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Marie F Martin
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Harbored Secrets Kindle Edition

by Marie F Martin (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 6,700 ratings
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From the author of the popular Maternal Harbor comes Harbored Secrets (a psychological mystery in the unearthing of family secrets.)

In May of 1935, Blinny Platt’s homestead shack burns to the ground forever leaving her family asunder, scattering them like the embers flew on the Montana wind. She was only eight-years-old, sent away and in charge of her little sister. She could handle that because Platts take care of Platts.

However, it is the hidden secrets of her parents smoldering beneath the charred remains that haunts Blinny until 1982. She once again leaves the home place to build a house for herself. As the foundation is poured and the walls go up, each of the hurtful memories are uncovered. Finally the mystery, left in the ashes of the burned home, is revealed. How could her mother do what she did?
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  1. Print length
    322 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    November 25, 2013
  5. File size
    1345 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"I was immediately drawn to the 'old soul' character of Blinny and the haunting setting of Montana's prairie." Ann Minnett author of "Burden of Breath."

This novel is an unexpectedly deep exploration and a unique take on early twentieth century farm life. It's Marie Martin's best work so far, heartbreaking and inspiring." Karen Wills author of "Remarkable Silence."

"The characters were real,the secrets were heartbreakingly realistic, I felt like I was there, every step of the way." Lisa D. Amazon Reviewer

"Have not read a book thatso moved and haunted me in a long time. Skillfully crafted and not run of the mill plotting." Bookwyrm, Amazon Reviewer

"This is one of those few books that I would enjoy re-reading." Diane Bedlington, Amazon Reviewer

From the Author

This novel has its beginnings in what happened to my mother as a child on a homestead.  Both my parents were raised on the Montana prairies near the Canadian border. I used the tragedy of a house fire that my mother's baby brother died in as the catalyst for the story.

The story comes from the hardship endured on the prairies as told to me from my parents.  My father never left the ranch until he was 12 years old.  Imagine the isolation.  There was love and caring but it was hard to see, hard to understand in people not given to sharing their feelings.  It was a way of life.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00B7QMYZK
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ 4D Publishing; 2nd edition (November 25, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 25, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1345 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 322 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 6,700 ratings

About the author

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Marie F Martin

Marie F Martin

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Marie F Martin, author, storyteller and weaver of suspense, spunk and sass in her Historical Fiction, Thrillers, and Mysteries.

MATERNAL HARBOR has a mother's vow to protect her baby, HARBORED SECRETS has surprising twists of a family’s past, RATHAM CREEK begins with a grizzly attack and ends in a lover’s spat. DON'T MESS WITH MRS. SEDGEWICH has the spunk and sass of four elderly ladies.

Together her thriller, mystery, or suspense novels have over 500,000 Kindle downloads and over 700 five star reviews.

Marie lives in a fertile valley at the base of the Rocky Mountains. She enjoys a quiet life where laughter comes easy, love easier. She invites you to join her on her website and read about her rich, rural memories in a memoir of her early childhood and raising her own family of four children. If you have any questions she will be happy to answer them. Her email address and other social media are listed on her website.

https://www.mariefmartin.com

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
6,700 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Joy Cagil
5.0 out of 5 stars Original, Complex, Mysterious, and Superb!
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2015
Verified Purchase
According to what the author says, this is the fictionalized story of her mother’s life. Blinny (for Blanche) is eight years old when her family’s home in Montana with her baby brother inside is burned to the ground. This incident serves as a catalyst for the story, as the rest of the novel is built skillfully over and around it.

The story’s time frame is between 1935 to around 1980s.

In the beginning, Blinny, lacking love and attention from the adults around her, is made responsible not only for the heavy farm work but also for the care of her younger sister. Blinny’s mother is an incapable woman, unhappy, depressed, and without a sense of responsibility. Right after the fire, she dies. Blinny’s luck turns around when her father sends her to be cared for by an uncle she hasn’t ever met. The uncle is good to her and educates her. A few years later, her father shows up to suddenly take her back and makes her live together with a woman he married, a much younger woman who, during Blinny’s childhood, was cruel to her. The plot, then, goes on around Blinny’s hazy and doomed love story and her discovering byzantine family secrets one by one, while succeeding to build her own house brick by brick.

Blinny, as a character, is a heroine, brave, kind, compassionate and in tune with the prairie. Her relationship with her step-mother is an original and complicated one to the end, and it serves as a twist in itself. All the other characters are also well-developed and different from one another with specific quirks. The plot is highly original, complex, and full of mystery, but the story ends satisfactorily.

