The Little Friend cover art

The Little Friend

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Little Friend

By: Donna Tartt
Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $39.99

Buy Now for $39.99

About this listen

The second novel by Donna Tartt, best-selling author of The Goldfinch (winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize), The Little Friend is a grandly ambitious and utterly riveting novel of childhood, innocence and evil.

The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Mother's Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parents' yard. Twelve years later, Robin's murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated.

So it is that Robin's sister Harriet - unnervingly bright, insufferably determined, and unduly influenced by the fiction of Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson - sets out to unmask his killer. Aided only by her worshipful friend Hely, Harriet crosses her town's rigid lines of race and caste and burrows deep into her family's history of loss.

Filled with hairpin turns of plot and "a bustling, ridiculous humanity worthy of Dickens" (The New York Times Book Review), The Little Friend is a work of myriad enchantments by a writer of prodigious talent.

©2002 Donna Tartt (P)2015 Audible, Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Mississippi

Editorial reviews

Winner of the WH Smith Literary Awards 2003, The Little Friend is written by Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt, with an audiobook narration by the brilliant voice artist Laurel Lefkow. A little boy is found murdered in the front garden of his Mississippi town, the mystery of his death never solved. His sister is the only person who delves deep into the very roots of the community to uncover his killer. This novel is all at once gripping, tense, suspenseful and addictive. It is the work of a master writer. Available now from Audible.

Critic Reviews

"A dazzling tour de force” ( Daily Mail)
"Beautifully written and immaculately crafted ... even though there's humour, the tension is palpable. Unputdownable” ( Daily Mirror)
"Harriet is one of the most engaging and rounded characters you are likely to find ... gorgeous, fluent, visual." ( The Times)
All stars
Most relevant
This is my second read of a Donna Tartt book. She’s a great writer conveying vivid images and emotions but again, I felt underwhelmed by the ending. Maybe this is her signature. You may still enjoy it though!

Underwhelming ending

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This story was well written and kept me interested until the end. Was a little disappointed with the ending but otherwise enjoyed it.

Intriguing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very good reading. Great story as Donna Tart always does. I love how she always gives children an important voice.

Another Jewel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
My first Donna Tart book and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Loved the lazy ramblings of day to day life of small town Mississippi and the relationships between all the characters - all people that will stay in my mind for quite some time as I feel I know them intimately. And I could listen to Laurel Lefkow’s voice all day long!

Great story!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Glad I persevered. Glad it was read to me.
Extremely detailed narrative and character analysis. Nicely read.
Seemed like it wasn't going anywhere for a long time but I eventually succumbed and enjoyed it by the end. However I believe if you make this your first Donna Tartt book it may put you off from reading her others which would be a pity.

Don't make this your first Tartt book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.