The secret keeper, Kate Morton, 2013

Fans of Kate Morton cannot fail to be pleased with this novel with its well constructed plot line set in three different time periods and a deliciously unexpected twist at the end.
The central character is Laurel, born just after the war and, in the most modern time slot of 2011 aged 66 and a successful actress of stage and screen. She is the eldest of the family with three younger sisters and a younger brother, Gerald. Their mother, Dorothy, is ill and the family assemble at their old family home, a rural farmhouse, in what will probably be the last such meeting with their mother present. Laurel is intrigued by her mother's past and, in particular, an event which she witnessed from the branches of the family tree house one fateful day in 1961. She saw her mother murder a strange man with a kitchen knife whilst the rest of the family are celebrating a family birthday down by the river. Gerald, just a toddler, is in his mother's arms as the man approaches. It is this memory, which she has never shared with her siblings, that prompts Laurel to go back in time together with some old family photos, including one of their mother's mysterious wartime friend Vivien.
The mystery is tightly ravelled up in the war years in London, where Dorothy found various jobs including one as a companion to a wealthy old lady. Across the road lived Vivien and Henry Jenkins, a famous novelist. Dorothy's boyfriend is called Jimmy, a talented young photographe, originally from Coventry, as was Dorothy.
We discover through letters and diaries from earlier times that Vivien's family, living in Australia, were all killed in a tragic motor accident - all apart from Vivien who was not allowed to go on the trip because of bad behaviour. Eight year old Vivien is then sent to England to live with a relative of her mother's.
We see most of the action through the eyes of Laurel, Dorothy and Vivien, switching viewpoints as the story twists and turns through different time periods. Love, retribution and second chances are  important themes of the story which has a satisfactorily unexpected ending.