that he has employed somebody to assist him - a young, pretty, French girl. Should she be worried.

Really interesting and thoroughly absorbing.
Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

The story rattles along quickly as secrets unfold as we jump between war time France and many years later back at home.

The three main characters are well drawn and engaging in their own ways. I particularly enjoyed the first person narrative from Françoise.. Emily is a complex and secretive character who I was less drawn to, however she has a lot to deal with and you can understand her confusion and loss.

A charming book that anyone who enjoys good fiction will appreciate

This story mostly revolves around Emily who works as a midwife in London. She returns home to find a young woman living in her family home with her father. Emily doesn't trust the young woman and is convinced she is telling one lie after another, but is this woman the only one telling lies? This is a good gripping book with quite a few twists.

I really enjoyed this book and it kept me reading to the end, as I was interested to see what happened and what was the truth of the whole story. I'm not sure the character of the French girl really came to life for me as I found her a little difficult to believe in somehow, very stereotypical, though Emily was completely believable so maybe it was the contrast that didn't work for me. There are plenty of twists and turns in the plot to keep you interested, though I could have done without the added WW2 plot which I found a bit tedious in some ways, but maybe that's just me. The writing has a good pace and motors along well, so even if some parts don't grab you quite as much, then the next part will. I suppose that's always the problem with books that have several narrators and several stories going on, there's always one that grabs you more than the others. Overall, it does exactly what it says it will - lots of secrets and lots of page turning interest and intrigue!

Set in Cornwall, we follow the stories of Emily and Francoise whose lives are affected by the secrets they hide and keep to protect those they love. A good read. All about belonging. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.

I am a huge fan of Jane Corry so was very excited to get an ARC. A very interesting thriller told from two different perspectives and then you have some flashbacks thrown in as well from a third party.
I enjoyed the first 80% of the novel and when I thought the story is now done it seemed there was still 20% left to read on my kindle. In my honest opinion the last 20% brought nothing to the book and was really unnecassary and irrelevant to the preceding story. I wish the editors would remove this part which could've been tied up in a couple of pages of epilogue if they really felt it needed to be added to the novel.

I received this book with thanks to Netgalley and the publisher and really enjoyed it to the point that I'm going to work my way through Jane Corry's other books. It had several twists and turns and I found it hard to put down.

Also, I didn't find it overly unrealistic, which some other thrillers can be.