Reviews Susan Larson - The New Orleans Times-Picayune DeLauné Michel hails from a dynasty of Louisiana writers -- including her mother, Elizabeth Nell Dubus, uncle Andre Dubus, cousins Andre Dubus III and James Lee Burke -- but her southern California voice is uniquely her own. In "The Safety of Secrets," her second novel, she describes the boundaries and betrayals of lifelong friendship, as well as examining that age-old mother-daughter stranglehold. Fiona Marshall and Patricia Woods have been friends since they met in first grade at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Elementary School in Lake Charles. Now they're living in Hollywood, still friends, but separated by career paths and life choices. As the novel opens, Fiona has just learned she is pregnant for the second time (her first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage), and she is piecing together an acting career, character role by character role, with the closet full of clothes to prove it. She loves her husband, Neil, and the life they are trying to make together. Patricia, meanwhile, has found fame as a hostess/judge on the hit reality show, "Sports Giant!" She has the unmistakable aura of one who is "fabulous, coddled, and with a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a week radiating from her skin." When she marries Zane, her boyfriend of six months, in Vegas, it seems her Hollywood life is firmly launched. The two friends, like all best friends do, have harbored their share of secrets over the years, their expectations and disappointments. Michel touches brilliantly on significant rituals in women's lives -- the celebratory manicure/pedicure, the baby shower, the "Gone with the Wind" style wedding that resembles nothing so much as "Mardi Gras after the tourists discovered it and drained away its original meaning by their sheer presence." But when Patricia reveals the darkest secret she and Fiona have shared over the years -- and on a national talk show -- it has consequences for both women's lives. When Fiona was a little girl, her favorite book was one that had belonged to her mother -- "The Golden Book of Elves and Fairies with Assorted Pixies, Mermaids, Brownies, and Leprechauns," a book of magical beings. No wonder she became an actress, trading one magical hope for another. She is always looking for transformation -- a uniform, a haircut, a new role -- until finally she finds the role she has been seeking: mother to a daughter who will be "carried aloft on a future that will take her places I have never been." Michel looks at women's lives straight on, with an eye for rivalries and love that accompany both friendship and motherhood. Are our secrets ever safe? How do we move on from the unhappy experiences of the past? How do we forgive our mothers, our friends, ourselves? How do we balance the demands of career and motherhood and marriage? These are the questions -- ready-made for book club discussions -- that DeLauné Michel asks in "The Safety of Secrets," with sharp wit and painful honesty. Booklist Michel's follow-up to Aftermath of Dreaming (2006) is the tale of two childhood best friends who fled their Louisiana roots for Los Angeles. Fiona is a moderately successful, married actress who has just learned she is expecting a child. Patricia is the one with the superstar career: as the host of a sports reality show, she is a high-profile celebrity, as is her new husband, Zane, a dashing but shallow movie star. Fiona feels a disconnect with Patricia after Patricia's impulsive marriage to Zane in Las Vegas, and it's further emphasized by her mixed feelings upon learning the sex of her baby, feelings she feels she can't share with Patricia. When Patricia commits a startling betrayal and reveals a secret the two have been keeping since their teens, Fiona realizes their longtime friendship is at a crossroads and may not survive. Michel is deeply attuned to the subtleties in women's friendships, the little nuances that indicate a slight or an attempt at making up for one, and she pays tribute to them with this layered, fluid novel. —Kristine Huntley Library Journal Readers will be drawn into this story of contemporary L A life infused with remembrances of childhood friendships and coming of age in the South. Michel's characters are well developed, and she weaves a compelling plot. Highly recommended for all public libraries. Background: A Louisiana-raised writer/actress and a cousin of novelist James Lee Burke, Michel founded Spoken Interludes, a reading series in New York and Los Angeles. Her second novel (following Aftermath of Dreaming) chronicles the friendship of Fiona and Patricia through tumultuous childhoods and adulthoods. Growing up in Lake Charles, LA, the two grow up and move to Los Angeles to become actresses. One gets famous, while the other gets married. Dark secrets may or may not take their toll. —Sarah E. Myers, Red Feather Lakes, CO David Gutowski - www.Largeheartedboy.com In "The Safety of Secrets", DeLauné Michel deftly explores the bonds of both friendship and love as two childhood friends' professional and personal lives take different directions, as well as the effects of the secrets we choose to keep. Of all the books I have read this year, this one manages to give true insight into what friendship really is. Www.local-iQ.com, BY SARAH EGELMAN Told from Fiona's perspective, this second novel by DeLauné Michel is an honestly written and engrossing read. The narration swings effortlessly between the present and the women's difficult childhoods in Lake Charles, La., where they first came to know, love and support each other almost 30 years ago. The Safety of Secrets is a recommendable novel; at once funny and poignant. "Written with tremendous narrative velocity, The Safety of Secrets is almost impossible to put down. DeLauné Michel has crafted a story that manages to be several things at once: a hilarious inside look at the fascinating fringes of Hollywood, a nuanced portrait of a friendship and its secrets, and a moving testament to the powerful effects of a destructive mother."    —Dani Shapiro, award-winning, best-selling writer "Black and White" "Funny and touching, this is a tale of childhood—and how it never ends"    —Cathleen Schine, New York Times best-selling writer "The New Yorkers" "DeLauné Michel has written a terrifically funny book with a very tender heart. It manages to be wonderfully confessional and psychologically mysterious. The Safety of Secrets is the perfect curl-up-on-the-couch-and-read-all-day-long kind of book. It stays with you."    —Jill A. Davis, New York Times best-selling writer "Ask Again Later" "DeLauné Michel's debut novel, Aftermath of Dreaming was remarkably assured and compelling. At once funny, moving, and richly evocative of contemporary Los Angeles, The Safety of Secrets more than confirms its promise."    —Peter Biskind, best-selling author "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood" "The Safety of Secrets is a beautifully written book that takes you into the mind of a woman attempting the impossible; trying to make marriage, motherhood, friendship and a career as an actress all work in the gladiatorial ring of present day Los Angeles. DeLauné Michel writes with the precision and insight of an x-ray."    —Merrill Markoe, New York Times best-selling writer "Turning in Circles Before Lying Down" "The Safety of Secrets is a funny, keenly observed, deeply moving story of coming of age too soon. DeLauné Michel's elegantly structured novel jumps back and forth between an imperfect childhood in Louisiana, and a complicated adulthood in Los Angeles. The novel shifts effortlessly from parental betrayal, to celebrity friendship; from long buried secrets to the peculiar stress of L.A. life near the fast lane. She captures both worlds with perfect pitch."    —Warren Leight, Tony award-winning playwright "Side Man" Interview on WWLTV News Show Interview on The Book Report Radio Show Or here is the mp3 Interview on WRBH's Writers' Forum Radio Show Interview on WYPL’s Book Talk Radio Show Bookreview.com We have all kept a secret at one time or another. Some of us even thought keeping secrets with our friends when we were little was a fun game. But I'm talking about fun secrets such as "Don't tell Neil I like him". The Safety of Secrets explores what happens when two girls, Fiona and Patricia, promise each other they will hold on to a dark secret forever. They formed a close bond when they met in the first grade and kept that bond through adulthood. The book begins when they are both actresses in Los Angeles. Fiona is a successful working actress and Patricia is famous for hosting a sports reality show. Fiona finds out she is pregnant at thirty-five after having a miscarriage in the past. Fiona and Patricia have their friendship tested after a dark secret that may be revealed during Patricia¹s wedding to a famous movie star. The Safety of Secrets explores many themes. The first and main theme is that of lifelong friendship. Fiona and Patricia both come from abusive mothers, which helps them bond. The chapters that go back during that time period are heartbreaking. The abuse that Fiona goes through from her mother one summer was especially moving. I could also relate with Fiona's present day anxiety of being pregnant after experiencing a miscarriage. The Lamaze class Fiona and her husband go to was a laugh out loud chapter. I found it highly interesting to learn about the Los Angeles acting culture and could picture the city from Delauné's vivid descriptions. The heart of the story, though, was about forgiveness and mothers. Since most of us can relate to both, I highly suggest you put this lovely book on your reading list. The Pendulum - Elon, NC If it's been so long since you've read for fun that you're not sure where to begin, Delauné Michel's "The Safety of Secrets" is a good place to start. "The Safety of Secrets" is hard to put down. Michel's writing ranges from poetic and lyrical to feeling like a conversation with a close friend. When a face from their past disrupts their new lives in Los Angeles, Fiona and Patricia are forced to confront the demons from their childhood, even if it means the possibility of destroying their friendship. Fiona makes an entertaining, sympathetic and realistic narrator, and Michel captures both the unconditional love and sisterhood and the annoyance and resentment that exist within a lifelong friendship. —Alex Milan Book Club Queen Review DeLauné writes about friendship which is not a new theme. However, she really pushes the boundaries of our definitions of friendship by challenging us to decide just how much we can trust someone we consider our "best" friend. Fiona and Patricia have been friends practically their whole lives so if they can't trust each other, who can they trust? It brings up an interesting thought about female friendships. In the book Fiona's loyalties, no matter how mad she is, are always to Patricia. Even over her husband. She doesn't realize it but each time she promises her husband she won't tell anyone and then runs to tell Patricia, she's putting her friendship over her marriage. There is a fundamental difference between male and female friendships because when a woman tells someone - husband, mother, another friend - "I won't tell anyone," what she really means is "I won't tell anyone EXCEPT my best friend." Let's be honest, we all do this. This is a very true-to-life story about women and friendships and how easy it is to hurt someone you love when the "safety of a secret" is jeopardized. blogofneworleans.com DeLauné Michel's upcoming book-tour stop in New Orleans is a sort of dual homecoming. The New Yorker was born and raised in south Louisiana, but her new novel, The Safety of Secrets, set in Lake Charles, proves that she has never truly left her Southern roots. The novel tells the story of Fiona and Patricia, whose childhood friendship grows strong in the shadows of their family hardships, and who share the same dream of becoming actresses. When they both move to LA, however, Patricia skyrockets to fame while Fiona struggles. Both Hollywood and difficult marriages test the true nature of their relationship, but a secret from the past ultimately threatens its survival as well as their careers. Says Michel of her inspiration, "I wanted to explore deep-rooted loyalty between women, and how sometimes it can be a sword that cuts both ways, opening up whole worlds of safety within the friendship while exacting a price, as well." Michel's family has the sort of legendary and colorful history that anchors this author's strong connection to the region and to New Orleans. The ten published writers in only two generations of Michel's family is a notable and incredible statistic, and her relative Helene DeLauné's activity in Marie Antoinette's court and her escape to Louisiana earned the family a place in the history books. Michel's personal journey is just as illustrious, including a modeling stint in Europe and acting in Los Angeles before she began her literary career. Reviews so far label her as a promising contemporary author. DeLauné Michel also is the author of Aftermath of Dreaming. She reads from The Safety of Secrets and signs books at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Garden District Book Shop (2727 Prytania St.). — Allison Good