Monica Ali is not an easy writer to pigeonhole. She has
published 4 books—3 novels and a book of short stories—so far, all on very
different subjects.
Ali’s debut novel, the best-selling Brick Lane (short-listed
for the Booker Prize and also made into a film, I think), was about the
experience of a girl, who had an English mother and a Bangla Deshi father. This
was followed by a book of short stories set in Portugal. She followed it up
with In
the Kitchen, which, as the title suggested, was set in a hotel kitchen
and told the story of a feckless but likeable chef.
Untold Story, Ali’s 2011 novel, has the late Diana, the
Princess of Wales, at its centre.
Untold Story is a ‘what if’ novel. It is also a pot-boiler.
What if Lady Diana, the ‘people’s princess’ (as described by Tony
Blair), did not die in 1997, while fleeing the paparazzi, in a Parisian tunnel?
What if she survived the crash, but, being totally fed up of living constantly
under the spot-light of the world, faked her own death? What if, after
successfully faking her death, she began living under an assumed identity, a
life of total anonymity, in a small-town in America? And what if, by chance, a
photographer who had ‘papped’ her on numerous occasions in her former life
spotted her and threatened to blow her cover?
If you are curious to find out answers to the above
(hypothetical) questions, Untold Story is the novel for you.
Diana has faked her own death with the help of a loyal aide
who is (conveniently enough) dying of cancer (so he won’t be around long
to spill the beans). While holidaying in the South American seas on the yacht
of her most recent paramour, Diana goes for an early morning swim and
‘disappears’. Her body is never found and she is declared dead. What has in
fact happened is she is picked up and stays incognito in Brazil for a while.
From there she goes to America and finally washes up in a small town, called
appropriately enough, Kensington. She has lived in Kensington for a few years
under the name Lydia Snaresbrook. Not possessing anything useful in the way of
academic degrees (like the real Diana, apparently, who flunked her exams),
Lydia tries her hand at first being a beautician. However she discovers that "pulling hair out of people’s crotches" is not how she wants to earn a living.
She is now working for an animal charity (awww!). She has made a few friends in
Kensington, all women, heroically battling to keep at bay the advancing middle
age. She is also in a relationship of sorts—with a man named Carson who has a
sob story of his own. Carson would like to have a long-term relationship with
Lydia, but she is not so sure, partly because she is worried that once she is
in a relationship she might drop her guard and he will guess her big secret (although
you can’t help thinking she is worrying unnecessarily; Carson strikes you as
the soppiest person in the town, the kind of guy who believes everything said
in the advertisements for men’s shaving blades). Lydia / Diana is of course
devastated that she has left her two sons behind in England, whom, in all
probabilities, she will never meet. She has—what’s the word?—guilt feelings (and
the poor woman can’t even enter therapy because it’s a secret.) Then out of the
blue arrives in Kensington a photographer called Grabowski. Grabowski has
photographed Lydia in her previous life on innumerable occasions, not always
with her permission and cooperation. Why is Grabowski in Kensington? Even he doesn’t
know. He is drifting around from place to place in America (as you do), having
accepted an advance from a publishing house for a book of photographs of Diana
he has taken over the years, and Kensington is as good a place as any to
hibernate. In Kensington Grabowski spots Lydia and something rings a bell. From
here on, the novel ratchets up its tempo and reads like a thriller. A cat and
mouse game develops between Lydia and Grabowski. Grabowski is certain that
Lydia is in fact Diana, but is not sure whether she knows that he knows; and
tries his best not to make her suspicious until he is ready with all the
evidence. Lydia recognizes Grabowski the moment she lays eyes on him. For a
while she tries to convince herself that he hasn’t recognized her, and behaves
so as to not let him know that she knows who he is. Lydia’s doubts about
Grabowski’s intentions are removed once she learns that he is snooping around with
her friends and employer. It all, as you will have guessed, is heading for a
spectacular climax; and Ali duly delivers it with a degree of panache, if
rather too neatly.
Untold Story is a well crafted novel that flows smoothly most
of the time. Monica Ali has an accomplished way of turning out a phrase and
keeps up a steady supply of witty asides throughout the narration. Although the
main theme of the novel (I think) is what if Diana had not died in 1997, a
substantial proportion of the first part of the novel is devoted to how she
manages her escape with the help of faithful Lawrence. This is in the form of a
diary Lawrence keeps in the months leading to his demise. Not a great deal of
explanation is provided, however, as to why the fictional Diana decides to
leave behind her glamorous existence and live a life of total anonymity for
which, it would be fair to assume, life has not prepared her until then,
and which would per force involve separation—possibly permanently—from
her two sons for ever. I wouldn’t have thought any woman who is devoted to her
children would take the decision of faking her death and being separated from them for
ever— ightly. All that is provided in the way of explanation is that the
fictional Diana is fed up of being hounded by the paparazzi. While a celebrity
might occasionally wish for a life of anonymity away from the glare of the
media, for her to take the drastic step as Monica Ali’s Diana does, something
more, you’d imagine, needs to be there. (The real Diana on whom the fictional
Diana is based was not exactly shy of publicity.) The picture of Diana that emerges from
Lawrence’s personal diary is commensurate with that which was associated with
the real Diana in at least some section of the media: an emotionally unhinged,
insecure and manipulative little creature trying to find comfort in disordered
eating, therapies and unwise sexual liaisons; not what you'd readily describe as a well-balanced personality. The
Lydia who lives in Kensington, USA, is a rational, considerate, reliable, and
stable. Quite how this transformation in Diana's personality comes about is also
left unexplained. One would have thought that being forced to fend for herself
without any support would be a recipe for disaster for an inadequate woman who,
in her Royal life, was used to giving orders and probably thought halibuts swim
in the fish section of Harrods. For the fictional Diana, it is her making; she
finds deep resources of resolve in herself to triumph, as they say, over
adversity. That is all very well, but it is a tad unconvincing. The Diana in Untold
Story is a figure you almost feel sorry for. Similarly, Ali has
resisted the temptation of depicting Grabowski, the other protagonist in the
novel, in crude generalization of the paparazzi. Grabowski is not an evil man.
He is a paparazzi photographer—believe it or not—with a conscience.
Untold Story possibly shows the direction Monica Ali’s fiction
might take: commercial and entertaining. If you are looking for Untold
Story to provide you with an insight into the life of Diana, you will
be disappointed. If you are looking to read a well-written book that is also an
above average thriller, this is your ticket. Read it on a long train journey; you
won’t know how the time will fly.
