Secrets and Lies (The Triptych Book 3)
By HM Holten
Review by S. S. Bazinet
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Description: We grow up trusting that our parents and teachers have the right answers. What if that belief brings us to fall?

What happens to persons who put their fate on one card? Win or lose, the risks can be unsurmountable.

Britta is a naïve and trusting child. Her father knows best. Will she find out that not everything is as she thinks? Will she be able to deal with the consequences of her faith?

Review: SECRETS AND LIES is a brilliant, hard-hitting story and a powerful reminder for all of us.

SECRETS AND LIES is set in Denmark and takes place prior to, during and after WW2. It centers around a Danish girl named Britta Rasmussen. We are first introduced to her when she’s very young. We’re also introduced to the lies that Britta is told. Are they innocent lies or are they the paving stones for the beliefs and confusion that result in a very distorted personality? For example, when Britta hears her mother making strange sounds, the little girl is told a stork bit her mother’s leg. In truth, her mother is having a baby. But Britta tries to make sense of what’s she’s told. She wonders what a stork looks like and asks if her mother will die from the bite? Later, when she wonders if she will be bitten too, her grandmother calls Britta “silly” and tells her that there is no stork.

Britta’s confusion continues as she grows up. She’s part of a very dysfunctional family where cruelty among the children is the norm. Instead of any love between Britta and her brothers, there’s only a constant desire to put each other down. Both parents seem to be caught up in their own worlds, and their interaction with their children is superficial. Early on, Britta stops trying to make sense of what’s going on around her. Instead of questioning life, she simply reacts to circumstances.

Britta’s father is pro-German, and Britta and her brothers are sent to a pro-German school. The institution becomes another source of misinformation for Britta. It teaches the children to idolize Hitler and Germany. Britta believes everything she’s told, and her beliefs give her a sense of status and significance. She longs to be an important part of whatever Hitler and Germany espouses.

For me, this story is a fascinating and horrifying portrait of how twisted a mind can become. In Britta’s case, her mind was so blinded by what she’d been told that there wasn’t any capacity left to think about anyone else but herself. There was no compassion for the harm she caused others. There was no remorse.

SECRETS AND LIES by HM Holten is a brilliant, hard-hitting story and a powerful reminder for all of us. We all grow up being taught what our parents and teachers believe. If we don’t question those beliefs, we could end up like Britta. Unless we examine what our minds are telling us and search for the unbiased truth, we too can become unfeeling robotic creatures. It’s the connection to a feeling heart that gives us the capacity to love one another with compassion and wisdom. This is a timely tale, told with depth and insight. It’s a five star story that I highly recommend.