The Thief of Secrets

by Celma Ribeiro

Marina Mendes has been trusted with a secret written five centuries before her time, a secret behind Ferdinand Magellan's last voyage. Now, in a troubled world, Marina must forget her past and the scars she carries in her heart in order to fulfill the mission trusted to her. Through fears and anxieties, Marina realizes that she can't continue hiding from her destiny and the path opened by one of the greatest explorers of our time. As she tries to solve the puzzle of Magellan's lost secret, Marina meets Roland, the secret keeper. He enters her life like a warrior's blade traveling through the air—without hesitation, sharp, fast and cold. Roland will bring Marina to the edge of their world—a world of lies and despair where Marina will find herself once again faced with the temptation to commit another crime. Will she have the strength to walk away from the stormy path and continue hiding from the life she has tried to forget or will Marina sin again? In her hands she will hold the pieces of a great secret. In her hands she will hold the fate of future generations, it will be up to her to decide what to do with it. "Be wise Marina," The Fortune Teller told her.

266 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2013

About the author

Celma Ribeiro was born in Brazil but today she lives in Hawaii with her husband and daughter. She graduated from University of Hawaii with a bachelor's degree in Humanities with dual specialization in History and Hawaii Pacific Studies.
The Thief of Secrets is her first novel.

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite confusing, yet I finished reading it. I may need to read it again as I don’t like to be defeated by a book. I love a challenge. The plot is too disjointed for me, and I never, even after rereading sections, got a good grasp of the story. Some parts anchored me and just when I thought I had a grip on the story line, the author took me on a 90 degree curve.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sections were great. But too many flashbacks - flash forwards led to an unnecessarily disjointed story. The scenery and geographic descriptions are wonderfully vivid.

[Doreen Ashbrook · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tough one. I found it to be totally confusing. While well-written, it jumped around too much and I never did figure out Marina's relationship to Douglas. Sorry.

[Don O'goodreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Thief of Secrets by Celma Ribeiro is journey of self discovery written in protagonist Marina's subjective time ... jumping from memories as early as 1979 when she was 12 or 13 to the present the present (1994). Marina is a lost soul, searching herself and the secret of Magellan - as a Brazilian, Magellan is an ancestral hero from a long-lost time of discovery and importance.

Marina's search begins at the most powerful moment of her life when she pulls the trigger on an old rifle and kills her mother's murderer. However, rather than being empowered by this act, she seems to give up her personal agency and, like a message in a bottle at sea (my metaphor), gives herself and her search up to the currents and winds. This search takes across the Atlantic between Brazil and Portugal and back, again and again.

Though Marina's voyage is sometimes confusing and often frustrating, I found her to be a sympathetic and engaging character, and in a captivating way, this book was a page turner.

For more see: http://1book42day.blogspot.com/2013/1...

I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway on September 23, 2013. I received the book on September 26, 2013.

[Belle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok so if you like history on exploration and Magellan then this is the book for you. I however am not a big history buff so I found this book not to my liking. There is a lot of history in the book and the author does give a very good story based on Magellan. The main character was interesting the interaction between her and the other characters were very interesting. I found myself liking the story around the history. I felt like there was more of a story that could have been explored and less history, but that would be a different book. There was a nice flow to the book I did have a hard time following the time jumps. There were a couple times where I wasn’t sure if we were talking about the past or the present. The author wrote a nice book it just wasn’t my type of book unfortunately.

[Vera Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It is mysterious and lyrical and I loved the central character. She is bold and brave and I want to know what happens next for Marina. She is sent on a quest to discover a lost key to a map by Ferdinand Magellan and the way the book takes the reader back and forth in history and all across the globe makes for an interesting, exciting read. I especially loved the unexpected metaphors and turns of phrase that Celma used in her book. It made for a fresh, thought-provoking read.

[Dali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very impressed with Celma's poetic descriptions and details of the novel's settings. This is her first novel and I look forward to reading her next.

[Filipa Leandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just loved The Thief of Secrets! I was connected with the story at all time, always wanting to know what was coming next, and I was sad to finish the book, but couldn't stop reading it. Waiting for the next one Celma, and congratulations!