I’m fascinated by what makes people tick, the tangled web of lies we weave in the course of our lives and relationships, nursing secrets that nestle coiled tight within; the deep and convoluted bonds of love that can so quickly turn into hate and the desire for revenge and retribution; the complicated dynamics of relationships, whether within families or cultures or religions, states or countries. As humans, we are flawed. We try to do our best but sometimes, our best is not good enough. Sometimes, our best turns out to be the worst we could have done.
The Secret Keeper explores all of these things. Secrets and revelations, joy and heartbreak, trauma and resolution, loss and reunion, love, duty, guilt, loyalty, betrayal – no tame lives for my characters.
Rani has a cosmopolitan childhood and the freedom and independence that comes with it. When her father, prodigal crown prince of the kingdom of Divanpur returns to India, she is suddenly thrust into a restrictive, patriarchal society and culture that subjugates and segregates women. She rebels against this, and, while she gets away with it because she is the king’s daughter, her partner in crime, who doesn’t have that advantage, is punished and she never gets over the guilt. Years later, when she has found love, family and community at Bletchley Park, this man turns up, and she is faced with a devastating choice…
In Rani, I wanted to show how a life, headed along a steady path can detour and derail based on one choice. And how the repercussions from it can reverberate into the future, like an earthquake causing aftershocks both big and small.
In The Secret Keeper, I explore the conflict between duty to your country and duty to your fellow and what happens when they are at odds.
The Secret Keeper asks: What if you make the wrong choice for the right reasons? What would you do, if faced with the dilemma Rani had?