Deep Secrets

Set in Greenwich Village during Wall Street’s 1929 crash and featuring flashbacks to the Titanic’s 1912 voyage, this increasingly suspenseful historical novel by Smith (Letters to Misty) explores the effects of long-held family secrets. Nineteen-year-old Colette, the middle sibling of three, chafes at being kept home by her overly protective widowed mother who, believing Colette frail, only allows her out for weekly grocery trips. When Colette secretly begins working for grocer Walter, she thrives on the honest communication she has with him and his young employee Claude, both Titanic survivors. As Walter shares his memories of the vessel, its sinking, and a now-deceased friend, the contrast between her family dynamics, which tend toward superficiality, and the openness of her relationships with Walter and Claude—the latter soon taking a romantic turn—inspires Colette to question her mother’s restrictions, as well as her reticence to talk about the siblings’ late father. Colette’s longing for family closeness is clouded by bewilderment at her mother’s despair about the economic crash’s effects. The protagonist’s sympathetic, energetic first-person voice, her probing of her family history, and her growing understanding of injustice make for a satisfyingly absorbing story. Ages 9–12. Agent: Jennifer March Soloway, Starling Literary. (Apr.)