Secrets My Mothers Kept: Book Club Discussion Guide included

Found „Secrets My Mother Kept“ intriguing. Especially if adoption is a subject you’re interested in, this may give you some valuable insights and understanding of the complex emotions and relationships that adopted adults can have. As I understand, this account is fictitious, although it reads like it’s a personal experience.Having myself a couple friends who were adopted, I was grateful for this perspective.Found it to be well written.

Ms. Tucker has given us heroine Austin, a young woman forced to come to terms with newly learned facts about her origins, as well as with the betrayal unveiled by her discovery. With sensitivity and dexterity, Ms. Tucker offers us an inside view of the Austin's world and her struggle to adjust to the facts of her life. That evolution, in turn, serves as a metaphor for the struggle that all of us undergo from time to time as life confronts us with new looks at ourselves. Well done, Ms. Tucker!

I really enjoyed Secrets My Mother’s Kept. Certainly not a topic I’ve ever given much thought to. Interesting. The vandalism at the Synagogue is a stark reminder of the difficult times we are going thru.

I was drawn into the story and the characters. An interesting tale. Touched on conversations and relationships between people. A great book for a book club.

Rebecca Tucker describes college student Austin’s complicated journey from personal ignorance to knowledge. Her impressive academic achievements & comfort with being gay presage her success at untangling 2 basic - & confusing - questions of personal identity: Who am I as an adopted child? Who am I as a Jew? This debut novel tells a good story.

The protagonist in Tucker's debut novel is secure in her religious faith and sexual identity but when she learns a secret her mother never revealed it unleashes intense questions of belonging. This well-crafted page turner reads a bit like a detective novel. I look forward to reading more by this talented writer.

Rebecca Tucker has written a book that takes a deep dive into the complicated issues of Jewish identity and adoption. It is an unsparing exploration of the anger, disappointment and love we all grapple with as we live our lives.Susan Goodman

Tucker’s novel is a coming of age story inside the world of a southern gay community. The main character, Austin, draws the reader into her web of romantic relationships, friendships and family secrets. She is both a character that instantly strikes empathy while at the same time frustrates the reader with her fierce independence and stubbornness. Tucker takes you on a journey of self-discovery, deceit, and ultimately forgiveness. It is a must read for anyone curious to understand life in a gay community as Austin grapples with feelings of faith and trust throughout the novel.

I picked this book up because it was the selected book of the month for a writers/book club I am in. It is not my usual genre by a long shot, which is more fantasy/sci-fi in taste, so I read this with a grumble of foreboding in my gut.I loved it. Can’t say more than that. Maybe it was because it was not my usual fare but it felt fresh and honest and interesting. I can’t say too much about the story without giving a few spoilers, so I won’t. But I will say it was so easy to read and simply written, yet conveyed complex emotion and feeling without getting too heavy. I learnt about things that I had little experience or knowledge of and thoroughly enjoyed it.I recommend this book.

The main character's world was shaken up when she discovered that she'd been adopted. It seemed that her very identity was called into question. The narrative was compelling as she re-examined past relationships and embarked on new ones. It was troubling to read about the threats to the Jewish community. I found this a very interesting and informative novel.