Untold Story: A Novel

Written by Monica Ali

Narrated by Emma Fielding and Nicholas Farrell

The New York Times bestseller from one of the most versatile and bold writers of our time—“an astonishing, tightly structured, and lyrically told” novel (People) inspired by Princess Diana.

What if Princess Diana hadn’t died? Diana’s life and marriage were fairy tale and nightmare rolled into one. Adored by millions, in her personal life 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. Had she lived, what direction would her life have taken? How would she have matured into her forties and beyond?

Untold Story is about the nature of celebrity, the meaning of identity, and finding one’s place in the world. Like Diana, the fictional heroine of this novel is both icon and iconoclast. She touches many millions of lives and hearts around the world, sharing the details of her troubled marriage and her eating disorder, and reaching out as has no other royal before her. But she is troubled and on the brink of disaster. Will she ever find peace and happiness, or will the curse of fame be too great?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Jun 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781442345447

Monica Ali

Monica Ali was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and grew up in England. She was named one of the 20 best young British novelists under 40 by Granta. She is the author of four previous novels, including Untold Story and Brick Lane, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Guardian Book Prize, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was named a winner of the 2003 Discover Award for Fiction and a New York Times Editors’ Choice Book that same year. She lives in London with her husband and two children.

Reviews for Untold Story

[lynleys-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this on audiobook, which I picked at semi-random from the limited number of audiobooks in our local library, because I recognised Monica Ali's name from Brick Road, which was a book club book a couple of years ago. Anyhow, I had no idea this was a reimagining of what might have happened if Diana Princess of Wales had escaped England and moved to America under a false identity rather than been killed in a car crash in France. By coincidence I'd only recently read a biography of Diana, and wasn't really interested in reading more on that character, but at the same time I may not have recognised Diana the person so well in Lydia the fictional character had I not read the bio.This audio book would have stretched any voice actor. Not only did the reader have to manage an American accent mixed with several British ones, she had to switch from one to the other within the same scene. I could hear her struggling to do this. The American accents she achieved sounded too Sopranos and not mid-western enough, even to my television trained ear. Most annoyingly though -- and I'd not encountered this before in a professionally produced audiobook -- when using good ear phones I was able to hear the squeak of a chair as either the voice actor or the sound engineer squirmed around. The other thing about audio books is that voice actors rarely speed up for the climax. When reading at your own pace, your eyes can fly across a page if you want them too, but that is one failing, and the climax seemed to drag on and on across the last entire two CDs. Perhaps the climax was too long even for those reading -- I don't know.It's pointless to speculate upon how 'realistic' this story is -- it's fictional, after all. Instead, I feel the aim was to ask readers to consider Diana as an ordinary every day person, and to imagine what it might be like to be hounded by paparazzi. In this aim, the story is a success.

[arubabookwoman · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book is introduced as a "fairy tale" of what might have happened if Princess Diana hadn't died that August night in Paris. It imagines the kind of life Diana might have had if, fed up with the paparazzi, she faked her death and disappeared into an anonymous life in obscurity.So here we have the story of Lydia, a British woman living in a small midwestern (American) town. She lives a quiet life, volunteering at an animal shelter. She has a small group of friends and even a boyfriend. She mostly dresses in jeans and a tee shirt. She is reticent about her past, and most people who know her assume she has escaped from an abusive ex-spouse or relationship.When I learned what the book was about I wanted to read it to see whether Ali could make Diana's decision to fake her death plausible and whether her afterlife felt real. While to a certain extent I enjoyed reading about the simple life Ali invented for Diana, I can't say she was successful in making Diana's decision to go this route plausible or credible. We all know (or think we do based on what we read in the media) how much Diana adored her boys and doted on then. The book did not make me believe that Diana would have taken this step after which she would never again see or communicate with her boys, a step in which they would believe she had died and she could never tell them she was still alive. (Or even imagine what the boys would feel if in later life they learned she really wasn't dead, it was just a ruse, she abandoned them.)And then there is the implausible coincidence of a paparazzi who had stalked Diana for years stopping by this small midwestern town, and recognizing a streak in one of her eyes (she had had plastic surgery on her other features). Again, I couldn't accept it. Nor could I accept how it all ended.So, not a book to recommend.2 starsFirst line: "Some stories are never meant to be told. Some can only be told as fairy tales."Last line: "She plunged in and swam in the dark, and she was swimming away and toward and she saw Lawrence in the rowboat, the dream of his bald head, bobbing up and down and she raised an arm and waved at him, and he disappeared but she swam on."

[mhanover10 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a unique storyline of what if Princess Diana faked her own death. The author doesn't straight out call her Princess Diana, she drops hints that makes you come to this conclusion. From what I have read over the years, I can't imagine her ever never having contact with her sons to get out of the limelight. I don't really care for the way the book ended and it was okay but not one of my favorite books.

[idiotgirl · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Audible. Road trip. Kept me awake on the trip from CA back to SEA. This was remarkably well reviewed for a questionable premise. Prinscess Diana didn't die. She faked her death and is living in small town USA. This is probably closer to a 2. But decent writing. And a gutsy premise for a serious rider. I had fun.

