Seven essays from the heart.

"When I was sixteen years old I had secrets, all right. But my secrets were not exactly my own; they were the secrets of others." So writes Nan Germaine in Perfectly Secret, Susan Musgrave's fourth collection of essays written by women writers about their teenage lives.

Nan remembers the loneliness of enduring her parent's secret confessions: her mother's unhappiness and her father's infidelity. For Anita Rau Badami, a mad aunt was her hidden shame. Meanwhile, a drunken father meant Lorna Crozier could never invite her friends home. And Cathy Stonehouse, who lived her life in fragments, found her secret self threatened in a not-so-innocent game of Truth or Dare.

Heartfelt, disarmingly honest, at times painful, these essays eloquently capture the reality of adolescent life. Perfectly Secret is a testament to the axiom that life isn't always as it appears.

Each author tells a deeply personal, honest story that will resonate with young adults.

Taken together, they also lead readers to realize that secrets have tremendous power and enormous emotional costs. Each piece is sensitive, realistic, and well written.