Rebecca's Secrets

Book excerpt: What happens when a boy starts asking questions? It's New Year's day, 1956, and as the low winter sun penetrates the dark corners of Eric Street, it sets fire to a boy's curiosity. "Until this day I'd lived unaware. I didn't live my life - it lived me. But I did know I was different from other kids. There was something secret about me and my family. That morning I became curious. That day I started asking questions." Charming, funny and sad, this novel is based on a true story. Tommy Angel is an orphan growing up with his grandparents, Rebecca and Daniel, in the East End of London in the Fifties. Tommy tries to make sense of the world around him but his questions arouse shameful memories, stir the family ghosts and open a box of dark family secrets. Gradually he uncovers the truth about his lost sisters, his real father and mother. The author, a distinguished educator, born in 1945, grew up in an extended Jewish family in the East End of London. This debut novel is based on his childhood.