The Secret History

Author(s): Donna Tartt

Classics

Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic, Donna Tartt's cult bestseller The Secret Historyis a remarkable achievement - incredibly compelling, dramatic and playful.Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and for ever, and they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill.

The Secret History was my reward for completing my 2015 reading challenge, and what a reward it was! Richard, tired of pre-med, his soulless parents and their dusty, faded existence in California, applies, and is accepted at a small but prestigious liberal arts college in rural Vermont. Once there, he makes friends with the five other Ancient Greek students who, along with their enigmatic professor, eventually welcome Richard into their mysterious clique. Or at least, they allow him to watch from the edges. So, he isn't there the night Henry, Francis, Charles and Camilla accidentally kill a local farmer during an attempt to recreate a Grecian orgy, but neither is the obstreperous Bunny, the fifth member of their group, who proceeds to make life so difficult they have little option but to kill him too. Bunny's murder takes place in the first chapter, and we spend the rest of the book exploring the ins and outs, the whys and hows surrounding his death. People who have read and enjoyed The Goldfinch will see parallels between the two books - Tartt does write repugnant characters so well - but this is a step above The Goldfinch. In fact it may be several. - Lucy


Product Information

"It takes my breath away". --Ruth Rendell "Enthralling ... image the plot of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment crossed with the story of Euripides' Bacchae set against the backdrop of Bret Easton Ellis' The Rules of Attraction... forceful, cerebral and impeccably controlled... ferociously well-paced... remarkably powerful". --The New York Times Be assured this really is as good everyone says it is. -- April 

General Fields

  • : 9780141037691
  • : Penguin Books
  • : Penguin Books
  • : 0.351
  • : September 2008
  • : 181mm X 111mm
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Donna Tartt
  • : Paperback
  • : English
  • : 813/.54
  • : very good
  • : 640
  • : series shelf