The Children's Secret: A Novel

by Nina Monroe

Overview

In the vein of Big Little Lies, Nina Monroe's suspense debut explores the dangerous side of suburbia.

Nothing ever happens in a sleepy town like Middlebrook. Until the residents are shaken to their core, when one hot Saturday afternoon, at a back-to-school party, nine children sneak into a barn...and only eight come out unharmed.

The press immediately starts asking questions. What type of parents let their children play unsupervised in a house with guns? What kind of child pulls the trigger on their friend? And most importantly: of the nine children who were present in that barn, which one actually pulled the trigger, and why are the others staying silent?

Incredibly gripping and gorgeously written, this thought-provoking novel asks how much our children are capable of, and how far we will go to protect them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643858753
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	09/07/2021
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	631,552
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Nina Monroe grew up in Germany, France, and England. A graduate of Oxford University, she taught English and Creative Writing in the UK before settling in New Hampshire with husband and three children. Her writing has been translated into over a dozen languages and published worldwide. The Children's Secret is her first novel set exclusively in the U.S

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Children’s Secret:
“Monroe stokes the fires so effectively as racism, snobbery, and old grudges fly around decorous Middlebrook with the fury of the woes released from Pandora’s box.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A dark, taut, and increasingly tense page-turner, The Children's Secret is the best kind of suspense story, one that makes the reader think as well as feel.”
—DJ Palmer, USA Today bestseller author of The New Husband and The Perfect Daughter

“A child is shot at a neighborhood party, and so, with a literal bang, The Children’s Secret begins. As the story unfolds through multiple points of view, Monroe holds a magnifying glass to gun ownership, the claustrophobia of a close-knit community, and deep-seated cultural biases. Timely and thought-provoking.”
—Paula Treick DeBoard, critically acclaimed author of The Drowning Girls and The Mourning Hours

“The Children's Secret has it all: part mystery and part thriller and completely engrossing. Peel back the layers of a tragedy showcasing how powerful secrets can be. This is not an ordinary whodunit - it's gripping and relevant and thought-provoking - and you won't be able to put it down.” —Alexandra Burt, author of Remember Mia, The Good Daughter, and Shadow Garden

From the Publisher

2021-06-16
The shooting of an 11-year-old child during a back-to-school party throws the community of Middlebrook, New Hampshire, into a flurry of vitriolic accusations and unlovely posturing.

The irony is that Astrid Carver wasn’t even expected at the party in the first place. Her mother, law professor Priscilla Carver, had not only declined the invitation from schoolmate Bryar Wright’s parents, but urged her friends and neighbors to boycott the event as well because she couldn’t forget the shooting of her rescue dog three years ago by Bryar’s father, border patrol agent Ben Wright. But Astrid defied her mother, sneaked off to the Wrights’ place, and ended up critically wounded by one of the guns Ben stored in his wife’s riding stable. All the other children who were present tell Lt. Mesenberg that they’re too confused and uncertain to say just how Astrid got shot, but that’s because they’ve sworn each other to secrecy about what they all know perfectly well. In the absence of any hard evidence—even the gun and Astrid’s cellphone have gone missing—the field is free for someone to adorn the new mosque architect Ayaan Sayed has designed with the announcement “TERRORISTS GO HOME,” for the neighbors to turn on widowed hunter True Bowen, and especially for Priscilla Carver to mobilize every weapon she can seize against the Wrights. Monroe stokes the fires so effectively as racism, snobbery, and old grudges fly around decorous Middlebrook with the fury of the woes released from Pandora’s box that the cautiously happy ending she eventually summons feels sadly unconvincing.

Think your children couldn’t possibly behave like this? Monroe will have you thinking again.

Kirkus Reviews