The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson: A Novel

(Hardback)

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Orphan Train meets Before We Were Yours meets Water for Elephants in this compelling multigenerational novel of survival, love, and the families we make.

In 1924, four-year-old Cecily Larsons mother reluctantly drops her off at an orphanage in Chicago, promising to be back once shes made enough money to support both Cecily and herself. But she never returns, and shortly after high-spirited Cecily turns seven, she is sold to a traveling circus to perform as the little sister to glamorous bareback rider Isabelle DuMonde. With Isabelle and the rest of the circus, Cecily finally feels shes found the family she craves. But as the years go by, the cracks in her little world begin to show. And when teenage Cecily meets and falls in love with a young roustabout named Lucky, she finds her life thrown onto an entirely unexpectedand dangerouscourse.

In 2015, Cecily is now 94 and living a quiet life in Itasca, Minnesota, with her daughter Liz, granddaughter Molly, and great-grandson Caden. But when her family decides to surprise her with an at-home DNA test, the unexpected results not only bring to light the tragic love story that Cecily has kept hidden for decades but also throw into question everything about the family shes raised and claimed as her own for nearly seventy years. Cecily and everyone in her life must now decide who they really are and what familyand forgivenessreally mean.

Sweeping through a long period of contemporary history, The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson is an immersive, compelling, and entertaining family drama centered around one remarkable woman and her determination to survive.

Reviews

"An author who knows how to keep us turning the pages. Chicago Tribune Ellen Bakers first novel, Keeping the House, is a quilt that grids a small Midwestern town in the middle of the last century. Under this writers deft hands, each square is a story, a mystery, an indiscretion, a tale of the great house and grand family who once ruled there. Even more, it captures the roles of women then: both the living embodiments of demure ideals, and those who couldnt fit the pattern. Edith Whartons novels of domestic despair and display come to mind with each page. Jacquelyn Mitchard Ellen Bakers first novel is a wonder! Keeping the House is a great big juicy family saga, a romantic page-turner with genuine characters written with a perfect sense of history, time, and place. Her portrayal of the American housewife is hilarious and heartbreaking. I couldnt have liked it more! Fannie Flagg Brimming with luscious details that authenticate the story's various time periods, from early to mid-twentieth century, Baker's accomplished, ambitious debut novel is a majestic, vibrant multigenerational saga in the finest tradition of the genre. Booklist on Keeping the House American fiction just doesnt get any better than this. Buffalo News on Keeping the House

Author Bio

Ellen Baker is the author of Keeping the House and I Gave My Heart to Know This. She has worked as a bookseller and event coordinator at an independent bookstore. Originally from the Upper Midwest, she currently lives in Maine.