The Black Book of Secrets

by F. E. Higgins

Summary: When the mysterious Joe Zabbidou comes to town and begins to set up shop, it sets the town of Pagus Parvus on its ear. He claims to be a pawnbroker, but no one can seem to figure out how he stays in business. The items he pays good money for are nothing but worthless junk, which he proudly displays in his windows. Joe soon adopts Ludlow Fitch as an apprentice, a ragamuffin running from his own poverty-stricken past and his abusive parents. Ludlow learns that Joe's true pawn business is not in material things. He is asked to attend midnight meetings with various townspeople, and to record what they say into a big black book. Joe is paying for their secrets, and paying well. So well, in fact, that the local loan shark, Jeremiah Ratchet, is seeing himself run out of business. This, of course, won't do at all, so he sets out to ruin Joe and Ludlow.

My thoughts: I love the idea here that secret-keeping can be soul-crushing. By telling their secrets to Joe, they were released of the burden, and could once again sleep at night. This is one of those novels that makes you see that as humans, we're really not all that different. We all have the same fears and hopes and dreams. This book is exciting, shocking, sad, and funny all at once. I loved it!