How have secrets changed over the generations, and what does that tell us about ourselves, society and secrecy itself? In her groundbreaking new book, bestselling social historian Juliet Nicolson cracks open a subject close to all our hearts.

According to a leading American psychotherapist most of us are keeping an average of thirteen secrets at any one time. Secrets can thrill, but they are just as likely to torment; and the deepest ones travel down the generations, wrapped in shame, guilt and dread.

The secrets we keep inside reflect the outside world: they open a uniquely revealing window onto the times we live in. The position of women at the heart of family life has often made them society’s secret-keepers, so they hold a special key. By looking at women and their secrets over the past three generations, The Book of Revelations unlocks a period of significant transformation – and one of the most fundamental but hidden aspects of being human.

Bringing together social history, intimate personal stories, long-buried memories and the healing of sharing, Juliet Nicolson explores the private and public freedoms that have come with the breaking of successive taboos. Things her mother’s generation did not dare speak about became for hers the things they must not repress. But in today’s polarised culture, are our daughters and granddaughters once again in danger of being curtailed by censure, caution and fear?