You’re an only child, have a single mother and you know nothing about your family or its past. So when your mother receives a mysterious note about your grandmother you are nothing but suspicious. Your friends are acting cruelly and your mum is becoming more distant. Your mum, Anne, decides to go to Ireland to look after her mother who is in hospital after suffering from a stroke. You can’t imagine anything worse. But when she goes to Ireland she discovers things about her family’s past and her father. Will Kate find out who her father is? Why did her mother leave Ireland? And why doesn’t her mum speak about her past? Rebekah Yr9

‘Family Secrets’ by Brian Keaney is about a young girl called Kate, who is interested in her mother’s background. Kate knows hardly anything about her mother, Anne’s, history in Ireland and why she left.  When Anne’s mother suffers a stroke, she is forced to go to Ireland to visit her. Kate takes this opportunity to find out about her mother’s past. ‘Family Secrets’ is very simple but has lots of detail in it. The main character of this book is Kate, who always wants to know more and wants to discover things. She is easy to relate to because if you were put in her shoes, you would want to know more especially if it was all because of you that your mother had to leave her home town, Ireland. Niamh Year 9