Poster created for The Secret Ever Keeps by Kunati, Inc.
Listed below are professional and trade reviews. The most recent, from the Historical Novel Society, arrived in February 2008.
"Superb"
From the Historical Novel Society Magazine Review
Issue 43 - February 2008
THE SECRET EVER KEEPS
Art Tirrell, Kunati, 2007, 24.95 hb, 343 pp, 9781601640048
On the same day that Laurel Kingsford is passed over for promotion in what is obviously an act of sex discrimination, her live-in boyfriend moves out of her apartment, taking everything of value as well as cleaning out her bank account. In a state of depression, Laurel retreats to a resort on Lake Ontario where she spent her childhood summers. There she meets Jake Eastland, the resort’s reclusive, ninety-three-year-old, year-round resident. Jake befriends Laurel, winning her confidence with tales of a British ship carrying a load of gold that was lost on the lake in a storm during the American Revolution. In an effort to draw Laurel out, Jake, whom she calls “Grandpa Jake,” tells her some of his history. Through flashbacks, we learn how Jake built a fortune first by smuggling whiskey during Prohibition and after the repeal by dealing in scrap metal. We also learn of his enemies and of two women, one whom he loved and the other whom he married. There is a mystery about Jake and his connection to Laurel, the treasure of gold, and the threats to Laurel’s life that is slowly revealed.
Mr. Tirrell has written an interesting and intriguing novel with colorful and well-developed characters. His knowledge of Lake Ontario, sailing, and marine biology are related in the course of the story in a way that adds to the momentum. His portrayal of Jake as a man who rises from poverty to a position of wealth, the power wealth can buy, and the self-destruction it causes is superb.
—Audrey Braver
“MUST READ”
THE SECRET EVER KEEPS
Author: Art Tirrell
Publisher: Kunati, Inc.
ISBN: 9781601640048
Price: $24.95
Reviewed by Karen Moyers, Book Review Editor
Premise and Originality: 8 out of 10
Characterization: 10 out of 10
Dialogue: 9 out of 10
Storyline: 10 out of 10
recommendation: MUST READ
The Secret Ever Keeps plays at being a great adventure novel, and it is, but the real buried treasure here is in the character saga glittering just below the surface. Tirrell lures us in with the promise of adventure and thrills, and he plays the “summer read” adventure adeptly, yet it is the fragile relationship between a granddaughter and her dying billionaire grandfather that takes Secret from “excellent read” to “must read.” This is a buried treasure as mysterious and profound as the secret buried in grandfather-billionaire’s past, a dark history he decides to share in vivid and credible time-jumps back to the prohibition era.
Tirrell avoids flashback annoyance by delivering two story streams, one in the present, one in the rum-running days and both are marvelous. On the surface there is the treasure hunt in the present, a parable almost certainly for the granddaughter’s quest for family secrets, and a magnificent “past” adventure full of lost loves, lust, guilt, treacherous deeds and pure unadulterated high-speed thrills. This seamless blend of action and fun with heart-warming cross-generational character-story shouldn’t work, but here it does. A reader can enjoy this on both levels.
"Riveting...Rhapsodic...Accomplished"
ForeWord Magazine, Good Books, Independently Published
Vol 10 number 2 - Spring 2007 pp 54
The Secret Ever Keeps
Art Tirrell
Kunati
352 pages
Hardcover $24.95
978-1-60164-004-8
”Learning the truth about yourself doesn’t necessarily make you happy,” Jake Eastland says. He should know. At ninety-three, he contemplates his life as a bootlegger and a thug, a tycoon and a killer with regret, not for the crimes he’s committed, but for the family he’s never known.
All that changes when Laurel Kingsford shows up on his doorstep. A dynamic young woman with a distinguished background in oceanic research, Laurel retreats to the only place she’s ever felt safe following the loss of her job, her life savings, and her fiancé. A genteel old inn overlooking Lake Ontario’s southern shore, the Twice Told Hotel was where Laurel spent idyllic childhood summers in the company of her grandmother, Jean. Jake Eastland built the Twice Told in 1940 and it was where he, too, retreated after his marriage to a society gold digger named Jean ended. Obviously, Jake and Laurel have much in common. They should: unbeknownst to Laurel, Jake is her grandfather.
If this were merely another derivative “sins of the father” saga, such coincidences would be improbable, if not imponderable. Fortunately, Tirrell capitalizes on his lifelong background as a resident of Lake Ontario’s shoreline communities and his penchant for competitive sailing to craft a high-seas thriller replete with expected elements—killer storms, sabotaged equipment, and a race-against-time quest for sunken treasure—plus one stunning twist: said treasure implicates George Washington in a devastating political scandal.
If such cloak-and-dagger intrigue isn’t stimulating enough, Tirrell throws in not one, but two, romantic triangles for good measure. This is an ambitious plot for a first-time author to navigate, but Tirrell does an admirable job of making it all coalesce by endowing his character-driven narrative with a romantic sensitivity and his intricately-crafted story line with a riveting focus. It is Tirrell’s rhapsodic description of Lake Ontario’s tortuous shoreline, however, that lends the novel its authenticity and allure: “horizontal slabs of black-tinged slate...devoid of life, beautiful in its raw wildness. And yet something more, some darker tension seemed compressed within, as if the place held its breath and waited.”
