Review: Queen of Secrets

By Jenny Meyerhoff
Available now from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review copy



When I got a request for QUEEN OF SECRETS, I almost passed on it. It didn't look bad, but it looked typical. Then I came to the end of the blurb, which revealed that the story is based on the Book of Esther. I couldn't resist then, as Esther is my favorite book of the Bible.

Essie Green's estranged Uncle, Aunt, and cousin just moved back to town. They left due to a family disagreement (as mentioned in Jenny Meyerhoff's guest blog) and now seem like strangers instead of a second set of parents and a brother. Essie's uncle embraced religion and her grandfather rejected it in the wake of her parents' deaths. Essie grew up atheist and is uncomfortable with her family's religious expression.

The family storyline parallels the high school storyline. Micah, her cousin, joins the football team. The football team has problems with Micah's open Jewishness. They might get over it, but one senior - Harrison - keeps stirring them back up. His father raised him to play football professionally, but he's not good enough to attract the decision of Division I schools. He's ready to take his misfortune out on someone. Obviously different Micah is convenient.

Essie might stand up for her cousin earlier, but she doesn't want to ruin her chances with quarterback Austin King. I might find her an unlikeable character, but she does do quiet things to help Micah out. I do wish she noticed that Austin is constantly proves himself to be a nice guy. (And not a "Nice Guy".)

QUEEN OF SECRETS is predictable, like I expected, but it has two major strengths. 1) Austin is a guy worth pursuing and Essie's good taste allows the reader to forgive her for some of her bigger lapses in judgment. 2) The exploration of religion is nuanced, interesting, and unlike what most other YA novels offer. Meyerhoff never suggests that being Jewish is better or worse than anything else. But she does explore what religion offers people, particularly the connection to a community and history.

QUEEN OF SECRETS is quick and cute, but doesn't ask for you to totally disengage your brain. In my book that makes it good summer reading.

Jenny Meyerhoff on Estrangement

Jenny Meyerhoff (photographed at left by Mindy Garfinkle) is the author of THIRD GRADE BABY who is now making her YA debut with QUEEN OF SECRETS, a contemporary novel based on the Book of Esther. She's good at finding lost objects and used to teach kindergarten. She read Lois Duncan and Jane Austen as a teen, so clearly she's pretty cool.

My review of QUEEN OF SECRETS will be posted this afternoon. You can find Jenny tomorrow at Reading Rocks.

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I’ve always been secretly fascinated by family estrangements. I think that’s because we had a couple of them in my family growing up. Some were the angry, on-purpose kind and some were the has-it-really-been-ten-years kind, but either way, it’s always gotten me thinking about the nature of family connections. You know, blood is thicker than water or an ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship. If that is really true, how do these estrangements happen?



In my book QUEEN OF SECRETS, Essie Green’s aunt, uncle and cousin Micah have recently moved back to town after a ten year estrangement. In actuality, the rift was between her aunt and uncle and her grandparents (who raised her,) but in practice, Essie was also separated from her relatives, and, she feels abandoned by them. Why should she take the trouble to get to know them now, when they didn’t take the trouble during all those years of separation?

Then the situation gets more complicated. Essie has to choose sides in a conflict between her cousin (who she barely knows) and her new boyfriend (with whom she’s falling in love.) Is it as simple as putting those two loyalties on a scale and seeing which side is heavier? Essie is completely torn.

In my adult life, I’m lucky to be surrounded by family that I feel fiercely connected to, but I have friends that I feel the same way about. And family doesn’t only come about through genetics: adoption, marriage and simple shared experience can bond people the same way. In the end, I’m not sure that there is a clear cut answer to the question of where the stronger bonds lie or why they can sometimes get broken. I can tell you that Essie did make a choice, but you’ll have to read the book to find out what it was.