February 17th 2021 – June 16th 2021.

“London 1910 – twenty-one year old Esther Watkins will do anything for the suffragette cause. Imprisoned, force-fed and beaten. Kent 2019 – with her marriage in tatters, school teacher Lizzie Armstrong moves to sleepy Elm Heath for a fresh start, and her pupils and community soon steal her heart”.
Really enjoyed this read and was glad I read it.
Esther a 21 year old suffragette believed that women should have the right to vote and would do anything for that to happen. After being imprisoned and force-fed she returns home to be disowned by her mother and having to leave her home she goes in search for another suffragette Mrs Pankhurst and becomes nanny/teacher to Agnes’s (a fellow suffragettes children. After a suffragette March went wrong and her employer (Agnes) gets pushed by a police officer which results in her loosing her baby Esther accompanies Agnes to a convalescent home to recover where she gets the go ahead to start a primary school in Elm Heath.
Lizzie moves to Elm Heath to become head teacher of Elm Heath Primary when her marriage breaks down and she needs a new start. She doesn’t intend to stay at Elm Heath long but when the school is threatened with closure Lizzie and her colleagues along with the school decide to take a leaf out of Esthers book with realising and follow the suffragette movement to fight and keep Elm Heath primary open.
Kerry Barrett writes this story fantastically somehow managing to seemly switch from one era to the other without loosing the readers interest or loosing the plot of the book and forgetting where they are or what has happened.
The Secret Letter is beautifully written and gripping, and wasn’t a disappointment and I loved every minute of this read. It will be one books that I will read over and over again.
This story shows that some things are worth the fight.
“Sometimes the fight is all part of the fun”.
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