Read it or Weep

Truths I Never Told You

by Kelly Rimmer

The story flips back and forth between the 1950’s and the 1990’s. Beth and her 3 siblings had been told that their mother, Grace, died in a car accident when they were very young. Their father, Patrick, was left to raise four young children. Decades later after their father died, Beth is cleaning out his padlocked attic when she comes across notes written by their mother that indicate something else happened.

Both Beth and her mother suffered from postpartum depression. The way the condition was treated in the 1950’s for Grace is very different than the help Beth receives. Secrets must have haunted Patrick for decades and sadly even at the end of his life he was unwilling and eventually unable to share the truth. His children were left to sort out exactly what really happened to their mother.

This is not a happy-ever-after book, but it’s a good story. It compares the roles of women and their healthcare in the mid and late 20th century. 

~Emma