SECRET OF JOY (Melissa Senate)

Rebecca Strand is shocked by her father's deathbed confession that he has another daughter.  When Rebecca was 2 years old, a brief affair in Maine resulted in the birth of child whom Daniel Strand has never met. After the death of Rebecca's mother, she and her father formed a close and unbreakable bond, and the realization that Daniel kept a secret so significant sends Rebecca reeling.  Did he love the woman?  Did her mother know?  Why did he fail to acknowledge and support his second daughter?  Rebecca, unfulfilled by her relationship with Michael (she actually loves his mother more than she loves him), decides to travel to Maine to seek out Joy, her sister and only remaining family.  She is desperate to make sense of her emotions and her new relationships, and in the process she finds answers to other dilemmas in her life as well.  This could have been a trite story about a confused young city woman finding happiness and love in small-town Maine, but Senate treats Rebecca's emotional quandaries with sensitivity, humor, and realism.  Senate's latest is enjoyable and a satisfying way to spend a weekend.