The Secret Keeper

This story about a ship that carries dreams through a child’s sleep emerges as a motif that connects Jimmy, Vivien, and Laurel. For each character, the story captures a nostalgic longing for a world of imagination and a deep connection to their parents. Jimmy’s mother tells him this tale when he is small, and he tells it to the orphans as they work with Vivien on their play. The story provides an imaginative escape for the children, helping them believe there is magic and good in the world and they will come to find better circumstances. Laurel’s mother tells her the story, which becomes one of Laurel’s cherished memories of her mother’s fanciful side. Morton also uses the story as a red herring that signals a connection between Dolly Smitham and Dorothy Nicolson on the first reading and, on subsequent readings, a poignant reminder of how Vivien/Dorothy cherishes the memory of Jimmy Metcalfe and the time she spent with him.

Additional mentions of lights and stars reinforce the motif and serve a metaphorical purpose throughout the novel. At different points, Laurel thinks of making connections between stars—drawing constellations or patterns in the sky—as a metaphor for connecting the clues that reveal her mother’s secret. And lights play a role for Vivien at multiple turning points in her life. After seeing the lights gleaming on the bottom of the creek near her family home in Australia, she connects these lights with a place where her family has gone after their deaths. When she is in despair over Henry’s abuse and what she believes is Jimmy’s death, the light that accompanies the bomb that hits Dolly’s boardinghouse is welcomed by Vivien as the light she thinks will take her to the next world, where she can see her family again.