Review "Untold Story",by Monica Ali

Synopsis: 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.

  

Review: Amazing! Despite the simplicity with which it’s written, this was, to me, one of the most expected books since the beginning of the year.

Touching on a theme that raises new theories about the murder of Princess Diana, Monica Ali managed to create a completely new storyline full of details about a possible escape plan that the Princess herself could have architected with the help of his personal secretary. This story happens ten years after the princess death and after several plastic surgeries and she’s living now a normal life in the quiet village of Kensington, in the United States, until the day a photographer, who had accompanied her from the beginning of her engagement, found her. The author was able to focus on the psychological difficulties on which the protagonist would have passed and the reader gain empathy with the character without difficulty. Be sure that between Diana and Lydia there is nothing to compare to, they couldn’t be more different witch turns the story more interesting.

This was a book that I really enjoyed reading, mainly because I was one of the Princess fans, I have a collection of several interviews and photographs and was never indifferent to the whole glamorous world in which he lived.