Rebecca’s Secrets

It’s New Year’s day, 1956. as the low winter sun penetrates the dark corners of Eric Street, it sets fire to a boy’s curiosity. “Until this day I’d lived unaware. I didn’t live my life — it lived me. But I did know I was different from other kids. There was something secret about me…

Robert Hart

26/03/2024

1–2 minutes

Book, Rebecca’s Secrets excerpts

It’s New Year’s day, 1956. as the low winter sun penetrates the dark corners of Eric Street, it sets fire to a boy’s curiosity.

“Until this day I’d lived unaware. I didn’t live my life — it lived me. But I did know I was different from other kids. There was something secret about me and my family. That morning I became curious. That day I started asking questions.”
Tommy Angel, 1956

Charming, funny, sad and uplifting, this novel is based on a true story. Tommy Angel is an orphan growing up with his grandparents, Rebecca and Daniel, in the East End of London in the Fifties.

“There’s places where no one should be and photos that no one must see. Names that should never be said and letters that mustn’t be read. Feelings that no one will show and secrets a boy mustn’t know.“

A Poem for Tommy by Prof. William Mankowitz, 1956.

Tommy tries to make sense of the world around him but his questions arouse shameful memories, stir the family ghosts and open a box of dark family secrets. Gradually he uncovers the truth about his lost sisters, his real father and mother.

The author, a distinguished educator, born in 1945, grew up in an extended Jewish family in the East End of London. This debut novel is based on his childhood.

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