My Secret History

My Secret History

A Novel

Summary

'Theroux's best fiction to date . . . combines the surfaces of memoir and travelogue with cunning fiction' Sunday Times

'Written with a rare intensity of both intelligence and feeling . . . a superbly realistic evocation of the journeys (both dark and comical) of the human heart' Salman Rushdie, Observer

Lover. Writer. Explorer. Man. From adolescence to middle age, Massachusetts altar boy to famed writer, My Secret History is an exciting insight into the double-life of its narrator Andre Parent. In six compelling snapshots, we experience Parent's most important relationships - with women, with writing, with travel and, ultimately, with himself.

Hilarious, touching and unashamed, My Secret History is Paul Theroux's tour de force.

'Nothing on the shelf has quite prepared the reader of My Secret History . . . [Andre Parent] is a creature of naked and unquenchable ego, greedy for sex, money, experience, another life' Jonathan Raban, Observer

'Theroux's best creation, a character who is honest enough to know that he wants it both ways: to be the lover and also the solitary observer who betrays his loves by turning them into stories' Time


'Sharp, exact, very evocative . . . both disturbing and entertaining' Anthony Burgess, Independent

About the author

Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux has written many works of fiction and travel writing, including the modern classics The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, My Secret History and The Mosquito Coast. He won the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing 2020. Paul Theroux divides his time between Cape Cod and the Hawaiian islands.
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