Skeletons

by Jane Fallon

All Jen had ever wanted was a big, happy family. And when she married Jason and became part of the Masterson clan that's exactly what she got. For years everything was perfect. But then Jen sees something that she was never meant to see; unearths a secret she was never supposed to discover. If she tells, then her idyllic life might be over. But can she really keep it to herself?

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Audiobook, Womens Fiction, Ebooks, Drama, Contemporary

439 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2014

About the author

Jane Fallon is an English producer and novelist, most famous for her work on popular series Teachers, 20 Things To Do Before You're 30, Eastenders and This Life. She is author of ten novels on the Sunday Times Bestseller List — Getting Rid of Matthew, Got You Back, Foursome, The Ugly Sister, Skeletons, Strictly Between Us, My Sweet Revenge, Faking Friends, Tell Me A Secret, and Queen Bee. In 2011, Foursome was nominated for the Melissa Nathan Award for Romantic Comedy Fiction, and in 2018, Faking Friends was nominated in the popular fiction category of the National Book Awards and in 2019 was long listed for the Comedy Women In Print prize.

Fallon has been in a relationship with popular comedian Ricky Gervais since 1982, after they met while studying together at the University College London. The couple has lived together since 1984 and are based in North London.

Reviews

[Zarina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review originally posted to my blog:

http://www.pagetostagereviews.com/201...

Whenever I talk to people who don't often read the genre many define as "chick-lit" there's one author that stands out from the crowd and that's Jane Fallon. Even the most crime-obsessed amongst my friends has read at least one of her books and when I mention I like women's fiction she comes highly recommended. So when I had the opportunity to read her new novel early my interest was instantly piqued as I was keen to discover if this author is truly is amazing as everyone tells me she is.

Perhaps it was my high expectations, her books have made non chick-lit readers gush after all, but I was extremely disappointed by Skeletons. The story was perspicuous and predictable and the characters were insipid. I found it difficult to connect to any of them, even main character Jen wasn't relatable or even remotely likeable. I understand that just as in life you can't like everyone, but feeling at least some sort of interest in what would happen to them next is very helpful in a novel, otherwise it becomes a struggle to finish it at all.

My main issue lay with the fact that the characters' relationships faltered on the unrealistic for me. It seemed unconceivable for instance that Jen had shared years of her life and secrets with best friend Poppy, only to be shunned completely and seemingly forever when she was simply the messenger of some very bad news. Add to that Jen's whining and self-absorbed tendencies as well as her spineless husband and I simply stopped caring about the book's conclusion.

While the novel was just about enjoyable enough for me to continue reading until the end, the journey there was amateurishly put together (I saw every twist and turn coming from miles away) and instantly forgettable afterwards - even a mere week after finishing it I'm struggling writing this review as the story and characters have blended together with so many similar novels in my memory.

This would have been an adequate debut novel from a writer venturing into the genre for the first time, but from an apparent master of storytelling such as Jane Fallon I expected much more.

[Bookread2day · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reason I wanted to read Skeletons by Jane Fallon is because I am have read and enjoyed reading Foursome by Jane Fallon.

I have always wanted to read her other books Getting Rid Of Matthew, Got You Back, and The Ugly Sister, but I have not round to buying them,.

I loved reading Skeletons from start to finish because Jane Fallon is so good at making a story full of situations that you can believe in. Jane knows how to keeps the reader wondering what is going to happen next.

Jane makes all her characters seem real just like the girl next door that you know well and have feelings for.

Skeletons is about Jen who is happily married to Jason. It appears that Jen an only child and has come to love her husbands family more than her own. That is until while Jen is working in an hotel she discovers a dirty secret about Jason her husband's father. This puts Jen in an awkward situation how can she keep the secret to herself about her husband father?

With this secret worrying Jen the big question is how long can she keep up a lie to her husband pretending nothing is wrong. If she tells the truth to her husband about his father can Jen live with out come that may tear his family apart? With Jen keeping this dirty secret to herself gradually Jen starts to become very distraught with hardly speaking to Jason's family..

I highly recommend Skeletons to all readers who like reading about betrayal in family life novels.

I hope that many readers will enjoy reading Skeletons as much as I have.

