Hello Book Blog Hoppers!  Since I started this wonderful event back in March, it has grown beyond my wildest expectations.  We get close to, if not over, 300 book blog links WEEKLY!  That's insane!  I can't thank you all enough for joining me in the Hop each week, visiting new-to and old-to-you blogs, and talking about books!  Because, really, that's what the hop is all about - to promote books and book bloggers.

The national bestselling author of The Russian Concubine takes us back to Tsarist Russia for a sweeping novel of love and intrigue.

Russia, 1910. Valentina Ivanova is the darling of St. Petersburg's elite aristocracy-until her romance with a Danish engineer creates a terrible scandal and her parents push her into a loveless engagement with a Russian count.

Meanwhile, Russia itself is bound for rebellion. With the Tsar and the Duma at each other's throats, and the Bolsheviks drawing their battle lines, the elegance and opulence of Tsarist rule are in their last days. And Valentina will be forced to make a choice that will change not only her own life, but the lives of those around her forever...

 
The Language of Secrets
Author:  Dianne Dixon
Publication Date:  March 23, 2010
Publisher:  Doubleday
ISBN:  978-0385530637
258 pages

Source:  I received a finished copy of this book from the publisher for review.

From a fresh and exciting new voice in women's fiction, The Language of Secrets unflinchingly examines the lifelong repercussions of a father's betrayal.

Justin Fisher has a successful career as the manager of a luxury hotel, a lovely wife, and a charming young son. While all signs point to a bright future, Justin can no longer ignore the hole in his life left by his estranged family. When he finally gathers the courage to reconnect with his troubled past, Justin is devastated to learn that his parents have passed away. And a visit to the cemetery brings the greatest shock of all—next to the graves of his father and mother sits a smaller tombstone for a three-year-old boy: a boy named Thomas Justin Fisher.

What follows is an extraordinary journey as Justin struggles with issues of his own identity and pieces together the complex and heartbreaking truth about his family. With great skill and care, Dianne Dixon explores the toll that misunderstandings, blame, and resentment can take on a family. But it is the intimate details of family life—a mother's lullaby for her son, a father's tragic error in judgment—that make this novel so exceptional and an absolute must for reading groups everywhere.

The Language of Secrets is the story of an unspeakable loss born of human frailty and an ultimate redemption born of human courage.

"Justin has come in search of his father's grave.  And he had found his mother's.  And his own." pg. 11

Books are there to tell you a story; to take you into the lives of some fictional characters; to escape your own life for a time.  A book that completely captures your imagination and keeps you up until all hours of the night reading is what makes for a great book.  The Language of Secrets did that for me.  This story had me under a spell from the beginning (especially by the end of chapter 2) that I could not go to sleep until I had finished the novel.  I started it at about 5pm EST and finished it around 1am EST.  I was so absorbed in this literary mystery right along with the main character, trying to piece things together and figure out what actually happened in his life.

Justin Fisher moved back to the USA from London to accept a new job.  Being back in the area he remembers growing up in gives him the courage to finally face his past and his memories.  He has vague images of his parents, and of where he used to live in California.  He hasn't seen them in over 30 years.

Yes - you read that right.  He has not seen nor spoken to his parents in over 30 years.  Justin sets out to find answers to his past, of who he was, and of who he is as a man today.

The story is told in alternating voices and timelines each chapter, with headers letting the reader know who is narrating the chapter and when it is taking place.  It is mainly from the POVs of Justin and his biological mother, Caroline.  The chapters correlate well with each other.  As Justin searches his past, with the help of a psychiatrist friend and private detective, Caroline's chapters reveal the "real story" of what happened to Justin.  And, it is not a pretty story.

I was appalled at the actions of some of these characters.  I was enraged, furious.  And I felt for little 3 year old Justin.  My heart ached for him and broke for him.  What he must have suffered through is beyond my comprehension.  No wonder he is such a tortured man 30 years later.

This book will keep you on the edge of your seat (or bed!) until the final, shocking page is read.  As soon as you think you know the story, the author throws that very last page in there and gives the reader a last gasp as the book closes.  Literally, I gasped out loud and I'm pretty sure my chin hit the floor.  It truly was the perfect ending.

Do you hear a BUT coming?  Yeah, it's coming and here it is.

I felt that some issues went unresolved in the story.  Justin's relationship with his siblings, for example.  I would have liked to have seen a better resolution of those issues, because there is a lot of story to be explored there and I really felt like a big hole was missing in the book because of it.  I kept waiting, wondering how it would be resolved and....nothing happened.  I was really disappointed.  This book is so wonderful and engaging that it would nudged my review up to the 5 star mark had that issue been addressed.

Loved this book and definitely recommend it.

Thank you to everyone who entered my contest to win a copy of ONE SEASON OF SUNSHINE by Julia London.  The 2 lucky winners are:

Twenty years ago, Anna Hott thought she could control everything -- her crumbling marriage, her demanding children, her hectic life -- by quitting her high-placed job in New York City and moving her family to tranquil Sanibel Island, Florida. But she brought her untamed emotions, her rage toward her cheating husband, and her yearning to write a novel with her. When her husband and children left the house for a week, Anna thought at last she would get her household, her novel, and her mind in order. Instead, her elderly neighbor Fedelina Aurelio knocked on her door bearing flowers and homespun wisdom, and when Fedelina's recently divorced son arrived, Anna had a test of passions and a test of truth. Now, at 56 with an empty nest, Anna Holt pulls out the incomplete manuscript she started that memorable week and -- to find closure for her life and a conclusion for her novel -- travels to Indiana to visit Fedelina who lives in a nursing home. A novel framed within a novel, Sand In My Eyes is both a story about the tension between motherhood and personal dreams as well as a story about women across generations inspiring one another to let beauty persist despite ugly circumstances.