The Secret Taker

Did you ever know a woman who carried a heart full of secrets too personal to share? Some of them could be beautiful, such as indescribable love…painful, such as the suffering caused by an abusive parent or lover…hopeless, like unfulfilled dreams. The Secret Taker is such a woman. When she becomes a census taker, her employer, the federal government, requires her to keep the secrets of whatever she sees. The vow of confidentiality seems theoretically pure, but what if she observes hideous situations that need to be told? Going house to house to take census has not been safe for decades. Dedicated census takers have risked their lives to gain information needed to make our nation run with efficiency and equity. Dallas Monroe took census at gunpoint in 1980 but never told anyone, because whatever happens in a home in the presence of a census taker stays in that home. Now more than ever in 2020, we need to remember to fill out those census forms. The Secret Taker is a look into the life of one person who came close to losing her life a few times. She never told - for emotional, safety, and ethical reasons - about the close encounters with death she survived. WARNING: Some of the events in this book may shock you. While you’re at home, read about the life of an amazing woman named Sally. She is a figment of Dallas Monroe’s imagination.