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Something to Hide
Something to Hide
Nov 23, 2025 7:45 AM

Author:Deborah Moggach

Something to Hide

The bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Tulip Fever is back with a warm, witty and wise novel about the unexpected twists that later life can bring…

‘Nobody in the world knows our secret ... that I’ve ruined Bev’s life, and she’s ruined mine.’

Petra’s love life is a bit of a car-crash, even in her sixties. But then she falls for Jeremy, an old chum, visiting from abroad. The catch? Jeremy is her best friend’s husband.

And just as Petra is beginning to relax guiltily into her happy ever after, she finds herself catapulted to West Africa, and to Bev, her best friend who she’s been betraying so spectacularly.

It turns out that no matter where you are in the world, everyone has something to hide. Can Bev – can anyone – be trusted?

Reviews

This is a great read, full of humour, insight and exotic foreign flavour

—— Wendy Holden , Daily Mail

This is an absorbing read, with surprises and moments of tension that make it a genuine page-turner

—— Shirley Whiteside , Independent On Sunday

Pulling the reader along on a fast-paced transcontinental journey, Something to Hide is engaging, poignant and prompts snorts of laughter

—— Catherine Scott, 4 stars , Daily Telegraph

An unpredictable tale of love loss and deception

—— Red

A skillful and genuinely moving page-tuner with plenty of surprises

—— Sunday Express

A poignant story of the secrets and deceptions that lie at the heart of every relationship

—— Sebastian Shakespeare , Tatler

This is classic Moggach: readable, memorable and eminently filmable

—— Melissa Katsoulis , The Times

Funny, touching and surprising

—— Woman and Home

a gentle, easy-reading tale of happenstance and second chances

—— Lucy Scholes , Observer

Tense and thrilling

—— Philippa Williams , Lady

[A] sprightly tale… [With] a lightness of touch

—— RTE Guide

Funny and touching with a fast-moving plot – the perfect Summer read.

—— Good Housekeeping

[A] warm, witty and wise novel.

—— I

An up-to-date, global page-turner.

—— WI Life

a powerful book and a cautionary tale... it's also a touching celebration of human determination in the overcoming of adversity.

—— Press Association

Darkly funny debut

—— Radio Times

Funny and warm, heartbreaking too. Impressive debut!

—— Claire Allan

emotional, raw, deeply moving and…funny too

—— The Scotsman

...a really rather good YA crossover ... while Khorsandi's novel tackles some pretty big subjects, it does so while making you laugh out loud

—— Metro

I really couldn’t put this book down. It’s not just for young people but if you have a teenage daughter, please make her read it.

—— The Sun

I am loving Shappi Khorsandi's Nina is Not OK, she is making me care about 'Nina' so much that I get anxious on her behalf

—— Jenny Eclair

Howard Jacobson’s masterful retelling of The Merchant of Venice celebrates the play but speaks for itself about being Jewish… Jacobson [is] a skilful craftsman as well as an artist of rare individuality… He has written a comic novel which poses serious questions. He has been both inventive and faithful to Shakespeare. And as a bonus, he gives us a good many excellent Jewish jokes.

—— Allan Massie , The Scotsman

Jacobson preserves the sense of ambiguity and uncertainty…that gives Shakespeare’s play much of its unsettling force… [My Name is Shylock] is the product of deep thought, deep feeling, deep scholarship. But this book is never leaden or lenten. It is fresh, exuberant, funny, almost preposterously entertaining and engaging. It is also possessed of an irony, wit and restless addiction to exploring conflicting arguments that leaves you feeling enriched… Jacobson’s prose is…vibrant, inventive, precise, arresting and full of memorable cadences and elegant modulations… A stunning achievement.

—— Matthew Adams , The National

My Name is Shylock does ample justice to the legacy of Shakespeare’s classic story… Jacobson has proved that his command of the art of storytelling is worthy of renewed praise.

—— UK Press Syndication

Jacobson’s Mancunian Jewish voice (last seen to splendid effect in The Mighty Walzer) is rare enough. But when this voice is combined with high culture and rude comedy it is, despite its abject subject matter, utterly life-affirming.

—— Bryan Cheyette , The Times Literary Supplement

Compelling retelling.

—— Paul Levy , The Spectator

Expect …The kind of comic intelligence that has made his name

—— Sam Parker , Esquire

Set in a world of unimaginable wealth, football player celebrity, cosmetic surgery and reality TV, My Name Is Shylock does ample justice to the legacy of Shakespeare's classic story of honouring a debt with perhaps the ultimate sacrifice.

—— Roddy Brooks , The Northern Echo

The winner of the Man Booker Prize for The Finkler Question pulls off a neat trick in this almost perversely serious comic novel, creating a parallel world to Shakespeare's Venice in the wealthy, cultured Golden Triangle of Cheshire, and peopling it with parallel-ish characters...The author shows full power and ingenuity putting Strulovitch and Shylock in the same place and time.

—— Paul Levy , The Spectator

Explores the meaning of Shakespeare's play, uses its enduring relevance to examine the contemporary world and challenges us to interrogate our prejudices...Energetic, authentic and biting.

—— Independent

That Shylock should thus materialise for a present-day Jewish protagonist, and become...a confidant, an exemplar...an advisor is a brilliant conceit...a powerful reimagining and reinvention.

—— Adam Lively , The Sunday Times

Alive with humanity and fierce debate, the book offers a nice twist on that notorious pound of flesh.

—— Hephzibah Anderson , Mail on Sunday

Funny and dark by turns… A gripping tale of love, plastic surgery and that notorious pound of flesh… This warm, witty and brilliantly written book provides a challenging feast for the imagination.

—— Rebecca Wallersteiner , The Lady

A master of serious-minded comedy, Jacobson is one of the greats of his generation.

—— Culture Whisper

Brilliantly witty inventive.

—— Kate Saunders , Saga

A crackling dialectic on fatherhood, faith and what it means to be merciful… The echoes of Shakespeare’s story in Strulovitch’s are obvious…But the quips and the characters are pure Jacobson… It’s a treat.

—— Emma Hughes , The Tablet

Hilarious reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

—— Esquire

Offering witty twists to a play long experienced by many as a racial tragedy.

—— Tova Reich , Washington Post

Affectionate retelling… At the heart of the novel is the profound question of whether obligation…should be tempered by mercy.

—— Giulia Miller , Jewish Quarterly

Even those familiar with that book will be surprised by the twists now composed by Jacobson, whose most idle words have purpose, as well as point… Clever mockery and racial self-depreciation give the novel its provocative brilliance… Jacobson pours the quality of mercy through a large strainer, but Shylock’s fortitude and unswerving tribal fidelity are offered as a kind of redemption, a way, if you like, of forgiving Shakespeare. And of sending you back to him, not only just to check

—— Mary leland , Irish Examiner

As characteristically ingenious, witty and dark as his musings on what it means to be Jewish.

—— Simon Shaw , Mail on Sunday

It hooks you into a great debate.

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

I don’t think any other author writes as well about the experience of Jewishness and he manages to be serious but with that laconic humour.

—— Tony Robinson , Radio Times Christmas Gift Guide

An intelligent, funny and enjoyable novel.

—— Brad Davies , i, Book of the Year

For my favourite novel I’m choosing Shylock is my Name… It’s a dark, witty, provocative re-imagine of Shakespeare…seriously brilliant on many levels.

—— Bel Mooney , Daily Mail, Book of the Year
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