Who do you think is the Secret Keeper?

Both Dorothy and Laurel have many secrets. Who do you think is the Secret Keeper the title references?

If you think about it, there isn't anyone in the book who is not carrying some type of secret.

There are several "secret keepers" in the novel, which helps to make it an interesting read. First, of course, we meet Vivien who is known to her family as Dorothy. But then in a flashback we find out that Dorothy was also a secret keeper as was Jimmy who got caught in Dorothy's fantasies. Vivien's first husband lives a double life as both "loving" husband and wife-beater. Laurel is also a secret keeper, especially at the end when she chooses not to tell her sisters their mothers' true identity.

The story makes us realize that in some ways we are all secret keepers, especially about our families.

There are so many characters that have secrets. Dorothy kept Jimmy a secret. Vivan kept the secret of her violent first husband, Henry Jenkins. Laurel is keeping the secret that she is investigating Dorothy's past and then finally tells her brother, but her sisters are kept out of the investigation.

All of the major characters seem to have a secret, as others have observed. Vivien and Laurel seem to have the most important secrets, but Jimmy, Henry and, to some extent Gerry have secrets as well. And perhaps most interesting is Dolly, with her combination of secrets and delusions - she is in such a fantasy world much of the time that it is hard to tell whether her "secrets" are real or imagination gone wild.

I like "Sandrah's" interpretation. Jimmy is also becomes a secret keeper in that he finds Vivien, but doesn't show himself to her and then later he meets Laurel and doesn't reveal who he is to her either. I was wondering how much Dorothy's husband knew of her secrets. He seemed to be a non-character in the book.

Nearly everyone in this book has secrets, but I think that Vivien/Dorothy was the chief secret-keeper.

I agree with Sally's. When I think of the title, I think of Vivien/Dorothy.

All the characters have secrets. Summed up well by laurap.

Thank you Navy Mom for bringing up the husband. I think that he must have suspected something amiss on the day of the stabbing. The others secrets were told to us.

My first thought was Dorothy and Vivien, but, really, any of the characters could wear that title.

I think the title is referring to Vivian/Dolly whose secret really is the basis of the book. Without her secret we would not have had such a compelling story.

I agree with all of the comments but wonder whether the secret was kept from the sisters. If not, I can't imagine how the sisters reacted.

Absolutely agree that Vivian/Dorothy is the secret keeper who drives the entire plot.
But this discussion made me think of the others more than I had.

Initially I thought of Laurel, holding on to the secret of the murder for so many years. As everyone else points out, however, the book is populated with many secret keepers!

When I started reading the book, I thought Laurel was the secret keeper because of what she saw while in the treehouse, but as I read on, I discovered that most of the characters in the book were holding onto secrets.

Maybe the question should be, Who isn't a secret keeper?

I agree with the comments of dorothyt and laurap. Every character seems to have a secret. Vivien's husband ?--nope, not a protective spouse but an abusive creep, Laurel's happy childhood? -- no, she's been haunted by a traumatic scene and lied to her brother when he was inquisitive about their youth; on and on.

What I enjoyed about his book, was that everyone seems to have some kind of secret....some bigger than others.