What We Kept to Ourselves is an unfurling mystery not only of a missing mother, but of the changes that overcome a family when secrets are kept and things are untold. When children turn into adults and realize that their parents are actually people with wishes and dreams, hopes and ideas.
This is a multi timeline story, showing us Sunny’s life in 1977 as she has moved to America with her brand new husband and taking on a life that was more polished up in telling than was reality. She has many regrets and we learn of her struggles with being in a foreign country.
The other timeline is in 1999, when people were scared of the Y2K bug and the end of the world, Ana is a grown child and Ronald is starting to discover his own life and dreams. Both children are dealing with the grief of their missing mother when a the death of someone who may have answers occurs right in the family backyard.
This is a slower read but I think that the way the family dynamics and the untangling of the story is very well done.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing me with an ARC, my review is my honest opinion.
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