Secrets From The Past by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Just finished reading Secrets From The Past by Barbara Taylor Bradford.
It has been awhile since I have read one of her books and I was intrigued by this book on the shelf. The last book I read by her was Letter From A Stranger which I loved but I must say I was a little disappointed with this one.





This is a novel of deeply-buried secrets, passionate love, obsession and redemption.
 Thirty-year old Serena Stone is a talented war photographer who has followed in her father's footsteps. But when he dies unexpectedly in France, she steps away from the war zone weary of years of danger. She decides to write her father's own story and approaches Harry Redford, his best friend and front line colleague. Harry wants her to go to Venice to take care of Zac North, her former lover, who has come out of Afghanistan suffering from mental and physical exhaustion.


The scene shifts to Nice, where Serena reconnects with her older twin sisters, Cara and Jessica, at a villa inherited from their late mother, a movie star .  It isn’t until half way through that a riveting 'secret from the past' emerges. Whilst sifting through her father’s iconic archives, Serena finds photographs revealing that Tommy may have had a brief affair with another war photographer named Val. There are photos of a pregnant Val, with a caption suggesting that Serena may not be a movie star’s daughter. Serena can get no confirmation of her origins from her sisters or Harry. Then Zac distracts her from this dilemma with another. Although he promised to give up war-zone reporting, he wants to go to Libya to cover the rebellion against Gadhafi. He insists on taking Serena, now his fiancée, with him. Serena eventually agrees when she finds out that Val is now in Libya. But that’s not the most distressing information she’s withholding from Zac. I won't spoil it any further!







I found it dragged in parts. The characters all sounded the same and some of the sentences were repetitive . I just felt that there was a connection missing. Overall the story line was good.

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