Scan barcode
A review by jhscolloquium
Secrets of Our House by Rea Frey
4.0
Author Rea Frey's latest book, Secrets of Our House, was inspired by her 2019 visit to the Georgia home of fellow author Emily Carpenter -- a large, black house. She has crafted an engrossing story about "secrets, lies, and betrayals," written during the pandemic when most people were spending significant chunks of time in their homes. Thus, she "couldn't think of a more perfect setting" for her new novel than the fictional Black House that figures prominently in Secrets of Our House.
The story opens at the home that Desi designed in the North Carolina mountains just outside the little town of River Falls. She runs a successful interior design firm in Chicago, while Peter, her husband, is a former Marine sniper who has made a career of training urbanites in tactical self-defense. He has also taught their daughter, Jules, to be a survivalist, and she will need those skills as the summer unfolds. Seventeen-year-old Jules is artistic and athletic, an academic achiever who is scheduled to begin her first semester at Columbia University in New York in the fall, majoring in biomedical science. She is painfully aware that her parents' marriage is in trouble. Their relationship has become increasingly "bitter, silent," with the two of them growing further apart with each passing day. Desi is lonely in North Carolina, missing the city, its energy, and her work. But she and Peter have agreed to spend the summer at The Black House for the specific purpose of deciding if their marriage can be saved.
Desi is receiving text messages from Carter, the man she loved, but hadn't seen or spoken with for years until she recently ran into him at a farmer's market. She regrets having given him her business card because now he wants to get together with her. Worse, she thinks she sees him in town. Desi isn't "sure if she secretly wants Carter to show up or if that would literally be the worst thing that could happen." On top of that, her brother, Tommy, has shown up unannounced. Tommy served with Peter and Carter in the Marines and, as a result, has suffered from PTSD and mood swings, struggled with drug addiction, and tends to appear only when he needs money. A drifter, he has just returned from Morocco and will stay with Desi's family until he decides to move on again.
Secrets of Our House is a tale about choices, and how decisions one makes about life always have consequences. Sometimes the impact of those choices is unforeseen and even unintentional, but there is no escaping the ramifications, even if, as in Frey's tautly-constructed story, they only manifest many years later.
And for Desi that's exactly what happens as the story unfolds. Jules has fallen in love with a local pilot, Will, who is four years older than she is. He has a close, loving family, all of whom have rallied around his mother, Lenore, who has terminal lung cancer. Jules loves River Falls and the close-knit community she has become part of -- almost as much as she loves Will, with whom she has become intimate. She wants to defer her studies to remain in North Carolina with her father, who dreams of building a survivalist course there. But Desi is determined to keep Jules from making decisions Desi fears she will later regret. Desi, of course, has the benefit of hindsight that Jules lacks. And plenty of regrets of her own.
For Desi, "what was supposed to be a relaxing summer has instantly turned complex." Carter is communicating with her and stirring up old feelings from which Desi has been running for many years; her brother has arrived without warning; Jules' relationship with Will is deepening and, from Desi's perspective, threatening to derail Jules' future; and Peter is becoming "less and less emotionally unavailable," despite the fact that they agreed to give their marriage one last try.
Desi astutely senses that her past is about to catch up with her and she cannot "escape herself." To give her emotional conundrum context, Frey details, at expertly-timed junctures, the choices Desi made many years ago, as well as her escalating desperation to keep long-buried secrets from coming to light. "Was her entire life really about covering up who she really was?" she ponders. Frey also explores the factors that played into Desi's decision-making all those years ago -- a desire for "stability and protection;" genuine but very different feelings for Peter and Carter; and copious amounts of guilt about her actions. Desi concluded long ago that "she needed certain and familiar, not wild and unpredictable." Frey skillfully and compassionately portrays Desi's inescapable internal struggle to finally and conclusively reconcile the war that has raged between her heart and mind for two decades.
Peter has always been a dedicated father to Jules, but often withdrawn and unreachable in his relationship with Desi. He promised to leave the Marines once they were married, but broke that promise, serving several more tours before finally coming home to stay. Did he have reasons for making that choice about which Desi has remained unaware? If so, why has he never told her the truth? Jules is decisive and committed to the life she is designing for herself, but earnest and loathe to disappoint her parents, especially her mother, in any way. With respect to Jules, Desi is well-meaning but, like every parent, makes mistakes. And her failure to appreciate the impact of her actions on not just her daughter's life, but others' lives, as well, could prove catastrophic and heart-breaking.
Frey heightens the dramatic tension and suspense by placing her characters in life-threatening situations that force them to put their differences aside and work together to ensure the survival of those they love most. In the process, revelations -- some shouted in anger and frustration at inopportune moments -- come amid critical, strategic decision-making. Desi and Peter have also long harbored resentments, jealousy, and anger toward each other and, individually, experienced profound disappointment and sorrow. The truth comes to light as they navigate an unspeakably harrowing crisis in the wilderness that could cost them everything they hold dear.
