From Powells.com
The writers your life won't be complete without.
Staff Pick
The Original Dark Academia Novel dripping with brilliant prose and dark imagery. Recommended By Taylor W., Powells.com
There's no living writer like Donna Tartt. Not since reading the Greek and Russian greats in college have I encountered a writer so gifted in weaving the melodramatic, even the supernatural, into the everyday; nor have I read prose so finely calibrated and opulent that the story's atmosphere quickly supplants my own. All of Tartt's novels — each a decade in the making — involve eccentric characters who find themselves in increasingly outlandish, dangerous situations. Her excellent debut novel, the literary thriller The Secret History, follows a cult-like group of classics students at a prestigious college who begin committing murders, possibly under the direction of Dionysus, Greek god of ritual madness. A spellbinding and darkly humorous drama of privilege and desire, The Secret History is the type of book you read through the night and think about long after you've finished. Recommended By Rhianna W., Powells.com
The Secret History by Donna Tartt was the beginning of my obsession with school stories. It is so creepy and odd, and so much like a train wreck from which I couldn't look away. To immerse myself in this book was like living in rarified air, so rich, so deep with history, so exclusive, so unlike my own life. I couldn't get enough. So many, many, many school stories later, this one is still the best. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A contemporary literary classic and "an accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (Village Voice), from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Goldfinch.
One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years
Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.
Review
"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
"A smart, craftsman-like, viscerally compelling novel." —Time
About the Author
Donna Tartt is a novelist, essayist, and critic. The Secret History has been translated into twenty-four languages.