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The Little Friend

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About this listen

The second novel by Donna Tartt, best-selling author of The Goldfinch (winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize), The Little Friend is a grandly ambitious and utterly riveting novel of childhood, innocence and evil.

The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Mother's Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parents' yard. Twelve years later, Robin's murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated.

So it is that Robin's sister Harriet - unnervingly bright, insufferably determined, and unduly influenced by the fiction of Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson - sets out to unmask his killer. Aided only by her worshipful friend Hely, Harriet crosses her town's rigid lines of race and caste and burrows deep into her family's history of loss.

Filled with hairpin turns of plot and "a bustling, ridiculous humanity worthy of Dickens" (The New York Times Book Review), The Little Friend is a work of myriad enchantments by a writer of prodigious talent.

©2002 Donna Tartt (P)2015 Audible, Ltd Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Scary

Editor reviews

Winner of the WH Smith Literary Awards 2003, The Little Friend is written by Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt, with an audiobook narration by the brilliant voice artist Laurel Lefkow. A little boy is found murdered in the front garden of his Mississippi town, the mystery of his death never solved. His sister is the only person who delves deep into the very roots of the community to uncover his killer. This novel is all at once gripping, tense, suspenseful and addictive. It is the work of a master writer. Available now from Audible.

Critic reviews

"A dazzling tour de force” ( Daily Mail)
"Beautifully written and immaculately crafted ... even though there's humour, the tension is palpable. Unputdownable” ( Daily Mirror)
"Harriet is one of the most engaging and rounded characters you are likely to find ... gorgeous, fluent, visual." ( The Times)
All stars
Most relevant
I have re-read this novel many times as I love the story and characters so much that I thought I would have it read to me for a change! The narrator, Laurel Lefkow does a good job in bringing the characters alive, she captures the ambiance of the novel in her soft, easy to listen to voice. I would say, however, that she could not quite pull off the more humorous aspects in the book which when reading myself made me chuckle out loud as I conjured up what Harriett and her little friend Heally were doing. I shall listen again though because as a whole I really enjoyed the narration.

The Little Friend, my favorite Donna Tartt novel

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A visceral evocation of interior lives and the impact of imagination on the world around us. skilfully narrated. Really absorbing.

Southern atmosphere and vivid introspection

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I love Donna Tartt. She is a marvellous story teller. Her writing is beautiful and such a pleasure to read. Great dialogue, Characters and descriptions.

Wonderful story teller

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This book is like listening to poetry. It is beautifully written with a keen eye to details that makes you feel like you are really experiencing the story. Donna Tartt gets into the mind of a troubled, bright 12 year old brilliantly. It is not a gripping murder mystery, and if that is what you are hoping for, you will be disappointed. There are moments where I also felt so lulled by the voice that I didn't really listen to the words and had to rewind. It does require a bit of concentration, but if you focus and absorb it, it is like diving into a subtle many layered, complex, dark, gateau. The subject matter is quite difficult at times, but it keeps drawing you back in.

Beautifully written

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Beautifully.writen and wonderful narrated. It tock me a little while to get into the store, but when I did i.enjoed it.

Tock a little while to get into it.

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