• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 8 to 12
• Reading age: 12 to 18

After the orphanage she lives in is destroyed by fire, Betty, an innocent and trusting teen, takes a job as a maid in Kingston, Ontario. Welcomed into the household of the wealthy Remington clan, Betty makes friends with the staff at the house and soon discovers that her mother had also been a maid there—and that her father is in a nearby jail, convicted of murdering her mother. When she meets her father, she is taken aback by his claims of innocence, and she decides to try to uncover the truth about her mother’s murder and her father’s conviction. A friendly young policeman assists her in her investigation (and shows an interest in Betty that is more romantic than professional). But all is not well in the Remington household, and someone doesn’t want Betty to learn the truth.

Part of the SECRETS—a series of seven linked novels that can be read in any order.

Eric Walters is the author of many acclaimed and bestselling novels for children and young adults. His novels have won numerous awards, including the Silver Birch, Blue Heron, Red Maple, Snow Willow, Ruth Schwartz, and Tiny Torgi, and have received honours from the Canadian Library Association Book Awards and UNESCO's international award for Literature in Service of Tolerance.

Eric lives in Mississauga with his wife, Anita, and three children, Christina, Nicholas, and Julia. When not writing or touring across the country speaking to school groups, Eric spends time playing or watching soccer and basketball, or playing the saxophone.

To find out more about Eric and his novels, or to arrange for him to speak at your school, visit his website at www.ericwalters.net.

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Eric Walters' profile page

• Commended, CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens

"This volume delivers some tense moments as Lizzy makes her way through the local web of lies."

School Library Journal

"An action-filled book featuring a young woman and her struggle to fit into her new but complicated life. Full of suspense and romance, Elizabeth Anne, known as Betty Shirley at the orphanage, returns to her previously unknown homeland and household to find that things are not what they seem. Secrets are revealed and searches are made, but Lizzy knows how to follow her heart."

VOYA, Teen Reviewer