Tell Me a Secret

by Jane Fallon

[Leah]

Jane Fallon is the absolute master of telling tales about toxic friendships. And yet, her books are never same-y. They’re always fresh and original and I was so excited to dive into Tell Me A Secret. There’s just something about a toxic friendship that makes me smile in my loneliness and want to scream at people, “THIS IS WHY I DON’T HAVE FRIENDS”. Because, here’s the thing, a lot of the time (for me, anyway) friends aren’t friends. They talk behind your back, leave you out of things, don’t get in touch, and it’s like what’s the point and that is soooooo apparent in Tell Me A Secret, where Holly is pretty much treated like crap because she got a promotion ahead of a colleague, like get a grip, support your friend, stop being a cow.

It is fairly impressive that people can take a promotion as something to take way beyond the realms of personal, as Roz does in Tell Me A Secret. Here’s the thing: three people going for one job is always going to end up with two people being hurt and you kinda just have to take it on the chin, especially if you purport to be someone’s friend. It’s not as if Holly swanned into the job with no experience, she had paid her dues for three years which while not as long as Roz (or Juliet), was obviously good enough to be promoted ahead of them both and when things started to go wrong for Holly, I felt awful, because you like to think you can trust your work friends. Even if they’re just work friends.

I really liked Holly. She was a fab narrator and the way she handled herself was so incredibly impressive. I am a wuss, I would have just ended up letting what happened happen, without doing anything about it, because I am a grade-A mug. But Holly was so competent at her job and I just wanted to punch Roz’s lights out for wanting to ruin something that was so wonderful. You could see how isolating it got for Holly as Roz froze her out without word, and got people onto her side, and made Holly look ridiculous and it was just like a car crash and I felt awful. Here’s the thing: Holly wasn’t perfect especially in regards to Juliet, but I felt like amends were made whereas Roz was unrepentant.

I really, really enjoyed Tell Me A Secret. Dee, Holly’s friend, was absolutely fabulous. She kind of friend Roz should have been and I loved her long-winded tales and her lack of a filter and the silly things she would believe from her own work colleagues. I liked that she never questioned Holly when Holly told her what was going on and instead went above and beyond to help Holly to clear her name. It made my heart happy.

Jane Fallon is such a fantastic writer. I love that she’s back on a book-a-year schedule because I look forward to her new releases each January, I just know I’m going to get a thought-provoking look into female friendship. Tell Me A Secret is yet another brilliant read from Jane Fallon and I already can’t wait for next year’s book (no pressure, Jane!).