If you’re a fan of Lynn Austin’s writing, you won’t want to miss her newest book, All My Secrets, to be released February 6 but can be preordered now. This book tells the story of three generations of women in one family that is woven together with such skill that you’ll be caught up in the story from the outset. The setting is the Gilded Age in New York City beginning in 1898.

You meet the three main characters as they are in a cemetery grieving the loss of Arthur Benton Stanhope III. There is his mother, Junietta, his wife, Sylvia, and one of Sylvia’s daughters, Adelaide. The sudden death of this man throws all of them into grief and upheaval they do not anticipate. They have been living in what would seem a castle with all the luxuries and wealth that accorded them a place in New York society hobnobbing with families of great wealth whose names you would recognize. Their lives had followed the pattern of this group with summers in Newport sailing and socializing as each family sought to bring about marriages that ensured wealth and prestige continued to the next generation.

Adelaide has been groomed as a 19-year-old to be attending balls to meet prospective suitors to court and ultimately wed her. Now she is unsure of what life will be without her father. Her mother has been a driving force in her life and is determined to put Adelaide in a position to marry well despite knowing these sorts of marriages are too often loveless. Now as they go into a period of mourning wearing black, Adelaide wonders how that can happen. She shares few of her feelings with her mother who is consumed with how things must be done but her grandmother and the family matriarch, Junietta, loves her dearly and longs for more than this while still being largely unknown to anyone in the family including her granddaughter.

It soon becomes evident that the Stanhope family (not unlike many families) is not fully known in society or to each other. Secrets abound and without their knowledge of each other, judgments are made that keep these three generations of women in this one family from truly knowing one another. Adelaide finds herself in the middle of her grandmother and mother’s differing views and values with each trying to show Adelaide which is the best while protecting secrets about their lives and past neither one knows.

But secrets have a way of coming out in a family crisis and Arthur Stanhope III’s sudden death precipitates that at the reading of his will and puts the women’s lifestyle and future full of uncertainty. Who will survive in the tug of war between Junietta and Sylvia focused on getting a wealthy husband for Adelaide or one who would love her and help her get to know herself and the realities of life?

Each woman will face changes they do not expect will be required but how they respond to this will lead to the power of the story and how God reveals himself to each one. Each learns the challenge of change and discovers doing something new helps them move forward.

Lynn Austin not only weaves the story and its complexities beautifully but develops a key thread in the telling of the story.

“All My Secrets also explores the theme of God’s forgiveness and shows the destructive consequences of bitterness and grudges. I pray that this story will convince you that God’s forgiveness is available through Christ’s sacrifice to anyone who realizes they have ‘missed the mark.’ And in turn, that you will be able to forgive others out of gratitude for God’s amazing grace.”  

Lynn Austin