Stuff
Product Details
Scribner, November 2011
Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages
ISBN-10: 145165457X
ISBN-13: 9781451654578
Description
When Princess Diana died in Paris’s Alma tunnel, she was thirty-seven years old. Had she lived, she would have turned fifty on July 1, 2011. Who would the beloved icon be if she were alive today? What would she be doing? And where? One of the most versatile and bold writers of our time, Monica Ali has imagined a different fate for Diana in her spectacular new novel, Untold Story. Diana’s life and marriage were both fairy tale and nightmare rolled into one. Adored by millions, she suffered rejection, heartbreak, and betrayal. Surrounded by glamour and glitz and the constant attention of the press, she fought to carve a meaningful role for herself in helping the needy and dispossessed. The contradictions and pressures of her situation fueled her increasingly reckless behavior, but her stature and her connection with her public never ceased to grow. If Diana had lived, would she ever have found peace and happiness, or would the curse of fame always have been too great? Fast-forward a decade after the (averted) Paris tragedy, and an Englishwoman named Lydia is living in a small, nondescript town somewhere in the American Midwest. She has a circle of friends: one owns a dress shop, one is a Realtor, another is a frenzied stay-at-home mom. Lydia volunteers at an animal shelter and swims a lot. Her lover, who adores her, feels she won’t let him know her. Who is she? Untold Story is about the cost of celebrity, the meaning of identity, and the possibility—or impossibility—of reinventing a life. Ali’s fictional princess is beautiful, intrepid, and resourceful and has established a fragile peace. And then the past threatens to destroy her new life. Ali has created a riveting novel inspired by the cultural icon she calls “a gorgeous bundle of trouble.”
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Browse Inside Untold Story"Monica Ali has always been a brilliant and provocative writer, but Untold Story is not only a gripping read but a compassionate portrait of a woman in turmoil--her finest novel yet."
-- Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story
“Haunting and intensely readable, this is something between a thriller and a ghost story.”
-- Lady Antonia Fraser
“A terrific, clever, multi-layered and subtle book (and let’s not forget - hugely entertaining!).”
-- Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat and Blueeyedboy
“It is always said that Princess Diana was hunted and haunted, that her story contained the seeds of a contemporary myth. It was obvious that only the imagination of a first-rate novelist could master that material and make it fully and unforgettably alive. We now have the book we have been waiting for in Monica Ali's Untold Story. It is a beautiful, gripping accomplishment, a treat for the heart and the head, and will be a joy to readers who believe in the possibility that a book can transform your basic sense of life.”
-- Andrew O'Hagan, Booker-shortlisted author of Our Fathers, Be Near Me and The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog
“Ali tells her story with unobtrusive, restrained prose... We’ve long since disappeared into the fiction. Lydia has become her own character, Diana a ghost: naive and vulnerable, self-centered, familiar to us in her self-destruction and her dark fairy-tale life but now entirely real and sympathetic. This remarkable transformation allows Ali to ponder the essence of what makes a person: in this case the sheer tenacity of a clever fighter, both silly and bold --and clearly the author’s impetus for taking on, with astounding confidence, the woman who captivated the entrie world.”
-- San Francisco Chronicle
“An unapologetic hybrid of a novel, a literary examination of identity and a page-turning thriller, complete with car chase.”
-- O, the Oprah magazine
“Ms. Ali builds tension as slickly as any thriller screenwriter: we find ourselves avidly rooting for Lydia to elude her stalker and somehow to hold on to the normal life she has made for herself.”
-- Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
“A dazzling feat... All the pistons are firing.”
-- Washington Post
“Norman Rockwell couldn’t paint a more affectionate portrait of small-town America.”
-- USA Today
“A masterpiece of suspense… This is a startlingly intelligent, perceptive and entertaining piece of fiction. It's quite brilliant.”
-- Daily Mirror (UK)
“Thoughtful, compassionate… A suspenseful and gripping read.”
-- Financial Times
“Ali's third-person princess is a very convincing and sympathetic figure… Extremely skillfully done.”
-- Observer (UK)
“Builds to a thrilling and rewarding finish… Daring and engrossing.”
-- Booklist (starred review)
“Irresistible...Lydia’s unsent letters...are delightful, containing the novel’s emotional core.”
-- New York Times Book Review
“Astonishing… Tightly structured and lyrically told.”
-- People (four stars)
“Brilliant... Riveting to the end.”
-- Buffalo News
“A great beach read... [Ali] is a gifted author.”
-- ABC News
“Rich... heart-felt writing.”
-- Miami Herald
“A revelation... A compassionate portrait of the flawed and magnificent woman.”
-- Globe and Mail
“Ali, a gorgeous stylist, has a wicked good time describing Grabowski in all his rumpled, greasy glory... beautifully written and cleverly imagined.”
-- Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Builds to a thrilling and rewarding finish… Daring and engrossing.”
-- Booklist (starred review)
“A sympathetic...insightful portrait of a woman held captive by the demons from her past.”
-- Jerusalem Post
“A masterpiece of suspense… This is a startlingly intelligent, perceptive and entertaining piece of fiction. It's quite brilliant.”
-- Daily Mirror (UK)
“Ali packs so much into the book, as she builds a portrait of the world's most famous woman at breaking point, introducing elements of doubt through her paranoia, her emotional state and her erratic behavior prior to her death…. Ali builds the tension masterfully… A compelling and intriguing look at celebrity and the media through a fascinating and complex character.”
-- Sunday Telegraph (Australia)
“Untold Story is a superior thriller.”
-- The Daily Telegraph (UK)
“Ali's third-person princess is a very convincing and sympathetic figure… Extremely skillfully done.”
