Donna Tartt is an American author born in 1963 in Mississippi who has published 3 novels over 3 decades, including The Little Friend from 2002 and The Goldfinch from 2014. The Little Friend is described as being about aesthetics and beauty, involving a murder but not following a typical "whodunit" structure. All the characters are portrayed negatively and it is set in the 1990s, using narration. The book suggests that any action will fade over time and the consequences of our actions will diminish in the long run. It is recommended as a must-read for being a classic work by a literary genius, having wonderful prose, providing insights into societal divisions, and encouraging ethics.