[Shirley Revill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best book by Jane Fallon that I have read but not too bad a read.
It was good enough for me to want to finish the book but would not want to read for a second time.
Enjoyable but predictable.

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is nothing I enjoy more than a book about secrets, especially those that are meant to stay a secret. Jen had grown up in a claustrophobic relationship with just her mother, so when she met Jason, his parents and his two sisters she falls in love with this lively family, perhaps as much as she did him.

Years later soon after the second of their two daughters, Emily leaves home for university Jen sees something across a street that she wishes she hadn’t. Jen has no-one to share what she has seen, her social life revolves round the Masterson family and she can’t reveal anything to any of them! Soon Jen withdraws from the family as the strain keeping the secret becomes overwhelming. The strain begins to pull at the seams of her marriage as she determines that the secret must stay under wraps, after all there is a family getaway and she must put a smile on her face and not give anything away...

Jane Fallon has got back to using clever observations to lift her writing and this time has chosen a subject we can all relate to. In fact there are a few secrets that are bubbling beneath the surface in this book which is ultimately about relationships. It is also about a couple coming to terms with their new role in life now that they are no longer in daily demand from their daughters, the bargains that are made within relationships, often unstated, that outsiders have no idea exists.

I enjoyed this book, I sympathised with Jen and although I wouldn’t have made the choices she did, I could understand why she made them. That is important to me because if I do need to believe characters in the books I read aren’t making randomly stupid decisions. Jason was a bit more of a shadowy figure until later in the book, a more or less identikit perfect husband and father who adores everyone, his wife, his sisters, parents and daughters with a laid-back geniality but in time we get to see a glimpse of what goes on beneath the surface.

Best of all I totally agreed with the ending, there were surprises along the way culminating in decisions being made that to my mind couldn’t have been different. Jane Fallon has won me back as a fan with this enjoyable novel.

I received a free copy of this book in return for my review from the publishers Penguin Books.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 3 out of 5]

British author Jane Fallon's fifth novel, Skeletons, exposes the myth of a happy family by revealing the explosive secrets and lies they keep from one another.

After Jen Masterson covertly observes an intimate argument between her father-in-law, Charles, and a young woman outside of his office, she becomes convinced he is having an affair. Jen would rather pretend she saw nothing at all but horrified at the threat to the happy family she adores, she decides to confront the stranger, completely unprepared for the shocking secret she will uncover. Now Jen knows the truth, a secret she can't share with her husband of twenty years, Jason, nor her best friend, Poppy, who also happens to be her sister-in-law but for how long can she pretend nothing is wrong? For how long can she live a lie?

Jen is caught on the horns of a dilemma, her aim is to protect the family she has made her own but keeping this enormous secret is a burden she finds impossible to bear, Fallon shares Jen's circular debate about the issue until she is paralysed by indecision. I lost patience with Jen at times, even though I could sympathise with her quandary, there is an element of self absorption in the way in which Jen handled the entire affair, no matter how often she claimed otherwise, which is underscored by her relationship with her own parents.

Generally, I thought Skeletons to be well written with confident prose and dialogue, though I did feel the pace dragged somewhat in the middle. The ending is a little surprising but I think it also wholly appropriate. Trust is a crucial element of any relationship after all and it was brutally severed in the aftermath of the secret being revealed.

I found Skeletons to be a satisfying read, exploring a thought provoking moral dilemma which I think would particularly provide interesting fodder for book club discussion.

[Zoe · Rating 1 out of 5]

The set up had potential but Cass not Jen should have been the main character. Jen comes across as a selfish and uninteresting character, it's hard to care what happens to her. Cass was much more interesting and sympathetic but once her controversial existence is exposed she disappears from the main story. It made me sad! Not only is Cass rejected by her fictional family but even the author who created her rejects her. Instead we get to hear about Jen and how the trauma that actually belongs to Cass effects Jen and her feelings and her place in the world.

[Jill Dickinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of chick lit, but needed a second book in a "buy one get one half price" deal and grabbed this one in a hurry. Despite a very predictable storyline (you can see each twist coming a mile off) and some cringeworthy attempts at humour in the prose, this novel is saved by the fact that the plot is fairly interesting and the characters well drawn. I cared enough about the central character, Jen, to want to read to the end. A good beach book, I'd say, but not memorable.

[Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

A promising blurb and opening chapter and then it turned to blurrrgh.

I found nearly all of the characters unsympathetic and really struggled with the lead's decision to meddle. Flicked to the end and found I still didn't care.

Not for me.

[Bree T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jen has been married to her husband Jason for over twenty years and they’ve just seen off the second of their two daughters to university, leaving her with a bit of an empty nest syndrome. As a family unit they worked but Jen finds that with her and Jason on their own, life isn’t exactly as she expected it would be. She feels a bit empty, lost without anyone to look after and she and Jason don’t really seem to be connecting. The bright spots are visiting Jason’s parents at their large country house – for Jen who grew up with only a mother in her family, Jason’s larger, colourful family are amazing. She loves them all and loves being a part of their closely knit clan.

But then Jen discovers a secret about someone – by accident. She’s not sure what to do with the information. She could tell Jason but in doing so she would destroy his view of someone and quite possibly her marriage as well as someone else’s. But keeping this secret to herself is proving to be more difficult than Jen imagined. It’s festering away inside her head, longing to come out even though she knows the damage it would do would be irreparable. Jen doesn’t want to risk being cast out by Jason’s family either. She’s been a part of it for over twenty years and to be put out now would be unthinkable.

But if Jen doesn’t spill the secret, someone else threatens to. And that could be even more catastrophic than if Jen were to do it. She has to make a decision and quickly because secrets have a way of coming out, no matter what.

Skeletons is the fifth novel of English telelvision producer Jane Fallon, who has worked on shows such as This Life, which was one of my absolutely favourite shows as a teenager. It only ran for a couple of seasons but it was a punchy kind of show about a bunch of twenty-something lawyers sharing a large house in London. It probably helped launch the careers of Jack Davenport, now best known for his roles in the Pirates of the Carribean movies and the TV shows Flash Forward and Smash and Andrew Lincoln who has also appeared in the movie Love Actually and now stars in the cult hit The Walking Dead. Jason Hughes also appeared in the first season and then went on to become DCI Barnaby’s sidekick in later episodes of Midsomer Murders so This Life even 20 years later, has held up casting wise. I haven’t read any of Jane Fallon’s previous novels but I’ve heard some good things about Foursome so I was very excited to read this.

Jen’s father walked out when she was 8, leaving her with just her mother. She longed for more of a family and when she met Jason and his incredibly closeknit family, she was overjoyed to become part of it. They quickly married and had two young daughters, further cementing her within the clan. She soon preferred spending time with Jason’s family rather than her mother and became best friend’s with Jason’s sister Poppy. For Jen, life is perfect until her two daughters leave home for university, leaving her restless with Jason. When she discovers a shocking secret about someone she cares deeply about, a secret that would ruin her family, she becomes torn about what she should do.

Jen as a character, drove me nuts. She did so many things that made the situation worse, she festered on it, allowed herself to become obsessed by it, she made it personal by applying it to her own situation and in a way, making it all about her…but yet did nothing about it until she couldn’t keep it in anymore and spewed it out at possibly the most inappropriate time. When she was blackmailed, I don’t know why she didn’t just go to the relevant person and say something like “Look, I know your secret, I’m being told to tell or else, sort it out”. Or maybe she should’ve just told her husband in the very first place if she was so concerned about his feelings. Instead I had to read through a lot of pages of Jen swinging back and forth and agonising over what to do constantly, allowing it to affect her work. She spends a lot of time waxing lyrical about how she can’t look people in the eye and trying to get out of events and picking fights. It becomes a bit tiresome to be honest, because it makes this book feel about 100 pages longer than it should be.

However what rescued this novel for me was Jen’s decision at the end of the book. When she realises that some things she’s always seen as wonderful and desirable, are in fact, not really and that maybe what she longed for all these years, wasn’t worth actually longing for in that way. It felt to me much more realistic in terms of an ending than the other possibility that the author poses, which would’ve left me with a really sour feeling about this book. I appreciated Jen’s evolving feelings about her situation and the way she decided what she needed to do and who she wanted. It made me wonder what I would do in Jen’s situation – I like to think I’d tell my husband even if I knew it would upset him, because keeping secrets from him is not something I’d be comfortable with and even though the messenger inevitably gets shot, I’d rather get shot straight away and have the chance of them realising that anger is misplaced, than be shot for knowing and not telling and giving them a much more genuine reason to be resentful.

