Secret Lives Audiobook By Diane Chamberlain cover art

Secret Lives

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Secret Lives

By: Diane Chamberlain
Narrated by: Johanna Parker
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.34

Buy for $19.34

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Actress Eden Riley's decision to make a film about her mother plunges her into a shattering confrontation with her own past, irrevocably altering her life and the lives of those she loves. Her mother, Katherine Swift, was a renowned children's author who died when Eden was very young. Now Eden, recovering from a divorce and disillusioned with her glamorous life, returns to the childhood home of the mother she barely knew. She moves in with her uncle, archaeologist Kyle Swift and his wife, Louise.

Eden gets more than she bargained for when Kyle gives her the journal her mother had kept from the age of 13 until her death. Eden is spellbound by the powerfully written, intimate diary that chronicles a life of hardship, madness, and tragedy. But her fascination turns to horror when she discovers the shocking truth about her mother's life.

Eden turns for comfort to Ben Alexander, Kyle's colleague, not knowing that Ben has a secret of his own that could ruin Eden and her career. Now Eden must make a heartbreaking decision as she struggles to lay the ghosts of the past to rest and come to terms with her own future.

Shifting gracefully between Eden's world and Katherine's, Secret Lives seduces with the power of its images and the lyricism of its prose.

©1992 Diane Chamberlain (P)2013 Tantor
Fiction Women's Fiction Emotionally Gripping
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Secret Lives

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    353
  • 4 Stars
    177
  • 3 Stars
    75
  • 2 Stars
    26
  • 1 Stars
    14
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    346
  • 4 Stars
    148
  • 3 Stars
    55
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    12
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    321
  • 4 Stars
    147
  • 3 Stars
    79
  • 2 Stars
    28
  • 1 Stars
    13

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Rocky, but Powerful

This book wove together so many tough subjects, but managed to do it with a consistent story line. The plot twists could be seen a mile away, but I think that was intentional. It felt like knowing drew you deeper into the complete humanity of the characters, the secrets, flaws, all of it.

I especially liked the way it explored the world of severe social anxiety. As a person who has lived with crippling anxiety my entire life, it was interesting to see it reflected in a character from an earlier time period. You read the lines and just ache as you see it worsen and worsen. For me it was a glimpse into what my life might have been like if I was living in a world before pharmacology.

The other themes, divorce and custody, the fallout of sexual molestation, the way betrayal can deform lives, all of it was crafted quite well. The most striking thing is how well it illustrated the finality of human decisions. Nothing, once done, can ever truly be undone. You can make amends, you can go back and finish unfinished goals, but you can never actual undo anything in the past, and usually you can't even want to. Even the worst things that happen, the worst decisions, the worst betrayal, all of it still leads forward to a new place. And somehow, humans manage to find joy where they are in some way. It's almost impossible to actually want to give up the gifts of today in order to change the past, no matter how terrible it was.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good Read, but not my favorite

Would you consider the audio edition of Secret Lives to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version, but I enjoyed the audio version.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

It sort of dragged on, but the twists were good.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Wow. Just, wow.

A multi-layered book of dysfunction, misfortune, and varying forms of mental health catastrophes. Yet... I hated to put it down. Performance is really annoying at first, but either the whine becomes less noticeable as the story picks up, or is abandoned altogether.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Unexpected Plots and Twists

I started out not liking the story at first but once I really paid attention and learned more about Eden I really didn't want to stop listening. There are twists throughout the plot and the story slowly unravels to the truth and boy is it shocking.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great book

What did you love best about Secret Lives?

this was easy to follow even with the story going back to reading of the book and back to present. there are several things going on but it keeps you wanting to did it

What was one of the most memorable moments of Secret Lives?

finding out who the child molester is

What about Johanna Parker’s performance did you like?

expressive voice

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Engaging and wonderful story

This wasn’t one of my first picks but I am certainly glad I found it. The characters are very unique and interesting and a good plot line. Diane has a wonderful way of connecting the reader with her characters - they are very real and I was captured from the beginning. An unusual story line but nonetheless the characters were very believable and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good multi-layered book

I enjoyed this book even though as others have mentioned, the incestuous relationship is icky. I don't want to read about family members professing their romantic love for each other, but other than that it was a page turner.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

What a Story!

If you could sum up Secret Lives in three words, what would they be?

WTF

What was one of the most memorable moments of Secret Lives?

When she finds out the truth about her father.

Have you listened to any of Johanna Parker’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Never listened to her before but she is wonderful.

If you could take any character from Secret Lives out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Not sure if I would want to dine with any of them. Would love to go for a long walk and they would have my undivided attention.

Any additional comments?

Quite a book full of twists and turns. It was so interesting that I ended up painting the grout in my entire house just to listen to this book. (I only listen to books while commuting, working out or doing housework or yardwork.)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Secret Lives

I was ready to return this book at Chapter 6 due to the Narrator speaking so fast! Drove me crazy! But I’m a true Diane Chamberlain fan and kept going. It gets better and her narrative is not consistently fast but I’ll avoid her in the future! The story line is very good and always around Virginia which I enjoy. It’s worth the read!!!! Get past chapter 6!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not her best

It wasn't her best book. It had some good parts and some VERY
cringe worthy moments

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful