Sally Hepworth

Sally Hepworth has lived and traveled around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the U.K., and Canada. While on maternity leave from her job in Human Resources, Hepworth finally fulfilled a lifelong dream to write, the result of which was Love Like the French, published in Germany in 2014. While pregnant with her second child, she wrote The Secrets of Midwives, published worldwide in English, as well as in France, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2015. A novel about three generations of midwives, The Secrets of Midwives asks readers what makes a mother and what role biology plays in the making and binding of a family.

The Secrets of Midwives has been labelled “enchanting” by The Herald Sun, “smart and engaging” by Publishers Weekly, and New York Times bestselling authors Liane Moriarty and Emily Giffin have praised Hepworth’s debut English language novel as “women’s fiction at its finest” and “totally absorbing.”

Hepworth's latest novel is The Things We Keep.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

I’ve been on a psychological thriller binge lately. The book I’ve been recommending most is Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica. It’s dark, it’s twisty and you never know who to trust. A woman notices a young girl carrying a baby on a train station and becomes fixated on her. Eventually, she invites the girl and her baby back to her home—alienating her husband and her own daughter. Secrets buried in the past come to light explaining the woman’s fascination with the baby, and the story comes to a satisfying, if unlikely, conclusion. Kubica’s writing is accessible but smart, and I will be reading more from her.

I’ve also been reading through Diane Chamberlain’s backlist. It’s such a joy discovering an author when they have written so many books—such a list to choose from. The most recent was The Courage Tree, about a young girl with a kidney condition who goes missing at a girl scout camp. As the search party struggle to find her, it is a race against the clock to get the little girl her life saving medication. There was a secondary story that was also intriguing, and dark. This one had me flying through the pages desperate to know the ending. Once again, Diane Chamberlain doesn’t disappoint.

Visit Sally Hepworth's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

The Page 69 Test: The Things We Keep.

My Book, The Movie: The Things We Keep.

--Marshal Zeringue