-- Observer (UK)
“Absorbing… Ali has written a thoughtful book about a serious theme: the insanity of celebrity culture… Exercising the novelist's right to imagine, she has tried to get inside the head of the biggest celebrity of our age. It's a bold move, and it will offend people who have made a quasi-religious idol of the princess. But the artistry of Ali's execution justifies her risky choice of material… While reading this book, you genuinely feel she might still be out there somewhere, living the unobserved life she never had.”
-- Weekend Australian
“An exciting psychological thriller with several unpredictable twists. Ali takes the testosterone-loaded concept of the stake-out and adds a feminine touch.”
-- The Age (Australia)
Miami Herald, July 3, 2011
...What if she staged her own apparent death and chose to disappear instead? Such is the premise of Untold Story. But what could easily be merely a romp, a chick lit divertissement, is more in the hands of author Monica Ali. The question is, ...
Kansas City Star, July 1, 2011
...she held very dear.? A new life in America is exactly the future imagined by British writer Monica Ali in her new novel ?Untold Story.? It depicts a princess, closely modeled on Diana, who fakes her own death, changes her name and rebuilds ...
Journal-Gazette, July 1, 2011
...Maybe started a second family. A new life in America is exactly the future imagined by British writer Monica Ali in her new novel Untold Story. It depicts a princess closely modeled on Diana who fakes her own death, changes her name and ...
India Report, June 30, 2011
...she held very dear." A new life in America is exactly the future imagined by British writer Monica Ali in her new novel"Untold Story." It depicts a princess closely modeled on Diana who fakes her own death, changes her name and rebuilds her ...
Baltimore Sun, June 29, 2011
...royalty. To others, the reimit will be fun to read. (And not so far from the theme of Monica Ali's new novel, "Untold Story," which imagines Di faking her death and moving to America's midwest.) You make the call: crass or a blast? ...
Christian Science Monitor, June 29, 2011
...if Princess Diana hadn’t died in that tragic car accident in Paris? That’s the premise of Monica Ali’s new novel, “Untold Story,” and it’s already raising eyebrows. In it, Diana fakes her own death in the famous car crash, later ...
Contactmusic, June 29, 2011
...followers on Twitter. Ahead of Diana's 50th birthday on Friday (1st June 2011), a new book titled 'Untold Story: A Novel' by Monica Ali hits shelves, exploring the fictional possibility that Diana faked her own death. The magazine's new ...
AllVoices, June 28, 2011
...Dreams really do come true in Monica Ali's entertaining Untold Story , a romance novel in all but name. Ali, a highbrow Brit nominated for the Man Booker prize for her debut novel, Brick Lane , spins a ...
Wyoming Public Radio, June 28, 2011
...In Untold Story, writer Monica Ali imagines what might have happened if Princess Diana had survived that 1997 car crash in Paris ¿ and then gone on to fake her own death ...
New York Observer, June 27, 2011
...Read full article ...
WNYC, June 27, 2011
...By Heller McAlpin The publication of Monica Ali's third novel, Untold Story, which imagines a counterfactual future for Princess Diana in which she doesn't actually die in 1997 but instead flees to an undercover life ...
Buffalo News, June 26, 2011
...12:33 PM Monica Ali shows her ingenuity -- rather than her genius -- in her latest novel, "Untold Story." It is a startling but brilliant move, and the book is bound to fly off summer book shelves even though "Untold Story" is in no way ...
MSNBC, June 23, 2011
...her American friends know her only as a British divorcee. Sound plausible? That’s the story line of “Untold Story,” the new novel by celebrated “Brick Lane” author Monica Ali. Inspired by Princess Diana, Ali’s novel is about what ...
The Hindu, June 23, 2011
...about to resurface. River Of Smoke: Amitav Ghosh, Rs. 699 Second book in the author's Ibis Trilogy. Untold Story: Monica Ali, Rs. 550 Novel about family and friendship, intrigue and obsession, the meaning of identity, and the peculiar ...
Reuters, June 14, 2011
...even though everyone else thinks she had committed suicide. And British royal history turns into a thriller in "Untold Story" by Monica Ali, about a princess who fakes her own death and undergoes plastic surgery to live in a small American ...
Reuters, June 13, 2011
...even though everyone else thinks she had committed suicide. And British royal history turns into a thriller in "Untold Story" by Monica Ali, about a princess who fakes her own death and undergoes plastic surgery to live in a small American ...
Arizona Daily Sun, June 5, 2011
...and fashion a new identity, Don Draper-style. The past, of course, will catch up with her. (June 21) "UNTOLD STORY," by Monica Ali (Scribner). What if Princess Diana hadn't been killed? That's the starting point of this new novel by Monica ...
New Zealand Herald, May 29, 2011
...I'll admit to rolling my eyes a bit when I first heard about this book. After all, Monica Ali is a UK writer known for her middlebrow literary fare, so what on earth did she think she was doing writing a novel about the late Princess Diana? ...
Guardian.co.uk, April 30, 2011
...Princesses live in palaces. They have nothing to do with real life. And yet, of course, they do. Monica Ali's Untold Story is published by Doubleday, £16.99 Kate Middleton Royal wedding Monarchy Weddings Monica Ali guardian.co.uk © | ...
Monica Ali's Books
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In the KitchenBooker Prize-shortlisted author Monica Ali's "mesmerizing" (Entertainment Weekly) novel brings readers into the vivid world of a London restaurant.Read More -
Alentejo BlueFollowing her National Book Critics Circle and Los Angeles Times Book Award-nominated, bestselling debut, Brick Lane, Monica Ali's splendid Alentejo...Read More
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Brick LaneAfter an arranged marriage to Chanu, a man twenty years older, Nazneen is taken to London, leaving her home and heart in the Bangladeshi village where...Read More
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