The Book of Revelations: Women and Their Secrets

(Hardback)

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Description

Bestselling social historian Juliet Nicolson looks at three generation of women, and what the changing nature of the secrets they have chosen and been forced to keep tells us about our world -- and what makes us tick 'I was riveted by every single page' ELIZABETH DAY How have secrets changed over the generations, and what does that tell us about ourselves and our world In her intimate new book, bestselling social historian Juliet Nicolson uncovers one of the most enigmatic yet revealing aspects of human behaviour. According to a leading American psychotherapist most of us are keeping thirteen secrets at any one time. Secrets can thrill, but they are just as likely to torment; and the deepest ones echo far down the generations. The secrets we keep inside reflect the conventions and taboos of the world outside. As women traditionally sit at the heart of family life, their secrets can open a unique window onto wider society. The Book of Revelations unlocks a period of significant transformation for women, from the restrictions just after the Second World War, through the emancipation of the 1960s and 1970s, to the opportunities and dangers women meet online today. As we travel through time, we encounter deeply moving first-person stories, rich social history and Juliet's own experiences of secrecy. We witness long-buried family secrets shared at last, their keepers set free. Finally, we are forced to wonder whether, after a steady upwards curve of liberation, our daughters and granddaughters are once again in danger of being curtailed by censure, caution and fear. Or will they learn from the secrets of the past, to find a more secure footing for the future 'An amazing achievement - teeming with life, vivid history rolling alongside personal stories. It has a thrilling energy, and the great release and relief of telling the truth and being heard. A precious testament to sisterhood and trust' Hannah Dawson, editor of The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing

Reviews

A book about the stories we dont tell, written with such truth-telling compulsion and compassionate honesty that I was riveted by every single page. Juliet Nicolson writes beautifully about the constraints, pains and joys of womanhood and her clear-sightedness when she reveals the secrets in her own life is a true act of bravery and sisterhood -- ELIZABETH DAY
With incredible intimacy and deep compassion, Juliet Nicolson has woven together the stories that make our lives, but which so often remain hidden... This is a dazzling and surprising book, and I left it changed by the experience of reading it -- CLOVER STROUD
Juliet Nicolson is a hugely gifted social historian, one who never fails to startle a gripped reader into a new understanding of familiar ground. Here, exploring the impact of secret-keeping on the courageous, troubled and often heroic women who trusted Juliet to tell their extraordinary stories for the first time, she has once again found a marvellous subject and made it all her own -- MIRANDA SEYMOUR
An amazing achievement - teeming with life, vivid history rolling alongside personal stories. It has a thrilling energy, and the great release and relief of telling the truth and being heard. A precious testament to sisterhood and trust -- Hannah Dawson, editor of The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing
I am a voracious reader but Juliet Nicolsons book is the only one that has ever kept me up until 3 in the morning. Absolutely topical. Unputdownable. An amazing book -- ANNABEL GOLDSMITH
A triumph shocking, brave, compellingly readable and of clear importance -- PHILIP NORMAN

Author Bio

Juliet Nicolson is the bestselling author of three works of history, The Great Silence- 1918-1920 Living in the Shadow of the Great War; The Perfect Summer- Dancing into Shadow in 1911; and Frostquake- The frozen winter of 1962 and how Britain emerged a different country; as well as a family memoir, A House Full of Daughters. She is a mother and a grandmother and lives with her husband in East Sussex.