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Untold Story
Untold Story
Apr 23, 2025 1:33 AM

Author:Monica Ali,Emma Fielding,Nicholas Farrell

Untold Story

What if Princess Diana hadn't died?

Diana's life and marriage were fairy tale and nightmare. Adored by millions, in her personal life she suffered heartbreak and betrayal. Within a life of privilege, she frequently felt trapped and alone. Constrained by protocol and precedent, she refused to follow the rules.

Untold Story takes the life of the world's most famous woman as a point of departure, examining the past and imagining a future. The fictional princess who is the novel's heroine is at breaking point and, believing that the Establishment is plotting her assassination, she makes an irrevocable decision: to stage her own death and begin a new life under an assumed identity.

After a period of intense upheaval, Lydia (as she is known) settles in small town America and establishes a fragile peace. It is threatened by thoughts of what she has lost: not the glamour and glitz of royalty but that which is most precious - her children. She is, at least, safe in the knowledge - having altered her appearance and ten years after her 'death' - that her secret will never be uncovered.

But then a chance encounter with a member of the paparazzi robs her of that certainty. Will he recognize her? Should she flee or remain calm? Is there anyone she can trust and turn to, or will she inevitably be betrayed?

Untold Story is a novel about family and friendship, intrigue and obsession, the meaning of identity, and the peculiar calamity of fame.

Reviews

A thoughtful, compassionate and utterly untrashy piece of work. It is also...a suspenseful and gripping read.

—— Suzi Feay, Financial Times

A startlingly intelligent, perceptive and entertaining piece of fiction. It's quite brilliant.

—— Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror

Ali's third-person princess is a very convincing and sympathetic figure. The cat-and-mouse play between Lydia and [the paparazzo] Grabowski is extremely skilfully done.

—— Tibor Fischer, Observer

A terrific, clever, multi-layered and subtle book (and let's not forget - hugely entertaining!)

—— Joanne Harris

The twists, turns and triple crosses will have you hooked... a truly manipulative storyteller

—— Peterborough Evening Telegraph

A penetrating examination of cause and effect... the characters are well drawn, the action bloodthirsty and the end satisfying

—— Lincolnshire Echo

Goddard is a master of the sly double and triple cross

—— Seattle Times

A compulsive read ... ingenious and deftly-handled

—— New Humanist

It is certainly the best novel I've read so far this year, and should mark Zeh as one of Europe's brightest younger novelists

—— Crime Time

Interesting and original novel

—— Literary Review

Clever and gripping

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent Summer Reads

Every chapter is taut, suspenseful, almost Hitchcock-esque. Zeh's style is fluent but also elegantly sparse... An absolute gem of a book.

—— The Bookbag

From every angle - character study, philosophical discussion or straightforward plot - it shines with crystalline intensity, and so far as one can tell, nothing is lost in the translation. Complex and supremely elegant, this is a book to relish

—— Joanna Hines , Guardian

This is a book and a half

—— Giles Broadbent , Wharf
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