The Secret - by Eva Hoffman (Paperback)

About the Book

Hoffman employs the hot-button issue of cloning to challenge our deepest notions of identity in this story of a 17-year-old who discovers the shocking truth about her birth.

Book Synopsis

Iris Surrey has a secret.

Iris Surrey is a secret.

An only child, Iris lives with her mother in a rambling house in a small midwestern town. Her mother is everything: provider, confidante, friend. But at seventeen, Iris begins to question their nearly symbiotic relationship--and the noticeable lack of others in their sheltered world. Where is Iris's father? Where are her grandparents? What is her mother keeping from her? When she stumbles upon the explosive truth, Iris begins a monumental journey of self-discovery--one that will throw everything she has ever known into turmoil.

Review Quotes

"Inquiring and intelligent . . . The Secret is a meditation on that central puzzle of human life, the puzzle of identity."
--The Washington Post

"An intelligent and delightfully bizarre excursion into ethical and philosophical issues raised by technology."
--Elle

"THE COMPELLING STORY OF AN INDIVIDUAL GIRL TRYING TO FIND OUT THE TRUTH ABOUT HERSELF."
--The Independent

"Hoffman's consistent sensitivity is informed by her wide erudition. . . . The Secret is compelling throughout for Hoffman's prose, for her insights on identity, for her reflections on history."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Hoffman brilliantly meditates on [a] mystery in her auspicious fiction debut. . . . This is a novel of ideas in the tradition of 1984 and Brave New World."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Hoffman's . . . multilayered, cautionary 'fable' of genetic engineering in the near future proves compelling, in both its cool intelligence and its insistent moral questioning. . . . The Secret is intriguing and deeply sinister, even as it ultimately affirms those mysteries of life and human freedom that still elude us."
--The Guardian

"VERY MUCH RECOMMENDED . . .[A] thoughtful, philosophical treatment of the devastating effects a wholly fatherless state can trigger. An uneasy look at the potential fallout from biological tampering, this first novel . . . is ripe for lively book discussion."
--Library Journal

"A serious, intelligent, psychological novel which will enhance Hoffman's reputation for wise words gracefully expressed."
--Financial Times

"Hoffman sketches a creepily plausible near-future in which her protagonist experiences a very 21st-century identity crisis."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A modern allegory somewhere between Frankenstein, the golems of Jewish folklore, and Blade Runner."
--Independent on Sunday

About the Author

Eva Hoffman was born in Krakow, Poland, and emigrated to America in her teens. She is the author of Lost in Translation, Exit Into History, Shtetl, The Secret, and After Such Knowledge. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Whiting Award, and an award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Hoffman lives in London.