While the Stein family, who later changed their surname to Stone when arriving in America, managed to survive the Nazi occupation of Poland, their family was not without its losses, although this became a closely-guarded secret and point of contention between Molly and Harry Stone. As the years passed by in their new home of New York, daughter Hannah grew up and became a successful writer at Weekend Magazine, having married a loving man named Robert.
When her parents return from wintering in Florida, Hannah quickly realizes that her father is very sick, but she dreads being summoned to their apartment, because she and Harry have always had a very volatile relationship. When her mother abandons her to go shopping with friends, thankful for the respite from a very cranky Harry, Hannah and her father begin to talk and he opens up to her, sharing the horrifying secret. She has an older sister whom they lost in WWII!
When a trip to the hospital reveals that Harry is quite ill and his heart problems have worsened, he begs Hannah to try to find out what happened to Lena, her older sister by 9 months. With the potential clock ticking on Harry's life, Hannah can't believe her father would task her with something like this, especially the way he has always treated her, but Hannah is a doer and her lifelong motto has always been "No Mistakes!" so she undertakes the mammoth request. After all, she has spent years in therapy wondering why she always dreams of a little blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl and now she finally knows why.
Hannah's search has her digging deep and contacting everyone she can for help, from New York to Poland and everywhere in between, all while her father's health wanes. Will she find Lena or simply discover that the girl died many years before? In the meantime, she'll be juggling her career, her family, and her marriage as well. But finding Lena would be life-changing for everyone in the family, so she will persist until she has answers.
Keeping Secrets is an uplifting story about a family's quest for freedom, but also to be reunited with one another. It is equal parts family drama, deep dives into each family member's experiences during WWII, and their experiences coping as new American citizens who are also Jewish. I thoroughly enjoyed Bina Bernard's retelling of her own, deeply personal story.
