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Overview
Brilliantly written, erotically charged, My Secret History is Paul Theroux's tour de force. It is the story of Andre Parent, a writer, a world traveller, a lover of every kind of woman he chances to meet in a life as varied as a man can lead.It begins with his days as a Massachusetts altar boy, when his first furtive sexual encounter introduces him to the thrills of leading a double life. As a teenaged lifeguard, Andre finds himself caught between the attentions of a beautiful young student and an amorous older woman. Soon he is in Africa, where the local women are numerous, easy, and free. And as the boy becomes a man he turns his attention to writing, which brings him fame, and a wife, who may finally cause him to know himself.
But not before he sets up his most dangerous secret life, one that any man might envy, but that could cost Andre Parent the delicate balance that makes him who he is.
Andre Parent's story begins in Massachusetts where his first furtive sexual encounters introduce him to the thrills of leading a double life. Parent travels the globe and tastes the delights of innumerable affairs before settling down to writing, wedlock, and self-analysis. Do we dare to wonder if Theroux's "best novel in years" Chicago Tribune also is autobiography?
Synopsis
Brilliantly written, erotically charged, My Secret History is Paul Theroux's tour de force. It is the story of Andre Parent, a writer, a world traveller, a lover of every kind of woman he chances to meet in a life as varied as a man can lead.
It begins with his days as a Massachusetts altar boy, when his first furtive sexual encounter introduces him to the thrills of leading a double life. As a teenaged lifeguard, Andre finds himself caught between the attentions of a beautiful young student and an amorous older woman. Soon he is in Africa, where the local women are numerous, easy, and free. And as the boy becomes a man he turns his attention to writing, which brings him fame, and a wife, who may finally cause him to know himself.
But not before he sets up his most dangerous secret life, one that any man might envy, but that could cost Andre Parent the delicate balance that makes him who he is.
Publishers Weekly
This ``witty and wise portrait of a writer as he travels the globe searching for self-understanding'' introduces Andrew Parent, a narcissist with secrets and hidden emotions. ``In his exploration of the ambiguities of love and art, Theroux has created a character so humorous and vital that we forgive his flaws,'' observed PW. Author tour. (Apr.)