Secrets and Lies

“This masterful and psychologically sophisticated book takes us into the heart of darkness, family secrets, and shows that they can and must be faced. Isay’s ideas are fresh, provocative and ultimately deeply healing. Her stories glitter with authenticity.”
—Mary Pipher, author of The Green Boat and Reviving Ophelia
 
“Who better to guide us through the anatomy of betrayal and its aftershocks than Isay, who has lived both sides of a public, family-shattering secret? Isay introduces us to a dazzling array of characters whose lives were fractured by painful revelations. Most important, she offers tough love advice about how to make sense of the unthinkable and move on. Anyone who has ever been harmed by a secret will find solace in Isay’s compassionate, laser-sharp storytelling.”
—Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out

“The truths that Jane Isay illustrates with compassion and delicacy about family relationships, ring true for communities and institutions as well: everyone involved is hurt by deceiving oneself and others, but truth can lead to healing.”
—Mary Catherine Bateson, author of Composing a Further Life: The Age of Active Wisdom

“A wise, brave, and gripping book about the stories families hide from one another, Secrets and Lies instructs us in the many important ways that even painful truths can set us free.”
—Judith Viorst, author of Necessary Losses

“Jane Isay starts by baring some secrets of her own—which is only fair, since this wonderful book abounds with stories of other people’s secrets that are closely-guarded and, when revealed, deeply unsettling. She explores the full range of secrets people keep—using tricks ranging from well-intended white lies to self-serving and even vicious deceptions—and the full range of reactions when you find out you’ve been lied to for years. ‘You don’t know what you don’t see until you are forced to see it,’ Isay writes. A fascinating book.”
—Robin Marantz Henig, Contributing Writer, The New York Times Magazine

“Jane Isay has once again brought her unflinching honesty, searing insight and open heart to corners of family dynamics that most of us avoid. In Secrets and Lies Isay examines the tangled webs we weave and the pain they inflict on innocents who become ensnared. With wisdom and warmth, she reassures us that facing the truth is possible, and that the time to do it is now.”
—Dr. Ira Byock, physician and author of Dying Well, The Four Things That Matter Most, and The Best Care Possible
 
“As a family therapist for over three decades I recognize close-to-the-bone truth when I see it. So, if you or someone you know needs to be encouraged to take that bravest of steps toward the truth, get this page-turning book. Jane Isay is a gifted story teller with the soul of a poet and the wisdom of a master teacher. Secrets and Lies is not only about betrayal, it is about courage, the kind all of us need to negotiate the hidden currents and sudden riptides of life.”
—Dr. Ron Taffel, author of Childhood Unbound

“Whether we are Finders or Keepers of secrets (or both), Jane Isay vividly shows how secrets and lies render the very fabric of our lives shot through with a corrupting thread of untruth. To move ahead, she argues, we must unravel these tangled threads and rework the tapestry of our inner worlds and intimate relationships that dishonesty and dissembling has distorted. Using her own riveting personal story of her husband’s coming out as gay and their mutual decision not to tell the children as a jumping-off point, Isay also engagingly captures secrets and lies in the lives of others through in-depth interviews. Finding and keeping our own truths, Isay argues, leads to the honesty and authenticity that makes us whole and connects us to others.”
—Susan C. Vaughan, M.D., author of The Talking Cure