A sweeping, dazzling dual-timeline novel centering on two unforgettable women—and their inextricable link to each other decades apart.
Ukraine, 1944
As the world around her is ripped apart by war and infiltrated by Nazi soldiers, Savka Ivanets works as a medic for the Ukrainian resistance, stitching wounds by day, stealing supplies by night, and dodging firefights between the SS and Soviet partisans. When her husband, Marko, a reluctant member of the Waffen-SS, forces her to deliver a coded message to an underground bunker, she’s terrified. But when her mission doesn’t go as planned, and her son, Taras, is kidnapped by the KGB, Savka fears she’ll never see him again.
Salt Spring Island, 1972
For Jeanie Esterhazy, the world, with its whispers and curious eyes, is too much to bear. Ever since the horrific accident that left her badly scarred, Jeanie, unable to remember anything about that awful day, has pulled away from society, utterly isolated.
Then a mysterious stranger appears at her house, and Jeanie suddenly begins having flashbacks about the night of her wedding—flashbacks that hold answers to the questions she’s had for years; flashbacks that make her realize the world around her is not as it seems.
Weaving together Savka and Jeanie's stories with artful precision, The Last Secret is at once luminous and transporting, a brilliant and impossible-to-forget story of love, hope, and the breathtaking resilience of women.
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The Last Secret is a masterfully crafted historical thriller, a riveting tale that sweeps across decades and continents. The intertwined stories of a Ukranian woman ruthlessly pursued by the Russian secret police and a scarred young artist at the mercy of her nurse’s sinister machinations converge in a climactic, heart-stopping showdown on a remote island in the pacific northwest. Maia Caron has irresistibly woven historical drama, mystery and romance in a gripping tribute to women’s resistance and resilience.
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Lilian Nattel, author of Only Sisters