The Little Friend

by Donna Tartt

What the blurb on the back says...

"Although the Cleves generally revelled in every detail of their family history, the events of the terrible Mother's Day' were never, ever discussed. On that day, nine-year-old Robin, loved by all for his whims and peculiarities, was found hanging by the neck from a black-tupelo tree in his own garden. Twelve years later, the mystery - with its taunting traces of foul play - was no nearer a solution than it had been on the day it happened.

This isn't good enough for Robin's youngest sister Harriet. Only a baby when the tragedy occurred, but now twelve years old and steeped in the adventurous daring of favourite writers such as Stevenson, Kipling and Conan Doyle, Harriet is ready and eager to find and punish her brother's killer. Her closest friend, Hely - who would try anything to make Harriet love him - has sworn allegiance to her call for revenge. But the world these plucky twelve-year-olds are to encounter has nothing to do with child's play: it is dark, adult and all to menacing.

In Donna Tarrt's Mississippi, the sense of place and sense of the past mingle redolently with rich human drama to create a collect alchemy. Here eccentric great aunts bustle about graciously despite faded fortunes and a child's enquiring mind not only unearths telling family artefacts, but stirs up a neighbourhood nest of vipers and larceny. 'The Little Friend' is a profoundly involving novel which demonstrates how the imaginary life embraces what literature we read, what special places we inhabit and what kindred souls we recognise, to help crack open even the darkest secrets life has hiding for us."

What I thought of it...

If you're expecting a murder-mystery, this is not it. This is something else. I found the book to be very involving, with bright, vibrant characters and surroundings richly described. I think that there were a lot of question unanswered by the end of the book but that just paved a way for my imagination. I bought this book because I liked 'The Secret History'. This book is nothing like that but it is quite good.