Secrets (Jacqueline Wilson novel)

Secrets
Author(s)	Jacqueline Wilson
Country	England
Language	English
Genre(s)	Childrens
Publisher	Corgi (publisher)
Publication date	2002
ISBN	0440867614
OCLC Number	70671713

Secrets is a children's book by Jacqueline Wilson, published in 2002 by Corgi (an imprint of Random House). "Secrets" is told from the point of view of two pre-adolescent girls, Treasure and India, via their diary entries. Despite their very different backgrounds, the girls strike up a friendship and their stories begin to intertwine.

Plot

Treasure lives with her mother and her abusive stepfather, Terry, whom she hates very much. When Terry whips Treasure with his belt, scarring her forehead, her grandmother Rita puts her foot down and takes Treasure to live with her in her council estate flat. Treasure enjoys herself living with her teenage aunts and uncles, although she still has nightmares that Terry is coming to get her.

India lives in the upper-class Parkfield estate with her parents and her au pair, misrable Wanda. Her father is a businessman with a terrible drinking problem, and her mother, Moya Upton is an anorexic, controlling fashion designer who finds India's weight problem particularly embarrassing. India is unpopular at school and her only friend now goes to boarding school. Her only source of comfort is rereading The Diary of Anne Frank, whom she considers her heroine.

One day, after Wanda fails to collect her from school, India decides to walk home. While passing through the Latimer Estate she meets Treasure, and the two hit it off instantly. India is very taken with Treasure's charismatic family, and Treasure is impressed by India's posh lifestyle. Their friendship proves to be the bright spot in both of their lives, as India begins to suspect that her dad is having an affair with Wanda and Treasure receives a phone call from her mum and Terry, telling her that they are coming to take her home.

To protect Treasure, Rita sends her granddaughter and the other kids out of the flat until the coast is clear. However, Treasure is spotted by Terry and has to run away where he can't find her - to India's house. India takes advantage of her family's inattention to hide her friend away in her attic, where she can live "like Anne Frank". She lends the book to Treasure, who begins to idolize Anne as well.

Meanwhile, word has spread around the Latimer Estate that Treasure has been abducted. Her mother and stepfather broadcast an appeal on the news, and her neighbour's son, "Mumbly" Michael Watkins, is accused of kidnapping her. Treasure is horrified and wants to go home, knowing that her Nan is worried about her, but India does her best to convince her to stay where she is safe, all the while coping with her own problems, including her father's alcoholism and the fact that Wanda may be pregnant.

When Nan shows up at India's school, demanding to know where Treasure is, India has no choice but to reveal their secret. Her mother is horrified, and scolds her, which results in India revealing Wanda's secret too, out of spite. After Nan promises to keep India's involvement in the incident quiet, and takes Treasure home, Treasure tells her Nan that she is going to tell everyone the truth about Terry. Her revelation on the news leads to a custody battle between her parents and her grandmother, which Rita eventually wins with the aid of a campaign.

In the last chapter, India discloses that her parents are getting a divorce after her father narrowly escaped arrest for embezzlement; Wanda was sent back to Australia, allegedly after terminating the pregnancy; and India is in love with her new therapist, Chris, who has encouraged her to pursue a career in psychology. Treasure, meanwhile, is still her best friend: she is now working as a model for India's mum (Moya Upton, the clothes designer), who takes them on a photoshoot to Amsterdam at the end of the story, complete of course with a visit to Anne Frank's attic. The sight of the book makes both girls cry; although they cannot read Dutch, India states that it wasn't necessary as "we both know it by heart".

Treasure's Side Characters

• Treasure: The protagonist of her side of the story, she was abused by her step dad. She thinks the world of her nan. She keeps a diary. After Terry whips her with his belt she moves in with her beloved nan and her family. She lives on the Latimer estate. When Terry comes to get her (from Nan's) she hides in India's attic. She has moved all around the country with her mum's boyfriends. She wears glasses and has asthma.

• Nan: Treasure, Britney and Gary's nan; Tammy, Willie, Loretta and Patsy's mum (plus another son and daughter) and Pete's girlfriend. She is very glamorous and young for a Grandma. According to Treasure she "wouldn't be seen dead in the usual granny gear". At the end of the book she admits that she loves Treasure as much and maybe even more than her own kids. All the kids on the block call her "Nan". Teaches line dancing.

• Pete: We never meet him but we are told that he is Nan's beloved boyfriend and Patsy's father, but he is in prison for manslaughter - he accidentally killed someone who was chatting up Nan, and he got abit jealous.

• Terry: Treasure's very abusive stepdad. He whips her with his giant belt and is violent to Tammy (Treasure's mum). His children are Bethany, Kyle and baby Gary.

• Tammy: Treasure and Gary's mum. Stands by Terry no matter what. Has had a lot of boyfriends in her time. She denies the fact that Terry whipped Treasure.

• Patsy: Nan's youngest and favourite child. She likes Treasure a lot and is Pete's daughter. She wants to be famous and Nan thinks she should go to stage school. She is very good at dancing.

• Willie: Nan's son. We assume he is younger than Loretta, but in fact an age is never mentioned for him. He has a BMX bike that he lets Treasure borrow when she first meets India. When Treasure first moves in he teases her, but they soon become friends.

• Loretta: Nan's daughter and Britney's mum. She wants Britney to like her best so as a result she's forever tired. She is fifteen, but she stopped attending school when she had Britney.

• Britney: Loretta's baby daughter. She is described as very pretty, and Treasure prefers Britney to Loretta. Treasure can bath Britney without her making a fuss unlike Loretta.

• Kyle: Terry's son. Makes out he's tough but cries when Treasure gets whipped by Terry.

• Bethany: Terry's daughter. She doesn't get on with Treasure but gives her, her designer t-shirt just before she leaves.

India's Side Characters

• India: The protagonist of her side.Kind personality. Has frizzy ginger hair and is overweight. Says that she adores her dad but hates her mum. Has an Australian au pair, Wanda. She lives in a very posh house in a private estate called Parkfield. She is very clever and articulate but doesn't have any friends at her school. She has a former friend called Miranda but she went to a private boarding school.

• Richard: India's dad. Works for a business called Major Products.He has a drinking problem, and India thinks he is having an affair with Wanda.

• Moya: India's mum. She is a fashion designer for her children's clothes range, Moya Upton.She is probably anorexic as she eats hardly anything. Is in a constant battle with her daughter about food.

• Wanda: India's au pair. She is described as skinny and miserable with long black hair and pale spotty skin. She secretly buys India chocolate. She is probably pregnant with Richard's baby, but we never know for sure.

Phoebe: Phoebe is a small girl with long curly hair and is Moya's main model. She is then put to be a back up model when Treasure becomes the main model for Moya Upton.