Skeletons is an interesting look at different family dynamics and the whole ‘grass is greener’ feeling. I had some issues with it and it did feel longer than it needed to be but overall it was certainly an interesting exploration of relationships and secrets within a marriage and what people decide to do with information relative to how it affects them.

[Kirstie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chick lit is not my preferred genre and I can imagine some being wound up by such a weak lead character but I just let it wash over me and take it as it was
Happily married woman who loves the family she has married into finds out a shocking secret.....which she then keeps to herself, of course she does, but then guess who they turn on when said secret comes out? Yep you can guess where it goes

[Helena Wildsmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another lovely, quick easy read by Jane Fallon. An unrealistic story but a good one, nonetheless. Fallon is very good at creating plot twists and this one presented with quite a few.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!! Couldn't put it down!!

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently won a signed copy of Getting Rid of Matthew in a competition on twitter. What nostalgia, it brought back happy memories. I just love all her books — she has the fantastic ability to bring to life, ‘real life!' It’s a little like voyeurism looking into the lives of people who could, very easily be my own family or friends.

When I heard she was bringing out her fifth book Skeletons in March of this year I literally couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I was on the list for a proof copy to review from Penguin but saw it up on Netgalley and couldn’t wait. Although, if Penguin still wanted to send me a paper copy I’d just love them forever.

Jen, the main character in this novel is ‘living the life’. Family, or rather her husbands extended family provides everything she needs in life — his parents are closer to her than her own, his sisters her best-friends. Everything is perfect. Which is why, when she discovers a secret that could potentially rock that life she decides to do something about it.

Jane Fallon takes us on an emotional journey as Jen battles to make the right decisions. Trying to protect the family and in doing so discovers things about her own family she didn’t know. Every turn of the page was with anticipation. It really was a roller-coaster of a book. Climbing to the summit only to plunge again, then to rise again with each chapter. Jane developed such good characters, whose lives and emotions were so vivid that I felt real empathy and emotion for them. I liked and disliked the right people, although, as was Jane’s intention my opinions of them changed throughout the novel too. I often found myself silently berating, praying, wishing and hoping for different outcomes as the book developed.

The best type of books in my opinion are books that make me think. This book had me thinking long after the final page. Is it better to turn a blind-eye to keep the status quo or should you unlock a can of worms and hope for the best. Jen, like many people I know in real life did what she did for the good of other people, never once thinking about the consequences of her actions only those of the people around her. Who suffered the most do you think? People only see what we want them to see and do we ever know the whole story?

Another brilliant book, that wasn’t just a ‘nice’ read — it wasn’t predictable although at times I found myself predicting what was coming next, more often than not wrongly! It’s funny how you can see things without seeing, perhaps we should all take a step back and evaluate our own lives — or perhaps not, I for one am happy in my bubble. Cannot wait to get a paper version of this book, hear what other people thought and to re-read to see if I still feel the same about each of the characters.

Thank you Jane Fallon, don’t leave it so long until your next novel!!

Highly recommend.

[Katherine Sunderland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel has all the right ingredients for a pacy read about a perfect family brought down by the accidental unearthing of a deep secret. As always, Fallon's writing is entertaining and engaging. I find myself becoming attached to the characters even when they are often flawed - or too caught up in their own self deception to see their failings - but this balance makes them authentic and keeps the reader intrigued even if we're not completely sure we're rooting for them! The plot for Skeletons appears light initially, but Fallon always serves enough unexpected revelations which means you are never a hundred percent sure where the characters might go and how things might resolve themselves.



In this novel, the main protagonist, Jen, feels like she has really landed on her feet and through marrying her husband, has secured the large, loving family full of their own traditions and rituals of their own, which she has always craved. She idolises them and embraces the need to keep presenting this idyllic lifestyle and harmonious relationship between them all. Jen's dilemma is when she uncovers a secret she should not have, and the consequences which befall them all as she decides what to do with this information.



