"Rice’s remarkable gift for creating singular characters in this memorable story underscores her presence as a fresh new voice in fiction."— Publishers Weekly Set in 1950s London, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets centers around Penelope, the wide-eyed daughter of a legendary beauty, Talitha, who lost her husband to the war. Penelope, with her mother and brother, struggles to maintain their vast and crumbling ancestral home—while postwar London spins toward the next decade’s cultural revolution. Penelope wants nothing more than to fall in love, and when her new best friend, Charlotte, a free spirit in the young society set, drags Penelope into London with all of its grand parties, she sets in motion great change for them all. Charlotte’s mysterious and attractive brother Harry uses Penelope to make his American ex-girlfriend jealous, with unforeseen consequences, and a dashing, wealthy American movie producer arrives with what might be the key to Penelope’s—and her family’s—future happiness. Vibrant, witty, and filled with vivid historical detail, this is an utterly unique debut novel about a time and place just slipping into history. "Wow! P. G. Wodehouse has been reborn as a woman! Eva Rice has the master’s gift for language and satire, and a pathos that’s all her own. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is one of those books you read guiltily, because it is so much fun, but then realize there is zero need for guilt—it’s that good."— Sean Wilsey, author of Oh the Glory of It All "As stylish, rich, and skillfully tailored as a gorgeous 1950s vintage coat . . . . With its quirky characters and lush English settings, it made me long to have lived in the London Eva Rice has evoked."— Kate Harrison, author of The Starter Marriage "Rice’s remarkable gift for creating singular characters in this memorable story underscores her presence as a fresh new voice in fiction."— Publishers Weekly EVA RICE is a writer and young mother living in London. Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Acknowledgements Epigraph   ONE - The Girl in the Green Coat TWO - Aunt Clare and Harry THREE - The Duck Supper FOUR - Miss Six Foot Nothing FIVE - Snowfall and Forty-fives SIX - How to Live at Home and Like It SEVEN - Me and the In-Crowd EIGHT - All the Honey NINE - Modern Boys and Guinea Pigs TEN - Five O’Clock and Later ELEVEN - My Beautiful Youth TWELVE - Inigo Versus the World THIRTEEN - The Long Gallery FOURTEEN - Somebody Stole His Gal FIFTEEN - Marina Trapped SIXTEEN - The Intruder SEVENTEEN - Drama in the Dining Room EIGHTEEN - In the Garden and Out of Touch NINETEEN - Such a Night TWENTY - My American Heroes TWENTY-ONE - The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets TWENTY-TWO - The Occasional Flicker   Epilogue Afterword A PLUME BOOK THE LOST ART OF KEEPING SECRETS EVA RICE, daughter of lyricist Tim Rice, is a writer, musician, and young mother living in London. Praise for The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets “ The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is as stylish, rich, and skillfully tailored as a gorgeous 1950s vintage coat. . . . With its quirky characters and lush English settings, it made me long to have lived in the London Eva Rice has evoked.” —Kate Harrison, author of The Starter Marriage   “[A] novel in which a time and place is recovered with enveloping atmosphere and characters who linger on in mind.” — New York Daily News   “Rice’s remarkable gift for creating singular characters in this memorable story underscores her presence as a fresh new voice in fiction.” — Publishers Weekly   “The reader becomes lost in the vivid depiction of 1950s London and Penelope’s romantic world, where a chance meeting can change your life forever.”— Library Journal   “You’ll be engrossed right through the novel’s tied-up-with-ribbons ending, where secrets are revealed, everyone pairs off with the person you least expect, and we all learn that all you need is love.” —Daily Candy, Washington, D.C., edition   “Bright prospects all around.”— Kirkus Reviews   “Eva Rice . . . has a keen ear and eye for the charm, glamour, and nuances of 1950s British life.”—Bookreporter.com “Charlotte is a wonderful protagonist whose evolution from a naive girl to a polished woman of the world (at least the Thames) makes for a fine sensitive tale.”— Midwest Book Review   “A brilliant portrait of post-World War II London.” — Historical Novels Review   “Charming and witty.”— School Library Journal PLUME Published by Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books