How could I not read her entire oeuvre (it’s only 3 books), and could she please be my new best friend?Īs you may have noted, my expectations were high. She was so charming and intelligent I felt I had no choice. Not only had I recently re-read and re-enjoyed ‘The Secret History’ but Tartt had a new book out and was being interviewed all over the place as part of her new publicity campaign. In the end, of course, resistance was futile.

Yes it had won the Orange Prize for Literature, but word of mouth didn’t rate it anything like as high as Tartt’s un-garlanded debut. General consensus seemed to be that it was a very readable but no modern classic. I say ‘theoretically’, because I think I have some excuse in the fact that it was never highly recommended in the manner of its predecessor. Despite its daunting length, the tight structure makes it a genuinely pacey read it is an engrossing literary thriller that deserves all the praise it has garnered over the years.Īfter such an introduction I have, theoretically, no one but myself to blame for not actually reading her second novel, ‘The Little Friend, until earlier this year. Set in a college campus and self-consciously following tragic Greek conventions, it narrates the downfall of a claustrophobic and elitist intellectual circle of friends. Every decade since 1992 she’s produced a single volume, nearly as wide as it is high, to huge critical anticipation and acclaim.Īll I’ll say about her first book, ‘The Secret History’, is that it was so good it allowed her this generous writing schedule. Donna Tartt is known for writing extremely long books over extremely long periods of time.

The little friend book review