The Secrets We Keep

Cassie Gustafson

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781665906951
• eBook ISBN: 9781665906968

“Visceral…a vital, heart-wrenching account of one teen’s harrowing experience.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

In the vein of The Way I Used to Be and Kelly Loy Gilbert’s Conviction, this “exceedingly well-written, powerful, and suspenseful” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) young adult novel follows a girl’s struggle to reconcile friendship, sexual abuse, and the secrets we bury deep down inside to survive.

High school freshman Emma Clark harbors a secret—a secret so vile it could implode her whole world, a secret she’s managed to keep buried…until the day her best friend, Hannah, accuses Emma’s father of a heinous crime.

Following her father’s arrest and torn between loyalty to Hannah and to her family, Emma is devastated to learn she must testify against Hannah’s word in order to keep her family together. As Emma wrestles with this impossible decision, her fractured past begins to resurface piece by painful piece—causing the line to blur between her present-day reality and the dark fairy tales she writes to survive, all of which threaten to expose Emma’s long-buried truths.

The Secrets We Keep explores the complex, powerful bonds of friendship and family, asking the difficult question: At what point does Emma’s loyalty to another become a betrayal of herself? And perhaps the toughest question of all: Can Emma find the strength to finally unbury her secret?

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• 1. You Remember the Beginning
• 2. Arrest
• 3. You Remember a Good Father
• 4. Seized
• 5. You Remember Life Before Hannah
• 6. Stranger
• 7. You Remember Splinters
• 8. Accusations
• 9. You Remember Meeting Hannah, Becoming Friends
• 10. Caught
• 11. You Remember Summers With Aunt Jane
• 12. Favor
• 13. You Remember Drowning Moths
• 14. Pretend
• 15. You Remember a Loving Mother
• 16. Weight
• 17. You Remember Date Nights and Gifts
• 18. Run-In
• 19. You Remember Tall Tales
• 20. Secrets
• 21. You Remember Four Words
• 22. Interception
• 23. You Remember Having to Move
• 24. Intruder
• 25. You Remember the Stolen Gift
• 26. Evidence
• 27. You Remember Electric Shocks
• 28. Tricked
• 29. You Remember Not Being a Good Friend
• 30. Warning
• 31. You Remember a Statistic
• 32. Missing
• 33. You Remember Choking
• 34. Crying
• 35. You Remember the Knife
• 36. Mean
• 37. You Remember Falling from Trees
• 38. Betrayal
• 39. You Remember Back Rubs
• 40. Hate
• 41. You Remember Moldy Cheese
• 42. Attack
• 43. You Remember Knowing
• 44. Stolen
• 45. You Remember Remorse
• 46. Chase
• 47. You Remember Disappointing Him
• 48. Burn
• 49. You Remember Slamming Dishes
• 50. Leaving
• 51. You Remember Showers Interrupted, Locks Denied
• 52. Heat
• 53. You Remember Strip Poker
• 54. Hostile
• 55. You Remember the Before (Aka: Trip Preparations)
• 56. Interrogation
• 57. You Remember That Trip
• 58. Poison
• 59. You Remember That One Night
• 60. You Remember Knowing; His Remorse
• 61. You Remember Darkness
• 62. Too
• 63. You Remember the Next Morning; An Apology
• 64. Fault
• 65. “The Girl And the Secret Unburied”
• 66. Safe
• 67. Mischief
• Acknowledgments
• Resources List
• About the Author
• Copyright