Living in Secret

Overview

Living in Secret is Cristina Salat's 1993 young adult novel about Amelia, whose family conflict moves from custody and divorce into secret relocation with her mother and her mother's partner in San Francisco. The item is a strong collection record because it brings together early-1990s YA fiction, lesbian motherhood, custody conflict, geographic flight, and the risks of disclosure. Kirkus, Open Library, Internet Archive, Los Angeles Times, ALA Rainbow Round Table, and later author/edition lanes give enough evidence for a careful synthesis, provided the record separates the 1993 edition from later revised or anniversary forms. It belongs beside Holly's Secret and Box Girl, but its stakes are sharper: secrecy is tied not only to peers, but to law, safety, and movement between households.^{[2][9][13][10]}

Custody And Family Conflict

The custody frame distinguishes Living in Secret from many collection titles about two mothers. Public review evidence supports a story in which Amelia's family arrangement is shaped by divorce, custody, homophobia, and adult decisions that the child experiences as both rescue and danger. The record needs careful language: it can describe the story's custody conflict without turning the page into legal analysis. That restraint keeps attention on how a youth novel rendered lesbian motherhood under early-1990s family pressure.^[9][2][13]

San Francisco Flight

The move to San Francisco gives the novel a Bay Area geography that resonates with the broader collection. Amelia's hidden life with her mother and partner turns place into both refuge and risk. San Francisco is not simply a background setting; it is where a concealed family structure becomes livable for a time and where peer relationships begin to test the secret. This geographic layer connects the book to Bay Area family, adoption, and marriage-equality records elsewhere in the collection.^[9][10][15]

Secrecy With Higher Stakes

Holly's Secret and Box Girl both examine adolescent concealment, but Living in Secret raises the stakes by tying secrecy to custody and relocation. The child is not only deciding how to talk about a parent; she is living inside a hidden arrangement that may have legal and familial consequences. That difference makes the title an important node in a disclosure cluster. It shows that queer-family visibility in youth fiction could carry very different emotional and structural weights.^[9][13]

Edition Afterlife

Open Library and author-site lanes point to later editions after the original 1993 publication. Those records matter because they suggest the title did not disappear after its first edition, but they also create a bibliographic caution. A later deluxe or anniversary version may not match the held copy's text, cover, pagination, or paratext. The collection record therefore treats later editions as afterlife evidence, while keeping the local object anchored to the 1993 catalog year until inspected.^[2][11][3]

Timeline

1. 1992Cataloging traceThe LCCN attached to Living in Secret dates from 1992.^[12]
2. 1993-02-01Trade review dateKirkus records a 1993 release-date lane for the book.^[9]
3. 1993PublicationOpen Library and Internet Archive records place the title in 1993 catalog lanes.^[2][6]
4. 1993-06-20Newspaper receptionLos Angeles Times archive metadata preserves a contemporary reception lane.^[10]
5. 2000Disclosure-cluster comparisonHolly's Secret later gives the collection another child-centered secrecy story.^[13]
6. 2001Canadian cluster comparisonBox Girl later gives a father-and-partner disclosure comparison.^[13]
7. 2016Later edition laneOpen Library and author web records indicate later edition activity.^[2][11]
8. 2019Anniversary afterlifeLater public records suggest a 25th-anniversary or updated edition lane.^[2][11]

Secrecy And Disclosure Cluster

Living in Secret gives the cluster its custody and relocation frame.

Citation

Living in Secret. Cristina Salat. Bantam / Books MarcUs catalog lanes, 1993. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-190.

Sources

Cover image from Open Library.

1. Local collection catalog record for Living in Secret · catalog
2. Open Library search for Living in Secret and Cristina Salat · library
3. Open Library ISBN record for Living in Secret · library
4. Open Library search for Living in Secret ISBN · library
5. Open Library author search for Cristina Salat · library
6. Internet Archive metadata for Living in Secret · library
7. Internet Archive search for Living in Secret and Cristina Salat · library
8. Google Books search for Living in Secret ISBN · library
9. Kirkus review of Living in Secret · review
10. Los Angeles Times archive item on Living in Secret · newspaper
11. Cristina Salat author site · creator
12. Library of Congress LCCN record for Living in Secret · library
13. ALA Rainbow Round Table children's bibliography · resource_list
14. Existing collection record for Annie on My Mind · internal
15. Existing collection record for In Our Mothers' House · internal
16. Existing collection record for Black is Brown is Tan · internal
17. Existing collection record for Lesbian and Gay Voices · internal
18. Existing collection record for The Case of the Stolen Scarab · internal
19. Existing collection record for The Case of the Vanishing Valuables · internal