Perfectly Secret: The Hidden Lives Of Seven Teen Girls
"Perfectly Secret: The Hidden Lives of Seven Teen Girls" is a compilation of short teenage biographies written by seven different women. The editor, Susan Musgrave, has a narrative entitled "Cherry Pride" that recounts a time when she feared for the life of her best friend. Her friend confessed to her that she was going to kill herself and swore the author to secrecy. Ms. Musgrave carried the burden of this knowledge with her until the day her friend slashed her wrists.
"Unseen, Unheard" by Kelys Green takes us back to a time when children were physically disciplined 'for their own good' and were never allowed to offer complaint as to the treatment they endured.
Cathy Stonehouse gives a chilling account of child molestation that results in a split-personality from the years of abuse in "Truth, Dare, Kiss, Command, or Promise: Fragments from a Life". The other "secrets" involve drugs, mental illness, parental infidelity, divorce, and racism.
"Perfectly Secret" is a gritty novel about the secrets people carry. It can encourage us to look deeper into the lives of others to consider what unknown horrors they live with. However, this book should be limited to age 17 and older due to the graphic subject matter.
