Storytelling in the grand manner, The Secret History is a debut remarkable for its hypnotic erudition and acute psychological suspense, and for the richness of its emotions, ideas, and language. These are the confessions, years afterward, of a young man who found at a small Vermont college the life of privilege and intellect he'd long coveted - and rarely has the glorious experience of youth infatuated with knowledge and with itself been so achingly realized. Then, amazed, Richard Papen is drawn into the ultimate inner circle: five students, worldly and self-assured, selected by a charismatic classics professor to participate in the search for truth and beauty. Together they study the mysteries of ancient Greek culture and spend long weekends at an old country house, reading, boating, basking in an Indian summer that stretches late into autumn. Mesmerized by his new comrades, Richard is unaware of the crime which they have committed in his dreamy, unwitting presence. But once taken into their confidence, he and the others slowly and inevitably begin to believe in the necessity of murdering the one classmate and friend who might betray both their secret and their future. Hugely ambitious and compulsively readable, this is a chronicle of deception and complicity, of Dionysian abandon, of innocence corrupted by self-love and moral arrogance; and, finally, it is a story of guilt and responsibility. An astonishing achievement by any standard, The Secret History immediately establishes Donna Tartt as a supremely gifted novelist.
Storytelling in the grand manner, The Secret History is a debut remarkable for its hypnotic erudition and acute psychological suspense, and for the richness of its emotions, ideas, and language. These are the confessions, years afterward, of a young man who found at a small Vermont college the life of privilege and intellect he'd long coveted - and rarely has the glorious experience of youth infatuated with knowledge and with itself been so achingly realized. Then, amazed, Richard Papen is drawn into the ultimate inner circle: five students, worldly and self-assured, selected by a charismatic classics professor to participate in the search for truth and beauty. Together they study the mysteries of ancient Greek culture and spend long weekends at an old country house, reading, boating, basking in an Indian summer that stretches late into autumn. Mesmerized by his new comrades, Richard is unaware of the crime which they have committed in his dreamy, unwitting presence. But once taken into their confidence, he and the others slowly and inevitably begin to believe in the necessity of murdering the one classmate and friend who might betray both their secret and their future. Hugely ambitious and compulsively readable, this is a chronicle of deception and complicity, of Dionysian abandon, of innocence corrupted by self-love and moral arrogance; and, finally, it is a story of guilt and responsibility. An astonishing achievement by any standard, The Secret History immediately establishes Donna Tartt as a supremely gifted novelist.
DONNA TARTT is the author of the novels The Secret History, The Little Friend, and The Goldfinch. Her work has been published in forty languages and her third novel, The Goldfinch, was awarded the Carnegie Medal and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
"A beautifully written story, well-told, funny, sad, scary, and
impossible to leave alone until I finished. . . . What a debut!"
--John Grisham
"Powerful . . . Enthralling . . . A ferociously well-paced
entertainment." --The New York Times
"An accomplished psychological thriller . . . Absolutely chilling .
. . Tartt has a stunning command of the lyrical." -- The Village
Voice
"A smart, craftsman-like, viscerally compelling novel." --Time
"A thinking-person's thriller . . . Think Lord of the Flies, then
The Rules of Attraction. . . . The Secret History combines a bit of
both--the unmistakable whiff of evil from William Golding's classic
and the mad recklessness of priviledged youth from Bret Easton
Ellis's novel of the '80s. . . . As stony and chilling as any Greek
tragedian ever plumbed." --New York Newsday
"Tartt's voice is unlike that of any of her contemporaries. Her
beautiful language, intricate plotting, fascinating characters, and
intellectual energy make her debut by far the most interesting work
yet from her generation." --The Boston Globe
"A long tale of friendship, arrogance, and murder knit together
with the finesse that many writers will never have . . . Her
writing bewitches us . . . The Secret History is a wonderfully
beguiling book, a journey backward to the fierce and heady
friendships of our school days, when all of us believed in our
power to conjure up divinity and to be forgiven any sin." --The
Philadelphia Inquirer
"The great pleasure of the novel is the wonderful complexity and
the remarkable skill with which this first novelist spins the tale.
And a gruesome tale it is. . . . A great, dense, disturbing story,
wonderfully told." --Cosmopolitan
"The Secret History implicates the reader in a conspiracy which
begins in bucolic enchantment and ends exactly where it
must--though a less gifted or fearless writer would never have been
able to imagine such a rich skein of consequence. Donna Tartt has
written a mesmerizing and powerful novel." --Jay McInerney
"Donna Tartt has invested this simple and suspenseful plot with a
considerable amount of atmosphere and philosophical significance. .
. . She's a very good writer indeed." --The Washington Post Book
World
"A glorious achievement . . . The Secret History is a grand
read--an artful blend of intelligence, entertainment, and suspense
that quickens the pulse." --The Virginian Pilot & Ledger-Star
"Beautifully written, suspenseful from start to finish."
--Vogue
"One of the best American college novels to come along since John
Knowles's A Seperate Peace. . . . Immensely entertaining."
--Houston Chronicle
"Donna Tartt is clearly a gifted writer. . . . The cadence of her
sentences, the authority with which she shaped 500-plus pages of an
erudite page-turner indicate she has the ability to leave her
literary contemporaries standing in the road. . . . The decision to
murder has about it the inevitability of classical Greek tragedy."
--The Miami Herald
"Donna Tartt has a real shot at becoming her generation's Edgar
Allan Poe. . . . The Secret History pulses like a telltale heart on
steroids." --Glamour
"A beautifully written story, well-told, funny, sad, scary, and
impossible to leave alone until I finished. . . . What a debut!"
