The Secret Keeper of Main Street

“Nappily Ever After” series author Thomas’s second historical novel (following What Passes as Love) transports listeners to the 1950s and the small, oil-rich town of Mendol, OK, where secrets and marriages of obligation are the norm. Bailey is a skilled Black seamstress with a special talent—if she touches someone, she can read their heartstrings and see glimpses of their romantic future. Usually, she is party to small matters, but when she touches her friend Elsa, the daughter of a local oil baron, she sees a terrible future. Bailey agrees to help Elsa with her troubles, stepping into her white, monied world even though it puts her own life at risk. Janina Edwards narrates, skillfully performing the narrative parts and the dialogue between the Black characters. Her narration of the white women characters is somewhat less effective owing to the unnaturally high-pitched voices she employs, but this tendency lessens as the novel progresses.