A Secret Affair vs The Aspern Papers: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Venice, Drama, Fiction
A Secret Affair
“He was closing the small padlock on his duffle bag when a deafening explosion brought his head up swiftly.”
Seeking some much-needed rest and relaxation after a long stint as a TV-news war correspondent in Bosnia, 33-year-old Bill Fitzgerald travels to Venice. There he is struck by the dark beauty of a young American woman,…
vs
The Aspern Papers
“I HAD taken Mrs Prest into my confidence; without her in truth I should have made but little advance, for the fruitful idea in the whole business dropped from her friendly lips.”
With a decaying Venetian villa as a backdrop, an anonymous narrator relates his obsessive quest for the personal documents of a deceased Romantic poet, one Jeffrey Aspern. Led by his mission into increasingly…
1 film adaptation
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- The Aspern Papers is the quickest read — about 1 hours vs 7 for A Secret Affair.
- The Aspern Papers has the widest readership — 7229 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| A Secret Affair | The Aspern Papers | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 3.7 (7229) |
| Hardcover | 1.0 (1) | 2.8 (4) |
| Google Books | 5.0 (1) | — |
| Apple Books | 3.5 (112) | 4.5 (33) |
Reception
| A Secret Affair | The Aspern Papers | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 112 | 7229 |
| Editions | 6 | 91 |
| Citations | — | 31 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 5723 |
| Written reviews | — | 828 |
| Wikipedia attention | 470 | 1610 |
| Pages | 400 | 96 |