The Housekeeper’s Secret: A Memoir

For fans of stranger than truth stories, Sandy Schnakenburg is uncovering rattling and unprecedented revelations in this powerful memoir of love, secrets, and survival.

When Lee Metoyer is hired to be the new housekeeper, she has no idea that she’s about to become the anchor to a family in an abusive patriarch’s home, setting a mystery in motion that will take decades to uncover. At the age of seventy-two, Lee falls ill and on her deathbed asks Sandy to write her story. The only problem is, Sandy doesn’t know the story.

Embarking on a quest to honor Lee’s final wishes, Sandy takes an emotional and thrilling journey, unveiling shocking truths not only about her beloved housekeeper but also her own upbringing. As she digs further, she learns that Lee came to her family’s sprawling estate in Barrington, IL, harboring a secret past. For decades, she’s been in hiding. But Lee is not the only one with secrets; Sandy’s quest forces her to grapple with her own family history as well, and to finally confront the effects of the psychological abuse she suffered as a child.

Both a chilling and exciting personal tale of love and survival, The Housekeeper’s Secret is a gripping saga that illuminates the resilience of the human spirit.

Sandra Schnakenburg is a dual American/Australia citizen. Sandy earned a BS in finance and international business at Arizona State University and an MBA specializing in finance and accounting at the University of Southern California. She has completed writing courses at Writespace, Rice University, and The Writers University in Houston. She left a career in corporate finance in 2010 to study creative nonfiction. When not writing, Sandra enjoys her family, nature, hiking, skiing, biking, cooking, yoga, and walking her dogs. She and her husband, Karl, split their time between Houston, Texas and Park City, Utah.