Review

The Secret Thread is the latest release from Eve Chase which tells the story of two sisters, Miriam (Mimi) and Pamela Bramley, who were torn apart by a tragic event from their past. Jo O’Mara is hired by celebrated designer Mimi Mott to write descriptions for her auction catalogue, but Mimi does not know that Jo is the granddaughter of her estranged sister, Pamela. Jo came across an old biscuit tin in her grandmother’s shed full of newspaper and magazine cuttings about Mimi’s career and Jo is intrigued to find out more. Since Pamela has been so tight-lipped about her past, Jo feels the best way finding out the truth is to get closer to Mimi.

As Mimi presents each auction piece to Jo, we are taken back to the fateful summer of 1969 when the Bramley family were working on the Caswell estate as gardeners. As the summer progresses, the class divide between the Caswell children, Nancy and Lawrence, begins to blur as the seek out the companionship of the three Bramley children, Alfie, Pamela and Miriam. Growing ever more dissatisfied with her prospects, eighteen year old Miriam seizes the opportunity of working as an assistant to the designer organising the Caswell annual summer party and discovers she has a talent for it. However, the party ends with a tragedy that tears apart both families.

Eve Chase is very good at building atmosphere and this is what attracts me the most to her books, however The Secret Thread is not as good as the previous ones I’ve read because its 2024 setting pales in comparison to the 1969 chapters. The summer of 1969 is brought to life with hazy summer days where the Bramley family carefully nurture the extensive gardens on the estate, and you can practically feel the warmth of the earth and smell the lushness of the flowers. These chapters are so vibrant that the chapters set in 2024 seem rather bland in comparison.

While both sets of parents are unhappy that their children are mixing, there really isn’t much of an exploration between the class divides as the Caswell parents are not really fleshed out and remain on the periphery. The Bramley elders are more outspoken, especially Mr Bramley, who wastes no time in blaming Miriam for causing the tragedy that has befallen them. Apparently, bad things happen if you dare to step outside of your own social circle. We soon learn there is more to the estrangement between the sisters than the tragedy of that night but it is easy to work out and not much of a secret in the end.

As far as sisters go, Mimi and Pamela are complete opposites since Mimi has always reached for the stars, while Pamela is more down to earth so it is fitting she inherited the family’s gardening traits. The sisters bicker a lot back in 1969 but you do feel their closeness, although Mimi feels slightly out of things when Pamela and Alfie are together since they are twins. While Mimi kept trying to establish a relationship with her sister over the years, it was Pamela who kept pushing Mimi away and we learn the reasons behind that eventually. When Pamela and Mimi do finally reconcile, we don’t get to spend much time with them which is a shame. I have to say some of the items being auctioned had me scratching my head though and wondering who on earth would waste their money of such trivial things.

The other major character is Jo O’Mara who is in her late twenties, just out of a break up, and barely has a penny to her name. Jo is meant to be the catalyst that brings the sisters together but she makes such a hash of things it is clear it would’ve happened without her. Although we are told Jo is a writer, it’s never very clear what she actually writes and she definitely didn’t inherit Mimi’s ambitions. Jo also develops a romance with Woody, another of Mimi’s assistants, who just happens to be the descendant of the Caswell family’s housekeeper. The romance is thin but it is not meant to be a critical theme of the book which is more about the threads that bind people together. Not my favourite book by Eve Chase but she still intrigues me.