The Book of Revelations

A History of the Secrets Women Keep and Tell from the 1950s to the Present Day

‘Utterly engrossing and timely’ INDIA KNIGHT
‘A true act of bravery and sisterhood’ ELIZABETH DAY
‘Fascinating…truly valuable’ JULIA SAMUEL
‘I gobbled this book up. It’s a gem’ HELEN BONHAM CARTER


A fascinating blend of social history and first-person stories that uncovers the most revealing aspect of human behaviour: secrecy

Do you want to know a secret? The average person is keeping thirteen secrets at any one time, five of which they’ve never shared with a soul. A secret can thrill one person and destroy another; and the deepest ones echo far down the generations.

The Book of Revelations is a book about the secrets women keep: the ones they are forced into, the ones they hold through shame, and the ones they share. Told through a kaleidoscopic blend of first-person stories and memoir, from the ‘silent generation’ of women in the 1950s to the influencers of the 2020s, we witness long-buried family secrets aired at last and the repercussions which occur when women who have been forced to keep quiet find their voice. Finally, we are compelled to wonder whether women are once again in danger of being silenced by censure, caution and fear.

‘A fascinating hybrid of memoir and social history... transforms the highly personal into something universal’ London Standard
‘A time-travelling investigation... it has a depth charge and a sense of the now that is so timely and important’ Jeanette Winterson

Utterly engrossing and timely... told with immense empathy, intelligence and compassion... an important work of social history and as gripping as a beach read. I cannot recommend it highly enough

INDIA KNIGHT, Sunday Times

About Juliet Nicolson

Juliet Nicolson is the bestselling author of three works of social history, The Perfect Summer: Dancing into Shadow in 1911; The Great Silence: 1918-1920 Living in the Shadow of the Great War; and Frostquake: The frozen winter of 1962 and how Britain emerged a different country; as well as a family memoir, A House Full of Daughters. She is a mother and a grandmother and lives with her husband in East Sussex.
Details
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • ISBN: 9781529967159
  • Length: 384 pages
  • Price: £12.99