A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay--Audiobook Excerpt

Listen to this audiobook excerpt from Tatiana de Rosnay's novel A Secret Kept. This stunning new novel from the author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller Sarah's Key plumbs the depths of complex family relationships and the power of a past secret to change everything in the present.

It all began with a simple seaside vacation, a brother and sister recapturing their childhood. Antoine Rey thought he had the perfect surprise for his sister Mélanie's birthday: a weekend by the sea at Noirmoutier Island, where the pair spent many happy childhood summers playing on the beach. It had been too long, Antoine thought, since they'd returned to the island—over thirty years, since their mother died and the family holidays ceased. But the island's haunting beauty triggers more than happy memories; it reminds Mélanie of something unexpected and deeply disturbing about their last island summer. When, on the drive home to Paris, she finally summons the courage to reveal what she knows to Antoine, her emotions overcome her and she loses control of the car.

Recovering from the accident in a nearby hospital, Mélanie tries to recall what caused her to crash. Antoine encounters an unexpected ally: sexy, streetwise Angèle, a mortician who will teach him new meanings for the words life, love and death. Suddenly, however, the past comes swinging back at both siblings, burdened with a dark truth about their mother, Clarisse.

By turns thrilling, seductive and destructive, with a lingering effect that is bittersweet and redeeming, A Secret Kept is the story of a modern family, the invisible ties that hold it together, and the impact it has throughout life.

Learn more about the book A Secret Kept at http://us.macmillan.com/asecretkept/T...

Read more about bestselling author Tatiana de Rosnay at http://us.macmillan.com/author/tatian...

Read about audiobook narrator Simon Vance at http://us.macmillan.com/author/simonv...

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Closed Caption:

I'm shown into a small grab a room
told to sit down and wait 6
empty brown plastic chairs face each
other on tired linoleum
in a corner a fake green plant shiny
leaves coated with dust
I do as I'm told I sit down
my size tremble my palms feel clammy
my throat parched my head throbs
I think I should call our Father
now I should call him before it gets too
late
my hand makes no effort to grab the
phone in the pocket of my jeans
call our father and tell him what
tell him how the lighting is harsh
glaring strips have neon bobbing this
evening
the walls a yellowish and cracked I sit
there
nom hopeless lost I long for a cigarette
I wonder if I'm going to retch bring up
the bitter coffee in
stale real rush I had a couple hours ago
I can still hear the screech other
wheels
feel the sudden lurch in the car as it
veered sharply to the right
careening into the railing and her
scream
I can still hear her scream how many
people have waited here
I think how many people have sapped when
I'm sitting now and waited for news of
their loved ones
I cannot help imagining what these
jaundiced walls have seen
what they know what they remember tears
shouts all relief cope
Paden or joy the minutes click Buy
I watched the round face uva grime a
clock above the door
there is nothing else told me to do but
wait
after half an hour or so a nurse comes
in
she has a long course he faced skinny
white arms
miss your day yes I say
my heart in my mouth you need to fill
out these papers with her details
she hands me a couple sheets and a pen
is she
alright I mumble my voice seems
thin mints trained chief Lakers watery
Lashley size over me
the doctor will tell you the doctor will
come she leaves
she has a sad flat us I spread the sheet
of paper over my knees with trembling
fingers
name birth date and place marital status
address social security number health
insurance number
my hand still shakes as I print out
Melanie ray born August 15th
1967 that we're going to be on call
single
49 grew dark oak at pat is 750 11
I have no idea what my sister social
security number is
or health insurance number for that
matter all that stuff must be in her
back
where is her back I can't remember
anything about her back
just the way her body slumped forward
when they hold her out of the car
the way her limp arms hun down to the
ground from the structure
and then I was my hair out of place
not a bruise on my skin and I have been
sitting right next to her
I flinch I keep thinking
I'm going to wake up the nurse comes
back with a glass of water
I gulp it down it has a metallic stale
taste
I shanker I tell her I don't have
Melanie's
social security number to Knotts takes
the sheets and leaves
the minutes inch by the room is silent
it is a small hospital a small town I
guess
in the suburbs have known I'm not quite
sure where
I stink no air conditioning
I can smell the sweat trickling under my
armpits gathering around my growing
the sweaty meaty smelled of despair and
panic
my head still throbs I try breathing
calmly
I managed to do this for a couple of
minutes then the helpless
awful feeling takes over us wants me