On a Liverpool railway platform a heartbroken mother hands over her eight-year-old illegitimate son for adoption . . .

The one-year-old daughter committed to an institution and barely visited or referred to by her family ever again . . .

In Family Secrets Deborah Cohen explores the extraordinary choices British families made in the past to protect their good name. Whether it is hiding an adopted son's origins or the tangled attempts to prevent a divorce, Family Secrets exposes how we dealt with our shame - publicly and in our hearts.