Secrets of Our House is an absorbing, entertaining, and richly emotional examination of a family that has been careening toward a crossroads -- a reckoning -- for a long time. Having now arrived there, she illustrates how each character reacts and adapts when the truth is known, and what they decide is best for each of them moving forward. Will they be able to forgive each other, and themselves, in order to forge new, healthier relationships with each other?
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
The story opens at the home that Desi designed in the North Carolina mountains just outside the little town of River Falls. She runs a successful interior design firm in Chicago, while Peter, her husband, is a former Marine sniper who has made a career of training urbanites in tactical self-defense. He has also taught their daughter, Jules, to be a survivalist, and she will need those skills as the summer unfolds. Seventeen-year-old Jules is artistic and athletic, an academic achiever who is scheduled to begin her first semester at Columbia University in New York in the fall, majoring in biomedical science. She is painfully aware that her parents' marriage is in trouble. Their relationship has become increasingly "bitter, silent," with the two of them growing further apart with each passing day. Desi is lonely in North Carolina, missing the city, its energy, and her work. But she and Peter have agreed to spend the summer at The Black House for the specific purpose of deciding if their marriage can be saved.
Desi is receiving text messages from Carter, the man she loved, but hadn't seen or spoken with for years until she recently ran into him at a farmer's market. She regrets having given him her business card because now he wants to get together with her. Worse, she thinks she sees him in town. Desi isn't "sure if she secretly wants Carter to show up or if that would literally be the worst thing that could happen." On top of that, her brother, Tommy, has shown up unannounced. Tommy served with Peter and Carter in the Marines and, as a result, has suffered from PTSD and mood swings, struggled with drug addiction, and tends to appear only when he needs money. A drifter, he has just returned from Morocco and will stay with Desi's family until he decides to move on again.
Secrets of Our House is a tale about choices, and how decisions one makes about life always have consequences. Sometimes the impact of those choices is unforeseen and even unintentional, but there is no escaping the ramifications, even if, as in Frey's tautly-constructed story, they only manifest many years later.
And for Desi that's exactly what happens as the story unfolds. Jules has fallen in love with a local pilot, Will, who is four years older than she is. He has a close, loving family, all of whom have rallied around his mother, Lenore, who has terminal lung cancer. Jules loves River Falls and the close-knit community she has become part of -- almost as much as she loves Will, with whom she has become intimate. She wants to defer her studies to remain in North Carolina with her father, who dreams of building a survivalist course there. But Desi is determined to keep Jules from making decisions Desi fears she will later regret. Desi, of course, has the benefit of hindsight that Jules lacks. And plenty of regrets of her own.
For Desi, "what was supposed to be a relaxing summer has instantly turned complex." Carter is communicating with her and stirring up old feelings from which Desi has been running for many years; her brother has arrived without warning; Jules' relationship with Will is deepening and, from Desi's perspective, threatening to derail Jules' future; and Peter is becoming "less and less emotionally unavailable," despite the fact that they agreed to give their marriage one last try.
Desi astutely senses that her past is about to catch up with her and she cannot "escape herself." To give her emotional conundrum context, Frey details, at expertly-timed junctures, the choices Desi made many years ago, as well as her escalating desperation to keep long-buried secrets from coming to light. "Was her entire life really about covering up who she really was?" she ponders. Frey also explores the factors that played into Desi's decision-making all those years ago -- a desire for "stability and protection;" genuine but very different feelings for Peter and Carter; and copious amounts of guilt about her actions. Desi concluded long ago that "she needed certain and familiar, not wild and unpredictable." Frey skillfully and compassionately portrays Desi's inescapable internal struggle to finally and conclusively reconcile the war that has raged between her heart and mind for two decades.
Peter has always been a dedicated father to Jules, but often withdrawn and unreachable in his relationship with Desi. He promised to leave the Marines once they were married, but broke that promise, serving several more tours before finally coming home to stay. Did he have reasons for making that choice about which Desi has remained unaware? If so, why has he never told her the truth? Jules is decisive and committed to the life she is designing for herself, but earnest and loathe to disappoint her parents, especially her mother, in any way. With respect to Jules, Desi is well-meaning but, like every parent, makes mistakes. And her failure to appreciate the impact of her actions on not just her daughter's life, but others' lives, as well, could prove catastrophic and heart-breaking.
Frey heightens the dramatic tension and suspense by placing her characters in life-threatening situations that force them to put their differences aside and work together to ensure the survival of those they love most. In the process, revelations -- some shouted in anger and frustration at inopportune moments -- come amid critical, strategic decision-making. Desi and Peter have also long harbored resentments, jealousy, and anger toward each other and, individually, experienced profound disappointment and sorrow. The truth comes to light as they navigate an unspeakably harrowing crisis in the wilderness that could cost them everything they hold dear.
Secrets of Our House is an absorbing, entertaining, and richly emotional examination of a family that has been careening toward a crossroads -- a reckoning -- for a long time. Having now arrived there, she illustrates how each character reacts and adapts when the truth is known, and what they decide is best for each of them moving forward. Will they be able to forgive each other, and themselves, in order to forge new, healthier relationships with each other?
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.