Keeping Secrets

I remember what it was like Before. I flew over the ice like a swallow on the wind. Music filled my whole body, and I soared like a bird above the city of Johannesburg—eGoli—place of gold. I dreamed of gold medals and going to the Olympics someday.

But that was Before.

I was too young to know that life can collapse as fast as a skater can lose an edge and tumble to the ice. It hurts to fall, but you get up; you keep skating. You smile for the judges, and you don’t let them see the pain. That’s what winners do.

But sometimes, the hurt is too much, and you can’t get up. You can’t keep skating.

Then you lose.

Fifteen-year-old Sindiswe Khumalo is the most promising figure skater the South African Skating Federation has ever had. But at the rink Sindi can’t talk about what’s making her father ill. Even her best friends can’t be trusted. The young man who drives the zamboni lost his job when people found out he had HIV. A girl in her class dropped out of school when the bullies accused her of being infected. Sindi has dreams—Olympic-size dreams. The truth could cost her everything, but keeping the secret might cost her more.

[At skating camp Sindi meets up-and-coming American skater Ben Bradley (Crossovers)]

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What readers are saying about Keeping Secrets:

Keeping Secrets is courageous, raw, honest, and real. Perhaps it should come with a warning. “Consume at your own risk!”  Daring to voice the shame, stigma, and discrimination faced by millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa who have lost one or both parents to AIDS, LeAnne Hardy is not afraid to sadden, convict, and cry out for justice. This is not just a story for young adults, but for educators, advocates and all adults wrestling with whether to tell, or not to tell.

--Diane Marshall SIM Deputy International Director, HIV&AIDS Consultant

Be prepared to have your heart broken, your preconceptions or even misconceptions shattered, your eyes opened and hopefully, your mind changed. It’s been awhile since I’ve read a fictional account that got me so angry, so hurt, so concerned, so passionate about it’s characters and what was happening to them.

--Kevin Sorenson, pastor and blogger

On Writing Keeping Secrets

Keeping Secrets, sample chapter

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