Family Secrets

Journeying from the empire's beginnings, where the hidden escapades of the British abroad haunted generations of descendants, to today's very public confessional culture, Deborah Cohen explores the difficult personal choices made to protect a family's good name. Whether concealing an adopted child's origins, taking a disabled son to a party, or not recognising a gay uncle's existence, Family Secrets excavates the tangled history of privacy and secrecy to show how we live with our shame, both publicly and in our hearts.