The Secret Between Us

Deborah Monroe is driving home from a party with her daughter, Grace, when their car strikes a man running along the road in the dark. Grace is the one behind the wheel. Before the police arrive, Deborah sends her home and prepares to take the blame herself.

The decision is meant to protect Grace, and Deborah makes it quickly, out of love. But the lie does not stay where she put it. It grows and acquires momentum of its own, and each step to keep it in place puts more strain on the closeness the two women share.

This is contemporary family fiction built around a single moral choice. It looks at how a decent person can make a bad decision for a good reason, and at what that decision costs once it cannot be undone. The focus stays on the mother and daughter and on the pressure the secret places between them.

The tone is serious and the situation is tense, driven by consequences more than by action. Its questions about loyalty, responsibility and honesty suit book club discussion.