Deep Secret
Deep Secret is an historical novel (1940s) set in the beautiful Derbyshire Derwent valley. Identical twin sisters Madeleine and Grace are everything to each other, until tragedy strikes the family. Meanwhile the villagers hear that their village is to be drowned in the creation of Ladybower reservoir. Memories, secrets, love and lies will soon be lost forever under the water. 12+ Carnegie medal nominated.
Available from Amazon.
Republished by Andersen Press, January 2020, ISBN 9781783449026. Previously published by Andersen Press in September 2010, and first published by Puffin Books, 2003.
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Grace put out her hand, almost touching the mirror. Her image did the same.
“There’s another world in there.”
“We could float in and out of it.”
Deep Secret was also published in Croatia and France.
Deep Secret was shortlisted for the Book Trust Teenage Fiction award.
The secret of Ladybower
There really is a village under Ladybower. In fact there are two, Derwent and Ashopton. Ladybower and its connecting reservoirs are beautiful, serene stretches of water in the glorious Derbyshire countryside. I have walked and cycled round it many times, never failing to absorb its beauty. Occasionally drought causes the waters to recede, and the drowned villages reveal themselves. There is an eerie stillness to the place, as if the ghosts of the old families are still there. I’ve walked among the stunted ruins of the farmhouses, the school, the church, the magnificent Hall, and have been deeply touched by a sense of irreversible loss.
For many years the church steeple was visible, and it was said you could hear the bell tolling. Eventually the council destroyed it to stop people swimming out to it.
How I came to write ‘Deep Secret’
I wrote a radio play called The Drowned Village as a ghost story about Ladybower. But some time later I decided to write a family novel, using Ladybower as the setting. The background was to be the enforced loss of a home and a way of life. But what was the plot? I focussed down on one (imaginary) family. One very still day I was looking at the reservoir and the whole hillside seemed to be tipped into the water, creating a perfect reflection. It was then that I decided to write about teenage identical twins, the mirror of each other.
What if one of them disappeared forever? What if they couldn’t let each other go? And when I knew what I was writing about, the drowned village became a metaphor for something much deeper: the loss of identity.
There’s a powerful sense of somehow surviving through great changes, and an over-arching exploration of what can be meant by a person’s identity.
Kate Agnew, Bookseller
Some historical facts about Ladybower
Ladybower is situated in the Derwent valley in north-west Derbyshire. This reservoir links up with Howden and Derwent reservoirs, supplying water to Sheffield, Manchester, Derby and Nottingham. The huge dam wall consists of an earthwork embankment with a clay core. The estimated storage capacity of this new reservoir is over six thousand million gallons of water.
The decision to flood the Derwent valley was originally proposed in 1900, subject to the purchase from the Duke of Norfolk of Derwent Hall and the adjoining land. In 1934 the villagers and farmers learned that they were to lose their homes, and work commenced. The huge project, which involved the building of the Ladybower dam and two viaducts, was completed in 1945. King George VI unveiled the memorial tablets. The villagers were offered accommodation in a specially constructed housing development at Yorkshire Bridge.
Before the opening ceremony there was very little mention of the project in the Press. The villagers had no say in what was happening to their valley.
Some changes
I changed some of these facts to create my novel. In Deep Secret, the construction is completed within a few years of the villagers knowing that they have to move. I needed to adjust the timeframe in order to make the novel more immediate and dramatic.
I have changed place names too, because it’s a novel, not a historical document. What matters most is the story, and if a novelist has to change things in order to make the story work, she does!
My personal interest in ‘Deep Secret’
I feel a great empathy for the villagers who lost their homes beneath Ladybower. I live in Edale in the Peak District, in a very similar valley to Derwent. Apparently, in 1949 it was proposed that Edale, too, should be dammed to make a reservoir. Luckily, a geological fault made the project unworkable. I would never have been able to live here. The valley that is my chosen home would not exist.
Also I have a fascination with twins. We have two sets of non-identical twins in my family, and I know identical twins. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be so close to a sibling, even before birth. Well, I’ve tried to imagine it in Deep Secret and in The Sailing Ship Tree!
‘Deep Secret’ is a beautifully told story of people, place, changing times and lasting memories. At its heart are two young girls, identical twins Grace and Madeleine, but it’s just as much the story of their community, the people of a small Derbyshire village… It’s a wonderfully touching description of a lost way of life, and when a tragic event occurs drama and pain follow before final acceptance and understanding. This is the kind of story that resonates with the readers long after the final page, and highly recommended.
Andrea Reece, lovereading4kids, 2020
- Water under the Bridge, VJ Hallam publ. E Evans 1979
- The Silent Valley, VJ Hallam publ. Sheaf Publishing 1983
- Derwent Days publ. Yorkshire Arts Circus 1998
- The Lost Villages of Derwent and Ashopton, Harry Gill 1969
- and talked to Jack Eliot about his childhood in the Derwent Valley.
Further information about Ladybower can be found at the local studies library, Sheffield Central Library, and at Vic Hallam’s museum at Fairholmes, Ladybower.
If you enjoyed reading ‘Deep Secret’…
You may also enjoy my other historical novels. And The Sailing Ship Tree is also about twins.
What do you love about your home? Which room do you love the best? Describe it. Maybe it’s your bedroom, or the garden, or a shed. Think of a particular object in that room. Describe it as though you have to remember it forever, before it is taken away from you.
Berlie Doherty’s graceful, lyrical prose just floats from the page and you lose yourself in the worlds she creates. ‘Deep Secret’ is an enchanting and irresistible read. Berlie Doherty manages to tell a story that delicately depicts themes of youth, change and conflict but also love and loss all in one fascinating story.
Jill Murphy, The Bookbag