[bhowell_35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great read despite it's improbable plot. Monica Ali is a talented writer and in her hands this plot sizzles. It has lots of suspense and a smart kick-ass ending.

[tracey8824_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Book

Untold Story is one of those books where I was convinced the “what–if” premise of the story was going to be its undoing. I think it’s really good writing that saved this from being a complete waste of time. What if the Princess of Wales didn’t die in a car accident but instead faked her own death and moved to the United States to escape her life in London?

With the help of her personal secretary and confidante, Lawrence, she does just this. Her name is Lydia, she has plastic surgery to disguise herself, Lawrence gets her new identification, and she starts over again in a small town.

The book is told from the viewpoints of Lydia, Lawrence, a few of the friends she makes, and a British paparazzi who happens to take a picture of Lydia and believes he knows who she really is. The different viewpoints makes the story much more interesting because you get some of the same scenes through the eyes of someone else.

In less capable hands, this could have been really bad but instead it was enjoyable and not as predictable as I thought.

The Cover

I didn’t really like the cover because everyone who saw me reading it asked if I was reading something about Princess Diana. For a story that was supposed to be about her assuming a new identity, the cover made it really obvious.

[mary5mchale · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Book about if Princess Diana had lived and escaped---a bit contrived and unbelievable with some good insights into human mind. Dissappointed tho after having read Brick lane by same author

[etxgardener · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Monica Ali was shortlisted for the Booker prize for her novel Brick Lane. This novel is not going to be shortlisted for anything that grand. Nor is this a book for the legions of Princess Diana fans who have turned her into a combination of Mother Theresa and the Blessed Virgin Mother. What this book is, is an interesting novel with the premise that Princess Diana, in 1997 was disturbed, paranoid, longing for love and wild to get away from everything (perhaps not so fictional a premise). She enlists her loyal majordomo into assisting her in faking a death by drowning and ends up ten years later living in a small American town called Kensington. There she seems to be working though her multiple demons and finding something like a normal and satisfying life living under the name of Lydia .However, there is always a worm in the apple. Enter John Grabowski, a paparazzi who had been one of her chief pursuers when she was still the Princess of Wales. He stumbles into Kensington by chance and, also by chance sees Lydia and thinks he recognizes her by her remarkable eyes.What follows is the story of pursuit, flight and finally surrender, but not in the way the reader would suspect.Told from three perspectives: Lydia's, Grabowski's, and the diaries of her faithful servant, Lawrence, the book is a little confusing at first, but slowly we piece the story of Lydia's journey together. While not on the list to win any literary prizes, this is an interesting book for both royal watchers and those who want to explore the possibility, in today's world of on-line databases, of someone truly disappearing.

[mrstreme · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Princess Diana may be the most recognizable face of the 20th century, and her untimely death shortened a life plagued by international attention, betrayal and personal angst. Monica Ali, in Untold Story, considers this scenario: What if Princess Diana staged her death, to escape the constant scrutiny and insurmountable pressure? Could she truly escape her past life - or would it manage to follow her around like an unwanted ghost?In the book, Diana becomes Lydia - a dark-haired English woman who settles in a small town, where she makes new friends, finds a love interest and works at a local dog rescue. Then, as fate would have it, a member of the English paparazzi, John Grabowski, ends up in the same town and meets Lydia. Something about Lydia's eyes reminds John of his once-favorite photographic subject, Princess Diana. Is John on to Lydia's secret?Where Untold Story worked well for me were the chapters where the reader can see Lydia interacting with her friends and her rising paranoia about John's presence in her new hometown. Lydia could be impulsive and obsessive, especially when nervous, and her actions after John's arrival marked a woman who wanted to protect her new identity - no matter the cost. She already gave up her life once; she didn't want to do it again. The reckless Lydia made good reading - and added a sense of realism to Lydia's character.Untold Story would be a great book club selection, and I think fans of Princess Diana would find this novel to be interesting. I liked the book overall, though I think Ali could have made the side characters more believable. I do have to wonder: What would the Queen think about this book?

[jovilla_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very intriguing premise: Princess Diana did not die but arranged for her disappearance and ends up in a small town in America, altered by plastic surgery and hair dye, making a new life for herself with friends and a boyfriend but with a mysterious past. One day by accident a paparazzi from her old life arrives in town and recognizes the glint in her eye and her laugh. What happens next and how does she deal with it? A very good book.

[cariola_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Monica Ali begins with a fascinating premise: that the Princess of Wales, with the help of a devoted aide, planned her own demise/disappearance, underwent plastic surgery in Brazil, assumed the identity of a British-American crib death victim, and went on to live a life of obscurity in the USA, working in an animal rescue facility. By coincidence, a photographer who spent years pursuing her comes to town . . . While Untold Story isn't a total failure, it's less than I expected from Ali. For those still entranced by Diana and her sad story, Lydia's letters to Lawrence expressing her fears, joys, and regrets bring it all back. But too often I felt as if I was in the midst of a chick lit story populated by clichéed characters carrying on clichéd conversations. In other words, both the story and the characters lacked complexity. If you're a Diana fan, give this book a try; but if you're hoping for something as fine as Brick Lane, best to skip it.