Book Review: All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

By Carly Smith

All Her Little Secrets follows Ellice Littlejohn, a lawyer who works at Houghton Transportation Company—a corporation involved in some shady business. Not only does Littlejohn stand out as one of the few women in her department, but also as the company’s only Black employee. Shortly after her colleague and lover, Michael, is found dead, Ellice is thrust into his role at Houghton. As she makes her way up the ranks, and the police work to find Michael’s killer, she is forced into a past full of secrets that steadily unravel. Morris tastefully intertwines Ellice’s past and present lives in this well-paced, captivating thriller.

Ellice Littlejohn is a strong-willed, hard-working woman whose roots in a small, southern town are both a curse and a blessing. Her youth sculpted her into the clever, determined lawyer she is, while it also exposed her to pain and fear no child should encounter. Now working in Atlanta, Ellice has a new life that delivers many positives—money, freedom from her former abusers, and status. Nevertheless, parts of her old life like racism, heinous childhood memories, and the obligation to constantly protect her little brother, must be relived. Morris constructs a main character with great intention, making Ellice Littlejohn relatable and engaging. 

This debut novel can easily be confused for a book written by a seasoned thriller author; it contains just enough details to leave the reader enchanted but not so many as to feel overwhelmed or bored. I really enjoyed how Morris combined a unique thriller plot with the real-world, everyday intersection of race and gender discrimination that so many Black women experience. This added a sense of connection and reality to the fictional story that readers can take away and contemplate long after the book is finished. Morris tells the story in the first-person perspective, going back and forth between Ellice’s childhood and the present. Overall, All Her Little Secrets is a well-calculated, steady read that left me looking forward to Morris’s next book.