The Little Friend

Acclaim for Donna Tartt’s

THE LITTLE FRIEND

W. H. Smith Literary Award Winner

Shortlisted for the Orange Prize

“The work of a born storyteller … wonderfully ambitious.”

—The Boston Globe

“[Tartt] is simply a much stronger, richer, deeper writer than just about any other realist of her generation, Southern or not.”

—Chicago Tribune

“I read it in a single day because I couldn’t stop.… Her artistry is flawless.”

—Dail Willis, The Baltimore Sun

“A powerhouse story.… From its darkly enticing opening … we are held spellbound.… Tartt is a sophisticated yarn-spinner.… Breathtaking.”

—Elle

“A terrific story.… Tartt etches each of these characters with indelible assurance.”

—Newsweek

“A lush and old-fashioned evening gown of a book.… The prose is rich, elaborate, and elegantly controlled.”

—O, The Oprah Magazine

“If you don’t fall smack-bang in love with Harriet Cleve Dufresnes, you’ve got a cement heart.… Tartt makes fiction read like fact.… Her writing is great like a song. You memorize it without realizing.”

—Financial Times

“An emotional and romantic page-turner.… Engrossing.… The reader is drawn … immediately into the lives of these characters.”

—Vogue

“Tartt generates a narrative of nearly unbearable tension as she poses questions of ethics and morality.… This is the novel we’ve been waiting for.”

—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“The Little Friend is a sprawling story of vengeance, with few wasted words told in a rich, controlled voice that can come only from long effort, which doesn’t show ostentatiously on the page.”

—Time

“A dark tale of lost innocence populated by a cast of characters that would make Flannery O’Connor proud.”

—People

“A rich study of race, class and family with a sprawling cast of characters.”

—The Economist

“A gut-thumping story of a little girl seeking a measure of understanding and well-deserved revenge.… A deeper exploration of the dark manner in which the past never leaves us alone.”

—Esquire

“This is a true Southern novel—rooted in and wrung out of a background that allows it to qualify as a very fine book.”

—New York Daily News

“The dense, steamy mood of a small-town Mississippi summer blends together beautifully with Tartt’s extraordinarily patient evocation of the inwardness of twelve-year-old Harriet Cleve.… Tartt writes with confident mastery.… A carefully layered portrait of a remarkable girl’s chrysalis summer.”

—Sven Birkerts, Book