Jake Eastland has been holding his breath, waiting for someone to love for ninety-three years. As he relates his life story to Laurel as a way of preparing her for the eventual revelation that she’s his granddaughter and heir, Tirrell’s multigenerational saga segues effortlessly between the internecine wars of Prohibition-era rum runners and the insidious perfidy of modern-day fortune hunters. Learning the truth about her connection to Jake’s notorious background may not make Laurel happy, but it does make for an accomplished and assured fictional debut.
- Carol Haggas
SAIL Magazine: “Perfect Summertime Read.” 
Treasure Hunt
Review June 2007 SAIL MAGAZINE
Set on Lake Ontario, The Secret Ever Keeps Tells the story of former bootlegger Jake Eastland's search for treasure in the depths of the lake and in his past. Eastland's rise to prominence during prohibition comes at a cost to him and his family. As the story unfolds, the reader learns that young engineer Laurel Kingsford is, unbeknownst to her, Eastland's granddaughter. While trying to recover shiwky Eastland lost a half-century earlier, Kingsford discovers and 18th century shipwreck. Typical characters are out to thwart her efforts and provide some excitement, but the real story is Eastland's coming to terms with his life and those in it. Written in a crisp, entertaining style, this engaging tale offers both adventure and depth. It's perfect for a summertime read while on the hook.
-David Lochner
Oswego Palladium Times: “A Tale of Love on the Lake.”
ART TIRRELL SPINS A TALE OF LOVE ON THE LAKE
by ADELE DELSAVIO, Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, April 4, 2007
A new novel by local author Art Tirrell tells a story of decades of intrigue, romance and greed on Lake Ontario.
“The Secret Ever Keeps,” Tirrell's first novel, is based on a real event - the sinking of HMS Ontario in 1780. Tirrell has crafted the story of a young researcher; her 93-year-old, former rum runner grandfather; treasure and a secret hidden beneath the lake.
Local landmarks figure in the story, including Mexico Point, the City of Oswego and Nine Mile Point. Tirrell tells us that Nine Mile Point was a “favorite rendezvous of rum runners in the 1920s.”
Tirrell tells the story of an old man who uses stories from his past to help his troubled granddaughter find herself. “The twist is, she doesn't know who she is, and he can't tell her.”
Tirrell writes of Lake Ontario with intimate familiarity.
He writes of autumn coming later along the shore than it does inland; of the “cries of gulls (that) rode the soft morning breeze”; of the “wild serenity of the place.”
He inspires mental images of a wild gray lake and a grayer sky with the passage, “It was a good day to be inside, a favorite old sweater warming your bones, but also the somber, moody kind of day when your failures seemed greater and your successes, measured against the grand span of time, minuscule.”
Tirrell owns Tirrell Appliance Co. in Oswego. He has written three unpublished novels and he is almost finished writing a sequel to “The Secret Ever Keeps.” The sequel is a historical novel, he said, set in 1812 at the St. Lawrence River, Mexico Point, Oswego and Kingston. “If you like historical novels, you're going to love this story,” he said.
Tirrell moved to Oswego in 1966 as a manager in the W.T. Grant department store. “I loved Oswego, very soon had my first sailboat and friends in the boating community. When Grants transferred me to Auburn, I ended up quitting and coming back,” he said.
“The Secret Ever Keeps” is published by Kunati, Inc., an independent publishing house that specializes in the edgy and provocative.
To read more about Tirrell and “The Secret Ever Keeps,” log on to www.kunati.com or www.ArtTirrell. com.
"...romance, adventure...danger..."
KIRKUS REVIEWS
Review Date: OCTOBER 01, 2006
Publisher:Kunati
Pages: 352
Price (hardback): $24.95
Publication Date: 1/1/2007 0:00:00
ISBN: 1-60164-004-8
ISBN (hardback): 1-60164-004-8
Category: FICTION
In a debut intended to launch a series, attractive but lovelorn Laurel Kinsgsford finds romance, adventure, a kindly grandfather and a shocking letter on the shores of Lake Ontario.
Furious to learn that a protg has been promoted over her head, the brainy young naval engineer quits her job only to find when she gets home that her live-in boyfriend has cleaned out the closets and their checking accounts. Licking her wounds and alone in the world, Laurel retreats to the Twice Told Hotel on the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario, which she had visited several times as a child. There, she bonds with Jake Eastland, the hotel's elderly owner, whose career arc has taken him from Prohibition-era smuggler to 21st-century multibillionaire. The reader quickly learns, though Laurel does not, that Jake is her grandfather. Long estranged from his late wife, he's been secretly pulling strings in Laurel's life (as revealed in interspersed flashbacks that take up half the text). Unaware of his wealth and their connection, Laurel just likes the old gaffer for his crusty self. Jake might just be ready to reveal the family tie, but first he needs to help his granddaughter recover her self-confidence. He involves Laurel, a proficient diver, in efforts to locate some jazz-age hooch he dumped when the Coast Guard got too close, and he tantalizes her with tales of a treasure-laden Revolutionary War ship that sank nearby. To assist them in their quest, Jake hires Michael Marvin McKean, a handsome former Coast Guard captain with a broken heart who is, coincidentally, a descendant of the officer who nearly caught bootlegger Eastland with the goods all those years ago. But before romance can blossom, Laurel and Mike must first weather rough seas and danger from a tough clan Jake has tangled with.
YA adventure for the older set.