The motif of secrecy is carried on throughout the book. From the trivial, through the personal, to the political and onto the Literature itself there many secrets in this book to learn and unravel. As Rosemary begins her new job at The Arcade as well as her new life she stumbles across more than a few.
In the hotel she is staying in she meets the desk clerk, a woman from South America with a secret from her past there. This woman will become Rosemary’s friend and share her secrets with Rosemary. But, at work in The Arcade, the secrets seem to be embedded in matrices of weird
personalities and past, personal interactions. Rosemary works for the owner, Mr. Pike, who basically sits all day on a throne of books pricing them and remaining almost an untouchable presence. It is Walter Geist, the store manager, who becomes central to Rosemary as he gradually unveils secrets to her. An albino, losing his vision, Geist begins to depend on Rosemary to be his eyes, his secret eyes as he tries to keep his illness hidden. Also, although Rosemary 
seems unaware of it until too late, he has a secret obsession with her.
seems unaware of it until too late, he has a secret obsession with her.Then there is Pearl, the transvestite cashier. Doing her year’s required living as a woman she is ready for the operation that will turn her secret identity into reality. There is Oscar, a handsome man who Rosemary deludes herself into fixating upon even though Pearl share’s Oscar’s not-so-secret non-hetero orientation with her. And let’s not forget Art of the Art Division who spends much of his time secretly lusting after pictures in the books surrounding him.
Soon enough, Rosemary is thrust into a true mystery -- the secret of Herman Melville’s lost novel, THE ISLE OF THE CROSS. Many of Melville’s actual letters are quoted from in the book as the case is made for the existence of this lost manuscript. It’s a fascinating part of the novel to see how Melville worked and how this novel was never published or found. But then, someone offers the lost MS to The Arcade for resale to any of their high-end collectors.
A fascinating part of the book is when Rosemary is introduced to such a collector and to his many cabinets (rooms really) of curiosities. It gradually becomes clear that there is a type of collector to whom things that we would describe as priceless are simply, well, pricey. But if everything has a price and a potential buyer, it’s not always clear who has the right to sell.
In a secret plot in which he tries to involve Rosemary, The Arcade’s albino manager decides to cheat owner Pike out of th
e sale and put it through himself. But the real mystery is the manuscript itself, it’s origin and basis in fact. Rosemary becomes a literary sleuth as she tries to pierce the secrets of the lost novel. But she is less of a success at understanding other, more personal secrets.
e sale and put it through himself. But the real mystery is the manuscript itself, it’s origin and basis in fact. Rosemary becomes a literary sleuth as she tries to pierce the secrets of the lost novel. But she is less of a success at understanding other, more personal secrets.Book collectors will find in this novel that author Sheridan Hay has opened a window into a world of high-level collectors that seems almost like looking into a fantasy world. But all readers, whether collectors or not, will leave this collection of secrets enamored with Rosemary who will live on in most reader’s minds after many secrets have been forgotten.
