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Public Secrets

3/5. Tale spanning twenty years before and after the death of a rock star's kid, mostly orbiting his daughter as she grows up and begins to remember what she saw that night.

I picked this almost at random out of Roberts's vast catalog, assuming it would be a romance. This was a mistake because (1) it's mostly contemporary fiction; and (2) a baby boy dies, which was quite stressful and not the soothing bedtime reading I was shooting for. This is not a spoiler, btw – it's on the jacket copy. I was just tired and not paying attention.

Anyway, this is surprisingly rich with a huge cast of complex people. I have criticisms, like how everyone in the band ends up with a happy ending except for the queer guy, who gets – you guessed it – tragedy. But there's something compelling here. It's a soap opera that takes itself seriously enough to let you take it seriously.

Content notes: Child death, child abuse, rape, domestic violence.

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