The thing I enjoyed the most was that actually although the secret seems to be about other people and shouldn't affect her emotional or psychological journey, it actually sets Jen on a course of self discovery. For the first time she has to take a step back and see the family through different eyes. As she makes more ill judged decisions, or mishandles things - the facade cracks, the polished gleam which she thought was happiness, she sees was actually contrived and more fragile than she knew. And then, what can be more powerful or fierce than the loyalty of a family; especially when they then close ranks on those to which they are not related, whatever time or history holds you together.



I love a Jane Fallon novel. This provided me with a lovely couple of days of happy reading. She knows how to create characters, structure a story and deliver a great read. Perfect.

[Haley Glover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story.

[Dianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed other books by Jane Fallon - their humour and irony is always sharp. This book missed the mark for me and I resorted to skim reading to the finish, lest it become a DNF. The characters just didn't stand up - very shallow and one dimensional and frankly dull. Flick a switch and you're in or out, depending on what news you offer to "the family". In afterthought, what struck me most about the book was probably the most understated fact. The deplorable treatment to the illegitimate half sister, who just wanted some family. So spoilt were all these family members that they could overlook their patriarch's shockingly selfish, narcissistic behaviour but not have room in their hearts (and insular lives) for the real victim of it. Shallow and silly.

[Sarah Mc · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally really enjoy Jane Fallon’s books but this one just didn’t sit right. I guessed the plot early on, I thought the characters choices in dealing with the situations were extreme, the main character Jen irritated me and I just wanted to finish the book out of the way half way through. I felt like a lot of detail on each character was missing a little. Like I’d missed their thought process as to why they were behaving the way they did. Overall not my favourite Jane Fallon book. Sorry.

[Rachael Popplewell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really enjoy Jane Fallon's books because they are full of character, personality and humour, which is exactly what this book lacks.
Jen is not likeable or unlikeable, she's just dull. Nothing really happens in the book much considering the premise, which seemed like it could be really interesting. The book just doesn't really go anywhere fast, it's just a waste of time really.

[I · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about an emotionally immature 40 something woman who eventually grows up and wises up.
Definitely not one of Jane Fallon's better novels, however, her writing is strong enough to carry the reader along to the end.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

What may seem perfect on the outside and appealing has it's flaws which then make it unacceptable
Was a good read

[Anji Armstrong · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought it was hard to get in to. But was a light summer read. Another story where the main character over reacts to something and drags it on a bit.

[Sandra de koning-vd pol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geweldig geschreven in een blijvend verassend.

[Albína Mrázová · Rating 4 out of 5]

I normally don't read "chick-lit" BUT...
Jane Fallon does have a talent for books that are really good, despite me not being the obvious target audience.
This is the third book I read by her and all have many in common from characters that get out of their comfort zones, solving family/marital drama and so on. In general those are the kind of books that you read when you want drama in your life but not just in your own life. Sort of.
So about Skeletons... After reading Faking friends and Foursome I suppose I could say that this is one of the weaker book. In the beggining, the books is sort of plane and hard to get into. That is quickly changed somewhere around first quater of the book.
I admit that a lot of the characters behavior sounds a bit unrealistic, maybe even hysteric at times. But through the book it does create the feeling "what will happen next?"
In the end I was balancing to figure out which character I didn't like the most and how uncomfortable I would feel. But I suppose that was the point of the book as well.
So all together, pretty good read, not very balanced and slow at the beggining. Certainly looking forward another Jane Fallon books.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another hit by Jane Fallon!!!!!! " Skeletons" started a bit more slowly than all the other novels of hers which I have devoured, but it was also more serious in tone and scope, though still filled with Fallon's signature humor. Fallon reinforced my constant belief that things are never all that they seem, and even the most apparently perfect families and unions are never quite all that. In this novel, a main character (Jen) discovers something about her father in law that might devastate the big happy family which has embraced her since she married the only son, twenty. something years earlier. She struggles with what to do with the knowledge she inadvertently discovered, and she is going to pay a price no matter what she does with the knowledge. Her life will forever be changed by her decision and the fallout. This was a thought provoking novel with some twists, though I figured out the biggest one before it was revealed. Fallon writes really, really well, and her books have never disappointed me. This one kept me up until the wee hours as I just had to finish it!