--John Grisham
"Powerful . . . Enthralling . . . A ferociously well-paced
entertainment." --"The New York Times"
"An accomplished psychological thriller . . . Absolutely chilling .
. . Tartt has a stunning command of the lyrical." -- "The Village
Voice
""A smart, craftsman-like, viscerally compelling novel."
--"Time"
"A thinking-person's thriller . . . Think "Lord of the Flies," then
"The Rules of Attraction." . . . "The Secret History" combines a
bit of both--the unmistakable whiff of evil from William Golding's
classic and the mad recklessness of priviledged youth from Bret
Easton Ellis's novel of the '80s. . . . As stony and chilling as
any Greek tragedian ever plumbed." --"New York Newsday
""Tartt's voice is unlike that of any of her contemporaries. Her
beautiful language, intricate plotting, fascinating characters, and
intellectual energy make her debut by far the most interesting work
yet from her generation." --"The Boston Globe
""A long tale of friendship, arrogance, and murder knit together
with the finesse that many writers will never have . . . Her
writing bewitches us . . . "The Secret History" is a wonderfully
beguiling book, a journey backward to the fierce and heady
friendships of our school days, when all of us believed in our
power to conjure up divinity and to be forgiven any sin." --"The
Philadelphia Inquirer
""The great pleasure of the novel is the wonderful complexity and
the remarkable skill with which this first novelist spins the tale.
And a gruesome tale it is. . . . A great, dense, disturbing story,
wonderfully told." --"Cosmopolitan
"The Secret History" implicates the reader in a conspiracy which
begins in bucolic enchantment and ends exactly where it
must--though a less gifted or fearless writer would never have been
able to imagine such a rich skein of consequence. Donna Tartt has
written a mesmerizing and powerful novel." --Jay McInerney
"Donna Tartt has invested this simple and suspenseful plot with a
considerable amount of atmosphere and philosophical significance. .
. . She's a very good writer indeed." --"The Washington Post Book
World
""A glorious achievement . . . "The Secret History" is a grand
read--an artful blend of intelligence, entertainment, and suspense
that quickens the pulse." --"The Virginian Pilot & Ledger-Star
"
"Beautifully written, suspenseful from start to finish."
--"Vogue
""One of the best American college novels to come along since John
Knowles's "A Seperate Peace." . . . Immensely entertaining."
--"Houston Chronicle
""Donna Tartt is clearly a gifted writer. . . . The cadence of her
sentences, the authority with which she shaped 500-plus pages of an
erudite page-turner indicate she has the ability to leave her
literary contemporaries standing in the road. . . . The decision to
murder has about it the inevitability of classical Greek tragedy."
--"The Miami Herald
""Donna Tartt has a real shot at becoming her generation's Edgar
Allan Poe. . . . "The Secret History" pulses like a telltale heart
on steroids." --"Glamour
"
" A beautifully written story, well-told, funny, sad, scary, and
impossible to leave alone until I finished. . . . What a debut!"
--John Grisham
" Powerful . . . Enthralling . . . A ferociously well-paced
entertainment." --"The New York Times"
" An accomplished psychological thriller . . . Absolutely chilling
. . . Tartt has a stunning command of the lyrical." -- "The Village
Voice
"" A smart, craftsman-like, viscerally compelling novel."
--"Time"
" A thinking-person's thriller . . . Think "Lord of the Flies,"
then "The Rules of Attraction," . . . "The Secret History" combines
a bit of both--the unmistakable whiff of evil from William
Golding's classic and the mad recklessness of priviledged youth
from Bret Easton Ellis's novel of the '80s. . . . As stony and
chilling as any Greek tragedian ever plumbed." --"New York
Newsday
"" Tartt's voice is unlike that of any of her contemporaries. Her
beautiful language, intricate plotting, fascinating characters, and
intellectual energy make her debut by far the most interesting work
yet from her generation." --"The Boston Globe
"" A long tale of friendship, arrogance, and murder knit together
with the finesse that many writers will never have . . . Her
writing bewitches us . . . "The Secret History" is a wonderfully
beguiling book, a journey backward to the fierce and heady
friendships of our school days, when all of us believed in our
power to conjure up divinity and to be forgiven any sin." --"The
Philadelphia Inquirer
"" The great pleasure of the novel is the wonderful complexity and
the remarkable skill with which this first novelist spinsthe tale.
And a gruesome tale it is. . . . A great, dense, disturbing story,
wonderfully told." --"Cosmopolitan
" The Secret History" implicates the reader in a conspiracy which
begins in bucolic enchantment and ends exactly where it
must--though a less gifted or fearless writer would never have been
able to imagine such a rich skein of consequence. Donna Tartt has
written a mesmerizing and powerful novel." --Jay McInerney
" Donna Tartt has invested this simple and suspenseful plot with a
considerable amount of atmosphere and philosophical significance. .
. . She's a very good writer indeed." --"The Washington Post Book
World
"" A glorious achievement . . . "The Secret History" is a grand
read--an artful blend of intelligence, entertainment, and suspense
that quickens the pulse." --"The Virginian Pilot & Ledger-Star
"
" Beautifully written, suspenseful from start to finish."
--"Vogue
"" One of the best American college novels to come along since John
Knowles's "A Seperate Peace," . . . Immensely entertaining."
--"Houston Chronicle
"" Donna Tartt is clearly a gifted writer. . . . The cadence of her
sentences, the authority with which she shaped 500-plus pages of an
erudite page-turner indicate she has the ability to leave her
literary contemporaries standing in the road. . . . The decision to
murder has about it the inevitability of classical Greek tragedy."
--"The Miami Herald
"" Donna Tartt has a real shot at becoming her generation's Edgar
Allan Poe. . . . "The Secret History" pulses like a telltale heart
on steroids." --"Glamour
"
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