Brucie Jacobs

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Secret Girl

(St. Martin’s Press, April 4, 2006)

After more than 30 years, two sisters find each other

This is a memoir about a well-to-do Baltimore family that for decades guarded a secret they felt too ashamed to reveal, much less discuss among themselves.

The Secret Girl, by Molly Bruce Jacobs

When Brucie Jacobs, the family’s eldest daughter, finds herself newly sober at the age of 38, she finally seeks out and comes face-to-face with this secret—a younger sister Anne who was diagnosed at birth with hydrocephalus and mental retardation, then institutionalized.

Anne has never been home to visit, and Jacobs has never seen her.

This memoir goes beyond the story of simply one family; it sheds light upon the struggle for human connection that we all share, and upon the need to accept one’s limitations, as well as to learn forgiveness. Click HERE for excerpts from Secret Girl.

Secret Girl Reviews

"A former Baltimore lawyer writes poignantly of her life-altering decision to meet her sister for the first time... Painful secrets are brought to light in this rueful, honest account."

Publishers Weekly

 

"...a compelling and disturbing page turner that lays bare the secrets of a privileged Maryland family."

Baltimore Sun

 

"That Jacobs is able to depict her parents' neglect without utterly demonizing them is a testament to her skill as a writer. The book is filled with lovely images: The Victorian house of her childhood "sat like a dowager atop a hill." Her grandmother was as domineering as a mother superior and as calculating as a first-class Parisian madam"

Kirkus

 

"Secret Girl is wonderful, insightful, and emotionally runs the gamut from joy to tears."

Steven Ritter, M.D. New York

You can buy Secret Girl here

 

Molly Bruce (Brucie) Jacobs and sister Anne

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