The Secrets We Keep Explores the Protective—and Destructive—Power of Family Secrets

What price do we pay for the secrets we keep? And what happens when silence becomes both shield and sword? Licensed psychologist and author Dr. Patricia A. Farrell explores these profound questions in her compelling new collection, The Secrets We Keep, a series of 25 interconnected semi-memoir flash fiction stories that illuminate the hidden dynamics of family and community.

Drawing from her own childhood in a working-class neighborhood, Dr. Farrell crafts a mosaic of memory and imagination that reveals how secrets function as both protective forces and sources of profound harm. From a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer's carefully guarded past to the mysterious war veteran known as "The Butcher," each story peels back layers of truth that have been whispered, buried, and passed down through generations.

"People exist in spaces where they keep information hidden from others," explains Dr. Farrell. "These stories examine how secrets influence human existence—how they can form family bonds while simultaneously creating empty spaces where names used to exist."

Set against the backdrop of post-war America, the collection follows residents of a diverse urban block where everyone knows everyone else's business—except for the secrets that matter most. Readers encounter the neighborhood "Bottle Babies" struggling with addiction, an unlicensed doctor who provides healing beyond medicine, and a teacher whose locked desk drawer holds more than classroom supplies.

With her unique background as both a licensed psychologist and gifted storyteller, Dr. Farrell brings professional insight to deeply personal narratives. Her prose captures the cadence of whispered confessions and the weight of unspoken knowledge, revealing how childhood observations carry forward into adult understanding.

"No one story can actually tell the total truth," notes Dr. Farrell. "Each story tells a portion of it according to how the storyteller recollects it. We do in fact create our own histories, colored by experience and emotion, and all the years between the event and the telling."

The collection has already garnered praise for its lyrical prose and unflinching examination of family loyalty, survival, and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of an often senseless world. Perfect for readers who enjoyed Educated by Tara Westover, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, or Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, The Secrets We Keep proves that the most powerful secrets are often hidden in plain sight.

Dr. Farrell is a respected voice in psychology and mental health, with achievements recognized in Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in American