The Secret History

I finished reading Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History' over the weekend. I'm always pleased to discover a book in which the protagonists drink nearly as much as I do.

It certainly is a gripping page turner. I didn't start to think how strange the recreations of sinister ancient Greek shenanigans were until after I'd finished reading which is a testament I suppose to the power of the prose to carry you along.

One small thing that I found bizarre was that the royals with whom Julian was peripherally involved were described as being from a country called Isram when they were obviously modelled on the Shah of Iran's family. I wonder if the 1989 fatwa on Salman Rushdie cast a shadow over the author and/or editor and/or publisher here.

I've read the odd interview with and profile of Donna Tartt and it has made me laugh that she appears to be the tiny dark haired spitting image of Mona Beale the "kind of a slut" with a jealous football playing boyfriend that Richard Papen sleeps with after a party. What a minx to slip herself into her own book like that if I'm right.