Best Kept Secret

by Amy Hatvany

A timely and captivating novel about a mother whose life spirals out of control when she descends into alcoholism, and her battle to get sober and regain custody of her beloved son.

Cadence didn't sit down one night and decide that downing two bottles of wine was a brilliant idea.

Her drinking snuck up on her-as a way to sleep, to help her relax after a long day, to relieve some of the stress of the painful divorce that's left her struggling to make ends meet with her five-year old son, Charlie.

It wasn't always like this. Just a few years ago, Cadence seemed to have it all-a successful husband, an adorable son, and a promising career as a freelance journalist. But with the demise of her marriage, her carefully constructed life begins to spiral out of control. Suddenly she is all alone trying to juggle the demands of work and motherhood.

Logically, Cadence knows that she is drinking too much, and every day begins with renewed promises to herself that she will stop. But within a few hours, driven by something she doesn't understand, she is reaching for the bottle-even when it means not playing with her son because she is too tired, or dropping him off at preschool late, again. And even when one calamitous night it means leaving him alone to pick up more wine at the grocery store. It's only when her ex-husband shows up at her door to take Charlie away that Cadence realizes her best kept secret has been discovered....

Heartbreaking, haunting, and ultimately life-affirming, Best Kept Secret is more than just the story of Cadence-it's a story of how the secrets we hold closest are the ones that can most tear us apart.

• ISBN10: 1439193312
• ISBN13: 9781439193310
• Publish Date: 7 June 2011
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Atria Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

Best Kept Secret is a novel that has broken one of Chick Lit’s taboos. It’s what appealed to me in the first place, it’s why I brought the novel. Chick Lit novels cover a wide range of topics, but there are some topics that are rarely touched upon. Apart from Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes, I have not read a Chick Lit novel that features its main character being a drug addict/alcoholic. It’s always the father of the character, or the mother, or the brother. It’s as if we wouldn’t be able to connect with a main character if she was flawed. It’s something that bugs me hugely. I want to read books that deal with real and proper problems – alcohol, drugs, weight issues and the like. I want to root for someone recovering from alcoholism, I want to see it portrayed properly, I want a heroine who isn’t stick-thin and beautiful and perfect. Amy Hatvany has knocked it out of the park with Best Kept Secret. I’d love to chat to Amy about why she wrote this novel and how she managed to make it not be all about the alcoholism. How she managed to make it a balanced but very informative read.

The fact is, I’m fairly sure there are a lot of mothers out there who struggle with what Cadence struggles with. I do hate that there’s a stigma attached that means (although fictional) that Cadence is judged as a person because of the disease she suffers from. I’m not saying alcoholism is right, but I’m saying it isn’t the be all and end all. I found Cadence’s story to be enticing. As Cadence herself says, “I didn’t sit down one night and decide that downing two bottles of wine was a brilliant idea.” No, it wasn’t like that. She didn’t ‘decide’ to become addicted to alcohol, she didn’t ‘decide’ to get so drunk she regularly passed out even though her young son Charlie was there, but on the other hand, Cadence didn’t have to go out one night and leave her son alone when she went to buy more booze. Best Kept Secret explores it all. It explores the good and the bad to alcoholism, it doesn’t sugar-coat Cadence’s problems and I found it to be a very real read. As Cadence struggles to beat her demons, she also has to convince lawyers that she is the one who should have primary care of her son, Charlie, and not her ex-husband Martin who got custody when Cadence went into treatment.

What originally drew me to the novel was, obviously, the synopsis but also the cover. It’s a very moody, atmospheric cover, showing a blurry figure in a red dress being shown holding a glass of wine through a rain-streaked window. It doesn’t look like a Chick Lit novel, but I am inordinately pleased I purchased the book because it was literally unputdownable. I don’t put much stock in author praise for novels – I think most author quotes are fake (without offending any authors, of course – it’s just amazing how many authors love so many books) but each and every author who praised Best Kept Secret was spot-on. There are two pages full of quotes and they’re all spot-on. Cadence’s story is one many mums and many people will be able to recognise and see possibly in their own lives. I found it incredibly absorbing, it’s one of those novels that will stay after you long after you’ve gone. With the wonderful characters – honestly, the characters are brilliant, Cadence in particular. Sure she’s flawed, sure she’s done wrong things, but her fightback from alcoholism is admirable. It doesn’t matter how someone becomes alcoholic in the first place, it’s what they do afterwards to pull themselves back that matters the most and Cadence was desperate to get herself better and I admired that.

Amy Hatvany’s writing is exquisite. That’s the best way for me to describe it. The way she portrays Cadence is brilliant and she gets it spot-on because I rooted for Cadence. I rooted for her. The love Cadence has for her son Charlie made my heart ache. I’ve honestly ran out of superlatives for this amazing novel. Honestly, I applaud Amy Hatvany for writing this novel, for taking a Chick Lit taboo and making it into an utterly amazing novel. It’s gripping, it’s compelling, it’s heart-wrenching and I just can’t get my head around just how sensitively Hatvany portrayed alcoholism but also managed to keep it real. She managed to portray alcoholism not as some glamorous thing and not as something that only happens to people who live under bridges clutching brown paper bags. Alcoholism can happen to anyone, even mothers like Cadence who have a pretty good life. I’ll certainly be eagerly awaiting Amy Hatvany’s next novel, she’s hugely talented and I’d definitely recommend you pick up Best Kept Secret. Do it! You won’t regret it.