The Hidden Girl (Lucinda Riley, Harry Whittaker)

This book was originally published as Hidden Beauty, when Lucinda wrote under the name Lucinda Edmonds. Lucinda had already republished a couple of her earlier novels during her lifetime. This was has been revised and republished by her son Harry Whittaker, under her name Lucinda Riley.
It is a long novel but what a story!
It features a young woman, Leah, who grew up in Yorkshire. Her mum works at Rose’s house, where Rose lives with her two children Miles and Miranda. Leah’s life changes completely when she meets Brett during a summer holiday. He is the son of David, Rose’s brother. All these people will find their lives totally intertwined from then on.
In Lucinda’s amazing style, we go back and forth between story lines and between present and past.
On one hand, we follow Leah as she becomes a fashion icon and we get a sense for what the fashion world in the 80s feels like on the inside. There is the glamour, the success and the beauty. And there is also the pressure, the demands and the negative sides of having to be always beautiful, slim and perfect. Well before the Me Too movement, Lucinda addresses the power that ruthless and sexually driven men have on young vulnerable women. She worked in the fashion world and the film world and she probably had real life material to draw her story from.
On the other hand, there is the past, coming back to haunt Rose and David, their past from Poland and Treblinka, loosing their parents, experiencing the camps and all that came with it, escaping but not freeing themselves from danger.
And there is this prophecy from the past that weaves together all these parts of lives and brings the story to a strong closing few chapters, with darkness, hope and quite a bit of food for thought.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I love the idea that Harry Whittaker lends his talent to bringing these reading treasures to us.

He speaks about it in this video. Thank you Harry for giving us the chance to read this book again.