I heard about Monica Ali's Untold Story (#96) on NPR and decided I had to read it. The untold story of the title is Princess Diana's. What if instead of dying in that tunnel in Paris, that accident was a near miss and Diana subsequently plans her own death in order to vanish and live a more normal life out of the spotlight?
Apparently some people are outraged that Ms. Ali would dare to write such a story, but science fiction writers do it all the time. Then it's called alternative history. That's simply the device she has used here. Ms. Ali has certainly earned her writing chops, being nominated for several prestigious literary awards both here and abroad.
I found the story fascinating. It's told from several viewpoints: Diana's (or Lydia's, as she has become), , her friends in the small Midwest American town where she has settled, her former private secretary who helped her and supported her throughout the process, and a paparazzi who spent a big chunk of his career chasing her. Supposing that the premise is true or even possible, Ms. Ali raises a number of moral and ethical issues that would surround such a decision. Would it be totally selfish on Diana's part, or the most unselfish thing she could do for her children? Would she really be able to adjust to a life of obscurity? Could she live the rest of her life never, ever telling anyone who she was? Can she let anyone else into her intimate circle or would they all betray her? How far would she go to protect her hardly won anonymity? Circumstances play out in this novel to highlight all these dilemnas, and ultimately, for me, at least, to make me wish it could have been so...
If you ever find the royals interesting to follow and can remember the frenzy Diana created everywhere she went, you'll most likely appreciate this book. It will give you a different perspective on how things might have been.
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