The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets

Miranda Hart contributes a fabulous foreword to this beautiful new edition of the beloved bestseller, published to celebrate its ten year anniversary. Hailed a 'modern vintage classic', The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets was a Richard and Judy Book Club Choice.

This special edition also includes a brand new exclusive short story from Eva Rice, The Moth Trap, which offers a glimpse into the cocktail party where Penelope's parents, Archie and Talitha, first met.

Set in the 1950s, in an England still recovering from the Second World War, this is the enchanting story of Penelope Wallace and her eccentric family at the start of the rock'n'roll era.

Penelope longs to be grown-up and to fall in love, but various rather inconvenient things keep getting in her way. Like her mother, a stunning but petulant beauty widowed at a tragically early age, her younger brother Inigo, currently incapable of concentrating on anything that isn't Elvis Presley, a vast but crumbling ancestral home, a severe shortage of cash, and her best friend Charlotte's sardonic cousin Harry...

Short-listed for British Book Awards: Best Read of the Year 2006

“So good we could hardly speak”

So good we can hardly speak - Observer

Utterly fabulous. You will love this book - Miranda Hart

A delight of Nancy Mitford-esque trials and tribulations - Vogue

If you like your green tea loose and your thank-you notes from Smythson, you'll love this modern vintage classic ***** - Heat

Endlessly brilliant. Am irrevocably in love with all the characters - Katherine Rundell

A blissful read - Scotsman

If Jane Austen were still around, she'd be writing books like this. Rice serves up a slice of vintage lit so yummy, you'll want to eat it all in one go - Cosmopolitan

Elegantly and intelligently written - Elle

Eva Rice has written 5 novels and is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets- a post-war coming-of-age story that was runner-up in the 2006 Richard and Judy Book of the Year. A 10th anniversary edition of the novel was published in 2015 with a foreword by Miranda Hart. The Lost Art Of Keeping Secrets is currently being developed by Fudge Park (creators of The Inbetweeners) and Moonage Pictures (Pursuit of Love) as a major new TV series.

Eva has toured with bands since her early twenties. She has written the music and lyrics for Harriet a musical based on an early Jilly Cooper novel due to open in 2023. She has a geek-like fascination with pop music, and her party trick is recalling chart positions.

Follow her on twitter @EvaRiceAuthor

Miranda Hart contributes a fabulous foreword to this beautiful new edition of the beloved bestseller, published to celebrate its ten year anniversary. Hailed a 'modern vintage classic', The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets was a Richard and Judy Book Club Choice. This special edition also includes a brand new exclusive short story from Eva Rice, The Moth Trap, which offers a glimpse into the cocktail party where Penelope's parents, Archie and Talitha, first met.Set in the 1950s, in an England still recovering from the Second World War, this is the enchanting story of Penelope Wallace and her eccentric family at the start of the rock'n'roll era.Penelope longs to be grown-up and to fall in love, but various rather inconvenient things keep getting in her way. Like her mother, a stunning but petulant beauty widowed at a tragically early age, her younger brother Inigo, currently incapable of concentrating on anything that isn't Elvis Presley, a vast but crumbling ancestral home, a severe shortage of cash, and her best friend Charlotte's sardonic cousin Harry...

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