My Daughter’s Secret
Nicole Trope
Grand Central Publishing
My Daughter’s Secret by Nicole Trope is a heart wrenching story of lies, deceits, and secrets.
In the middle of the night, Claire wakes up to discover that her beloved daughter, Julia, is dead – and life, as she knows it, is over.
Searching for answers, Claire stumbles upon a pile of letters, hidden under Julia’s bed in an old, battered shoebox, and feels closer to her daughter than ever before. They tell her that Julia was happy, that she was thriving at her university, and that she was in love.
But as the letters go on, Claire starts to feel uneasy at something hidden between the lines. Even as she grieves, she must prepare to face a shocking discovery. Because Julia was hiding a terrible secret – and when it’s uncovered, it might make Claire question everything she thought she knew about her daughter. Claire’s relentless search for the secrets surrounding Julia’s life and death leads her to an astounding, shocking truth that shatters her reality.
Readers will feel the sadness, anger, and guilt, right along with Claire, as she tries to understand why her daughter would have committed suicide.
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Nicole Trope: The idea began with the image of the two girls walking down a suburban street on Halloween. I knew they were around eighteen and that they had both come from a Halloween party and I knew that they were a little tipsy. I saw the house they passed very clearly. I knew it had a wraparound porch and that, despite it not being decorated for Halloween, there was a life size dummy hanging from a beam. And once that image was clear, I knew what had happened and the character of Claire appeared. I instantly knew what she had lost and how she would handle it. I understood her desperate need to know exactly what had happened to her child.
EC: In this book things are not what they appear to be-agree?
NT: Absolutely but then that’s life, isn’t it? I think that we see a curated version of everyone, whether we see it online or when we greet them in the store. Everyone is always hiding a private pain. And there are few people who have no secrets. Even though I write this kind of novel, a novel where people are hiding things from each other, I’m still shocked by how closely my stories mirrors real life.
EC: Was the family dysfunctional?
NT: I’m not sure I’ve ever met a perfectly functional family, especially when children are older and have their own opinions on how to live their lives. In this family there is a lot more dysfunction than most because domestic violence was part of their lives. But I think that they had worked through a lot of their stuff and Claire had managed to move on with her life and she was happy until Julia’s death.
EC: Why the topic of possible suicide?
NT: Part of being a parent is protecting your child. Parents feel that they are, to some extent, responsible for their children’s happiness. There is a quote, attributed to Jack Harbaugh, that ‘you’re only as happy as your unhappiest child.’ As a mother, I understand that to be true. And that means that if they take the drastic step of taking their own life, especially when you assumed they were fine, it will feel impossible to just accept it. That’s what drives Claire. She simply cannot fathom why her child would have done this.
EC: How would you describe Claire?
NT: Grief-stricken and that makes her obsessive about getting answers. And that is, of course, all overlayed with her sadness that her daughter did not come to her with her worries and fears. She blames herself and the burden of guilt rests heavily on her shoulders.
EC: How would you describe Julia, the victim?
NT: I think she was someone who loved her life and who had big plans. But she was also naïve to a certain extent. It’s understandable because she was very young. I also believe that she had a strong core of integrity, despite what she was involved in. She wanted to do the right thing.
EC: Why did you transform Julia’s father, Joel, from an abuser to a decent and sensitive
man?
NT: This is such an interesting question because there was a lot of pushbacks from readers on Joel’s transformation. I have questioned myself over it and all I can say is that his character was very clear from the beginning. I understand that forgiveness would be almost impossible for a woman in Claire’s situation, and I know that she took a long time to believe the change in her ex-husband. But I hope that I illustrated his journey in a way that readers can understand that he had actually and fundamentally changed his view of himself and the world. As a society, we put people in prison, with the hope that they can reform. Joel did the work to change who he was, and he did reform. I think we must hold onto hope that people can change.
EC: What were the role of the letters between Julia and her lover?
NT: They are a way for the reader to see into the relationship, to know what was going on. Julia cannot be here to tell her story, so they allow the reader to know her and what she was doing to a certain extent.
EC: Please explain this book quote, “Children tie you together, link you for all your lives?
NT: I don’t think you can have a child with someone and not stay connected in some way, for better or worse. Children are a link between parents and even after divorce, the link still exists. You are connected in a way that others can’t be. The person you choose to have a child with will always, hopefully, be invested in that child’s life, regardless of whether you remain together or not.
EC: Next book?
NT: My novel, ‘What Have You Done?’ comes out on October 17th and I’ve just finished edits on that. It’s about a young woman who spends some time in a psychiatric hospital which is where she discovers terrible buried memories from her childhood. When she’s released, she becomes determined to find out the truth with tragic consequences.
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