This novel had everything in it that I look for in a good story: Excellent characterization, great plot with unseen twists, and good storytelling. The story is offered not in chronological order but by switching from present to past and vice versa. Although (I thought) the back-and-forth storytelling was overdone, I could understand the plot quite well.

This is the kind of novel I love to read and I will surely look for other books by this author.
9 people found this helpful
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JBurke
4.0 out of 5 stars Well-written, riveting characters, really interesting revelations.
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2017
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I'd like to score this 4.5 out of 5 really, just to be clear. First I like good writing, fully developed characters, real stress and complications and a pace of developments that keeps me interested. Although I mostly read mystery fiction and science fiction, I got cuaght up in this novel and stayed glued to the end. Interesting story, sometimes too much detail although the writing is very good. A farming family in the early 1900's has it's family life shattered when their house catches on fire. Written through the eyes of the oldest daughter, and bouncing back and forth between different times in her life the fire and what happens is just the beginning of unraveling family insights and chemical family branch interactions, each with its own kernel part of the characters' life stories. Certainly not my usual fare, but I did find it interesting and thankfully devoid of the Disney 'perfect ending'. I get the sense that the author had a complicated family and exorcised it, but if not she did an amazing job, because I identified with that. The ending was almost too easy though, probably because I find it hard myself to accept things and move on, so she did a great job of pulling me into the story and the central protagonist.
21 people found this helpful
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Dorothy
5.0 out of 5 stars Harbored Secrets and the Destruction The Secrets Can Cause
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2013
Verified Purchase
I just finished reading this book and really like it. The story line is clearly written and explains the life of a family and how the secrets they keep can come to light and destroy the family involved. The characters are well thought out and written. The length of the story is a tad long for my tastes, but with the events in the story, it has to be long to do the story justice. Shorter would not be so well explained.

Bliny (Blanche) Platt is the main character in the story. She is a complex person with strengths beyond what yo would think. Her father is distant, aloof, and does not see much of what is going on with his wife and kids. He only thinks of tending the soil and animals and needing help to do so. This is where Bliny comes in. I see Bliny as being the proverbial work horse for her father and mother both. It is even Bliny who helps her mother deliver the third child, a blond haired boy. Life is hard for Bliny's family. They do not have much joy, and except for Bliny and her father, the rest of the family is fragile. Unusual for farm people.

One day there is a fire, and their house burns down with the new baby in it. Bliny's mother, Essie, goes almost catatonic with the knowledge of her son's death. Finally, Essie dies leaving Bliny and her sister Odette with a father who can't manage them. They are sent to live with 2 Uncle's and stay there for 5 years until their father finally comes to get them. But, he also brings a new wife with him, and the wife is pregnant.

From this point on, story gets better and better. Hmmm.... or should I say worse and worse? You be the judge.

The reason I like this story is because it does portray how people were back then. Most people think their parents never did things, but that is just not true. The parents were just better at hiding what they did than the next generation. I think the author has brought this out in a fantastic story.

I do recommend this book highly. For those who don't like sex scenes, there are none.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

JackiSprat
5.0 out of 5 stars Harbored Secrets Indeed.
Reviewed in Canada on January 6, 2024
Verified Purchase
What a heart wrenching story. Beautifully written.
Blanche (Blinny) Platt tells the story of her brutal childhood, growing up on a ranch in the prairie country of Montana. Between memories and reminiscences, as she builds a house of her own, she relives the pain of losing her mother and baby brother in a devastating fire, being sent away to live with distant relatives - as she tries desperately to help raise her little sister, while their distant father only seems to care about working the land on his ranch. All she’s ever wanted is a house to call her own.
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Fraochg
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 19, 2023
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An enthralling read of a family with secrets who eventually forget how to tell them. Excellent writing and fantastic characters
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Sheila Fernandes
3.0 out of 5 stars Surprising ending!
Reviewed in India on May 6, 2018
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A little difficult to keep yourself glued to the book but enough to make you come back to know more. Ending sure surprised me.
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Susan Cooke
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in Australia on April 6, 2020
Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this book because the characters brought back my own family to me. Mad as cut snakes as we say in Australia. Not for the faint hearted this story.
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Barbara
3.0 out of 5 stars Avid Reader
Reviewed in Italy on July 25, 2016
Verified Purchase
Strange story which didn't really ever get off the ground for me. I wasn't too enamoured of any of the characters
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