Author Darwin is a newspaper man and one of the main characters in the story is a newspaper man. The book in paperback is not short; it runs 520 pages, but the chapters are short, some as short as two pages, And if you are like me and read before bedtime, being able to stop at a new chapter heading is perfect.

Love and Betrayal: The Secrets We Keep follows the romance and marriage of Charles Green and Wendy Palmer. They are deeply in love, yet not everything is perfect in their relationship, particularly when the couple moves, because of the husband’s job, to a city Wendy does not like. Even in the beginning, the independence of husband Charles is a bit of a worry.

The story goes on with secrets kept by both spouses. I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to give away the plot. Let’s just say the secrets make sense based on the lives of this couple and let’s add that their story was very easy to read and enjoy. To me, the story was like reading the life story of a couple neighbors I liked. And in the end I still liked them.

From the book:

“Another year vanishes. Charles feeds Miracle-Gro to the rose bushes in the backyard of their home and they respond with a dizzying profusion of red, orange and yellow blossoms. The oak sapling in the front yard branches out, and the wires holding it upright between the wooden braces tighten. Wendy settles into one of the bedrooms she’s converted into an artist’s studio and discovers the natural light is better than she thought. She’s still hurt by Charles’s decision to buy the home without telling her. But she decides she learned something about her husband. I can stay pissed off about it or I can learn and accept it and take the steps to make sure we’re always on the same page where we communicate and empathize.”