The Language of Secrets by Dianne Dixon

Title: The Language of Secrets
Author: Dianne Dixon
ISBN: 9780385530637
Publisher: Doubleday/2010
Pages: 258

What does one do when one discovers that the life one is having shouldn't be happening as one has been dead for a long time now? How would you feel if you found out you had tombstone for youself? Justin faces it and doesn't know how it came about. He is very much alive, has a good job, a beautiful wife and a toddler son.

All his memories are somewhat disjointed and he only remembers an address in California. He has come back to it to find it being occupied by strangers. No one knows him at all. One of his sisters slams her door on his face. Now he has to find out about that tombstone of his. When he starts unravelling the past, he finds a betrayal unheard off. By a father, which in a way breaks apart a mother's heart. Not to forget the little boy.

The book goes back and forth from 2006 to the early 70s. From his point of view to his mother's. Told poignantly, it is a man's search for his identity and facing the painful past. Although Justin never gets to know his mother, the reader feels her pain, her sadness and the life she led without her son. It touches us at places that we can't fathom.

This novel breaks our heart at places. Justin might have had a very painful childhood but he managed to do good for himself. This books takes us on his journey to find himself, his family, his past and only then he can come back to his present.

I recommend this to everyone who wants to explore issues beyond the normal. I simply couldn't put it down.

Thanks to the author for the Bound Galley.