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Lila Shaara’s first book – Every Secret Thing I only got one birthday present, and as it turned out, it was a gift of such importance, opening it should have sent psychic shivers through me. But I merely thought it a curiosity, vaguely creepy but nothing threatening. Not a portent. Gina Paletta should have been used to upheaval. From her childhood in a small southern town to her career in Manhattan’s glamorous modeling world to sudden, unplanned motherhood, Gina has forever struggled to keep her life under control. Now, at thirty-three–her “year of waking up”–she has moved with her young sons to upstate New York and reinvented herself as a college professor. At last she can nurse the fragile hope of safety, the hope of security. But Gina learns that security is an illusion when a pair of police detectives arrive at her doorstep. Two of Gina’s students have posted salacious photographs of her on a website. Even more troubling, these young men are suspects in a local murder. Beneath the campus elms, amid the ivied masonry of the collegiate buildings, and in the libraries where she secrets herself from the world, Gina Paletta must now contend with a new sensation: terror. As the tension rises, Gina turns to her family and friends, only to discover lies and violence beneath placid surfaces. Fearful for her safety and that of her children, determined to guard the new life she has built, Gina comes to rely on the company and protection of one of the detectives assigned to her case. Yet even as their relationship grows more complicated, the danger around them mounts–and Gina finds herself marshaling reserves of strength and resolve she never dreamed existed. Riveting and hypnotic, lyrical and tense, Every Secret Thing is a remarkable debut: a provocative psychological drama about love, guilt, fear, and every secret thing that binds us together.
“….a wonderfully written novel, with narrator Gina's observations bone dry and totally free of self pity.” Kim Alexander, Fiction Nation ****************************************************************
Here are some links to articles and interviews with Lila Shaara: A feature by writer and musician John Young for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
An online interview for Bookloons.com:
Lila's guest essay for Beatrice.com (“Lila Shaara Considers Her ‘Heavy Name’”):
An interview by Kim Alexander of XM Radio's Fiction Nation: www.fictionnationonline.com/reviews/everysecretthing.html
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In stores now: The Fortune Teller’s Daughter On Ballantine Books Harry Sterling is a man who has lost much in recent years; his brother, his marriage, his job, his self-esteem. A temporary teaching post at a small college in northern Florida has given him an opportunity to reevaluate his life and reconnect with his teenage son. But Harry is above all a reporter, so when he stumbles upon a rumor about the world famous research of the late physicist Charles Ziegart, Harry has no choice but to investigate. Did Ziegart steal the credit for the “Ziegart Effect”, one of the most lucrative discoveries in modern physics, from one of his students? Harry’s pursuit of the story leads him into unlikely company – the notorious Purple Lady, the fortune-teller Madame Dupree and the hair dresser Miss Baby Thorpe. He also meets the fortune-teller’s niece, the intriguing, if peculiar, Maggie Roth, a short-order cook with an affinity for the woods who has had losses of her own. As Harry uncovers more and more of Ziegart’s secrets, he finds unexpected connections between the halls of academic power and the pine woods and sinkholes of his new home. Was Ziegart a fraud? Was his young wife a murderer, or was she herself murdered? But there are good reasons why these secrets have been buried for so many years; sometimes the price for a great discovery is a life. |
"Gripping fiction...Fortune favor this entertaining read." Kirkus Reviews "Beautifully written, this novel checks in at the end of 2008 as one of the best mysteries of the year." Joanna Connors, The Cleveland Plain Dealer ********************************************************
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