The Secrets of CeeCee Wilkes

by Diane Chamberlain

This book made me think a lot about people and how they grow up and change. How many of us are really the same people we were when we were sixteen? Oh, I know that buried inside of us there is still a glimpse of that person, but just barely.

It also made me think a lot about crime, jail, and the justice system.
It's easy to think that most criminals are that way because they have chosen that lifestyle. It's easy to condemn them and not even consider the circumstances that made them choose that way of life. Yet can we ever really say with certainty how we would have turned out if we'd been in the same circumstances? What about the everyday people who have never considered crime at all, and then make one poor decision that results in them being criminals? How about people who commit terrible crimes in their youth who never get caught and end up turning themselves around and leading a model life, who then get caught when they are elderly resulting in them being tried for crimes that were committed so long ago that you can't even imagine them being that person.

That's what this book is about. CeeCee at sixteen falls in love for the first time with an older man who really just wants to use her to help him commit a crime to free his sister from death row. CeeCee knows that it's illegal, but he makes it seem so simple and easy, and her involvement so slight that it won't matter. She loves him so badly and wants him to continue loving her, so she complies. This leads to her entire life changing. Now twenty-eight years later, she confesses her part in the crime and has to face her family, friends, and a jury.

Quotes I liked:

"A mother never loved her daughter more," Marian said. "Every mother I know screwed up somehow with her kids and only with the best of intentions."

"Can you think of a time when you felt really brave? The next time you're afraid of something, remember how you felt at that time. Remember everything about it. How it smells and feels and especially the calm or positive excitement you felt and try to carry that feeling with you into the new situation. Think of this as a mantra, 'Carry the Confidence.' Say that to yourself when you're afraid of something and let it remind you of how you felt in that brave situation."