My Secret History

Blurb

My Secret History is a novel by Paul Theroux published in June 1989 by Putnam Adult in the US and Hamish Hamilton in the UK.
The novel follows the life of Andre Parent as he "grows" through his life and the person he becomes through his experiences, experiences that have been said by some to be extremely autobiographical, but the author himself states in the book that only some of the events in the book are relevant to his own life, without telling us which bits these are.
The novel is divided into six sections :-
Altar Boy [1956], set in the Boston suburb of Medford where 15-year-old Andy acts as altar boy at the local Catholic church leaving his .22 Mossberg rifle in the sacristy. His friendship with alcoholic Father Furty and passion for half-Jewish neighbor Tina Spector make him question his faith as he reads Dante's Inferno.
Whale Steaks [1960], Whilst reading Baudelaire and working as a lifeguard, Andre receives attention from a rich older woman Mrs Mamalujian and starts an affair with Lucy, a Boston University student. Mrs Mamalujian leaves her husband and he gets Lucy pregnant; Andy learns both these facts while eating whale meat steaks.