[Christina Rochester · Rating 4 out of 5]

What would you do if you discovered a secret? Not a small one, but a big one that threatens to tear your entire family apart? Would you tell? Or would you keep it to yourself in the hopes it’ll go away? That’s the choice Jen Masterson has to make when she sees her father in law one afternoon. And what she learns will shatter her world, because once those skeletons come out of the closet there’s no putting them back inside.

I’ve read a few Jane Fallon books before, namely The Ugly Sister and Foursome, but I have to say that Skeletons is definitely my favourite so far. Jen is an instantly likeable and relatable character, and I have to say I understand most of her choices. After all curiosity killed the cat.

What I didn’t agree with, and deducted a star for, was the ending. Like we could have finished the book around the eighty percent mark, and it would have been perfect. Those last few chapters just ruined things for me somehow.

And the Mastersons are just downright creepy. Reminds me of the Stepford wives.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn’t one of my favourite books by Jane Fallon but I did enjoy it and am glad to have finally got a round to reading it.

When Jen marries Jason she finally has the big happy family she had always craved. That is until Jen spots her beloved father in law, Charles in a suspect encounter with a mystery woman young enough to be his daughter. Rather than confronting Charles or confiding in Jason, Jen decides to find out who this mystery woman is, with disastrous consequences. Will this secret break the family she has loved so much at the expense of her own family?

Although I did enjoy this book I found it hard to like Jen or her husband and his family. I just felt bad she been honest about what she saw right from the start she could have avoided all the heartache. Although then we wouldn’t have the book!!

I have given this 4 stars as I did like ending and though Jen finally made some right decisions!

[Ivy Elland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this one, it was slightly different from my usual genre but still retained a ‘mystery’ element. Unfortunately, the mysteries in the book were not very shocking and I guessed the main one almost immediately.

I was pretty astounded to see how long this book was for the storyline, which could have probably been done in half the pages.

The third person writing really got to me in this and (so did so much stuff being in brackets and flashing back to pointless past memories)

I did enjoy the small part where Elaine came to stay over, I felt like that was quite nice and uplifting. I enjoyed other parts too, just not many.

Unfortunately, I can’t say anything more positive about this book, it really was quite boring!

[Tara Blais Davison · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25/5 This was a well-written, finely paced cautionary tale/outcome of keeping secrets. Jen is a middle-aged, married, mother of two daughters who works at a local boutique hotel. Her life seems rather content until she discovers a secret concerning her father-in-law and in confronting the suspected interloper, she discovers so much more than she’s ever imagined.

I found the principal character deeply frustrating as she put off sharing the impossible outcome of the dreaded confrontation with her husband which would have been an acceptable obstacle/ point of conflict/ crescendo to the storyline had it not gone on for as long as it did. It was torturous for me which is ironic given I’m such a procrastinator myself. Maybe that’s why I was so unimpressed with this book.

[Haldoor42 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish. Honestly, it's probably a perfectly okay chic lit book, but this is not my genre and I only started reading it because I found it in the café at work one day on coffee break with no one to talk to and having left my phone (with plenty of Kindle books on it) at my desk, so I picked it up and started reading. I put it down in favour of something more to my liking some months ago, and just tried to go back to it, but after a couple of pages I was already bored. Don't care about the main character, don't care about her father-in-law's big secret, don't care how it will affect any of them. I'm off to read some sci fi now.

[Tinker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jen on naimisissa mukavan miehen kanssa, jolla on mukava perhe, jonka kanssa he ovat hyvin läheisiä. Jenin oma perhe-elämä on ollut hankalaa, joten hänestä on ihanaa kuulua tähän lämpimään perheeseen, jossa perheenjäsenillä on hyvin läheiset välit. Kun Jane saa tietää salaisuuden apestaan, on hänen päätettävä, mitä tehdä. Kirja oli aika ennalta-arvattava ja paikoin hieman epäuskottava. Keskinkertaista chick-litiä.