Family Secrets

In Family Secrets Deborah Cohen explores the extraordinary choices British families made in the past to protect their good name. Whether it is hiding an adopted son's origins or the tangled attempts to prevent a divorce, Family Secrets exposes how we dealt with our shame - publicly and in our hearts.

'A book of marvels' Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

'Fact-packed and fascinating' Evening Standard

'Dozens of illuminating stories culled from the divorce-courts, adoption agencies and institutes for the mentally impaired. A find' Judith Flanders, Sunday Telegraph

Born into a family with its own fair share of secrets, Deborah Cohen was raised in Kentucky and educated at Harvard and Berkeley.She teaches at Northwestern University, where she holds the Peter B. Ritzma Professorship of the Humanities.Her last book was the award-winning Household Gods, a history of the British love-affair with the home.