Big Secrets Everywhere cover

Cover design: Tracey Capobianco
Cover art: Cerca Con Google Silhouette Arte 

"These exquisitely-crafted short stories explore the complexity of human relationships and the ways in which secrets often upend our lives."
— Ellen Sussman, New York Times best-selling author

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Featured Story:

Love Child

Emma has submitted her DNA to an ancestry testing service, never suspecting that the results would rewrite the narrative of her family history. Renata contacts her, claims she is a cousin, possibly the daughter of her mother’s brother, and asks to meet her for lunch. Emma looks across the table and sees her Uncle Norm’s face, his smoky, dreamy eyes. Uncle Norm is dead, and so is Aunt Margaret. They never had children; said they never wanted any. Should she tell Renata that she recognizes her? Her husband Nick cautions her that Renata may want money. They don’t know her motives. Emma’s mind is on fire with questions: Who WAS Uncle Norm? Do we really know anyone?

Find out more about Emma and Renata
Part I, Secret Children, Love Child, Page 11

Praise for BIG Secrets Everywhere

  • “There’s magic in these stories, where lovely small details add up to immense things—an observed heartbeat, organ keys, mint chip ice cream, a hawk feather, the tender striations of dark and light on the abdomen of bees—all lingering long after the final page is turned.”

    -Christie Cochrell, a New Mexico Young Poet of the Year, author of Contagious Magic

  • “Jeanne Althouse writes exquisitely crafted short stories. BIG Secrets Everywhere, a gem of a collection, explores the complexity of human relationships and the ways in which secrets often upend our lives.”

    -Ellen Sussman, The New York Times bestselling author of four novels, A Wedding in Provence, The Paradise Guest House, French Lessons and On a Night Like This

  • “With their dramatic reveals, intimate revelations, and big secrets, each of Jeanne Althouse’s short stories are fresh and surprising in every way. These stories drive us to places we might not ordinarily go. I couldn’t stop reading and was haunted for days.”

    -Alice LaPlante, The New York Times best-selling author of Turn of Mind and the best-selling textbook The Making of a Story

  • “Confessions of parents, lovers, and friends of all races and sexual orientations parade through these intergenerational, thought-provoking, and impeccably written tales. Readers will find themselves asking, ‘what secrets do I know and what would happen if others knew?’”

    -Daniel S. Whitaker, Professor Emeritus, California State University San Bernardino

  • “We think we know people, and yet, do we? Impeccably organized by natural cycles of life from birth to death and gorgeously told, Jeanne Althouse’s collection reveals truths that often hide in plain sight. These twenty tales, from joyful to heartbreaking, offer insights into the changing nature of lives, and loves, and lies.”

    -Tony Press, author of Crossing the Lines

  • “BIG Secrets Everywhere is an illuminating jewel of a book. It's a collection so honest, melancholic, and dynamic that it makes you reexamine what it means to rediscover, and surrender to, our most intimate memories and darkest family secrets.”

    -Wally Suphap, Founding Managing Editor, The Plentitudes