

The book served as the basis for the 2020 film The Secret: Dare to Dream. New York Times bestselling authors of The Passion Test, Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood, are not featured in the film or the book, but arranged 36 of the 52 interviews for the film, many of which are referenced in the book. The book is influenced by Wallace Wattles' 1910 book The Science of Getting Rich, which Byrne received from her daughter during a time of personal trauma, in 2004. The Secret was released as a film in March 2006, and later the same year as a book. Scientific claims made in the book have been rejected by a range of critics, pointing out that the book has no scientific foundation. The book has sold 30 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 50 languages. The book alleges energy as assurance of its effectiveness. It is based on the belief of the pseudoscientific law of attraction, which claims that thoughts can change a person's life directly.

A curse that might be tied to her fiancé’s mysterious fate.The Secret is a 2006 self-help book by Rhonda Byrne, based on the earlier film of the same name. Swept into a story of a dark circus and ill-fated love, secrets about Lara’s family history come to light and reveal a curse that has been claiming payment from the women in her family for generations. Desperate, Lara’s search for answers unexpectedly lead to her great-grandmother’s journals. Virginia, 2004: Lara Barnes is on top of the world, but when her fiancé disappears on their wedding day every plan she has for the future comes crashing down. Bound to her family’s circus, it’s the only world Cecile Cabot knows until she meets a charismatic young painter and embarks on a passionate affair that could cost her everything. Paris, 1925: To enter the Secret Circus is to enter a world of wonder–a world where women weave illusions of magnificent beasts, carousels take you back in time, and trapeze artists float across the sky. From the author of A Witch in Time comes a magical story spanning from Jazz Age Paris to modern-day America of family secrets, sacrifice, and lost love set against the backdrop of a mysterious circus.
