The Secret History Audiobook By Donna Tartt cover art

The Secret History

A Novel

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The Secret History

By: Donna Tartt
Narrated by: Donna Tartt
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INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A contemporary literary classic and "an accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (Village Voice), from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Goldfinch.

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.

“A remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment.... Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled.” —The New York Times

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#BookTok Classics Thriller & Suspense Psychological Suspense Genre Fiction Scary Coming of Age

Editorial review


By Kat Johnson, Audible Editor

THE SECRET HISTORY WAS ALWAYS ABOUT THE AESTHETICS

I’m old enough to remember the publication of The Secret History, back in 1992. Like Zadie Smith’s White Teeth almost a decade later, it was one of those rare Publishing Events, when a debut author and novel arrived so authentically entwined that everyone agreed—a literary star was born. Tartt, in men’s pajamas or a necktie and sleek bob, commanded attention. So did the novel, with its premise of murder among classics students at an elite liberal arts college. The Secret History was instantly heralded as an icon of its era. Who knew that, 30 years later, it would perform the same feat for a new generation?

I tore through The Secret History as soon as it came out. Like its narrator Richard Papen, I was a middle-class teenager thrust into a rarified academic world—in my case, a Swiss boarding school instead of a Vermont college—populated by the rich international set. I also wanted to be a writer, and The Secret History set a bar that seemed impossibly high. It’s not one of those novels that makes you think "I can do that"—quite the opposite. It’s simultaneously a complex inverted mystery (like Columbo, it starts with whodunit and then tantalizingly drips out the why and how) and a modern Greek tragedy with characters and prose so compelling, it’s positively hypnotic. I was envious and smitten, and I couldn’t stop reading.

Richard is a California native who is new to both the East Coast and Hampden College, where he’s trying to hide a mediocre background and lack of wealth. In a stroke of luck, he’s invited to join the school’s selective Ancient Greek program, run by charismatic professor Julian Morrow and comprised of five other students. Bunny Corcoran is an all-American preppy type, at home with money and privilege in the style of the Kennedys. Cecilia and Charles are beautiful blond twins with a mysterious relationship and, despite Richard’s love for them, a predilection for offhand cruelty. Henry Winter, tall and reserved, is a polymath and polyglot who’s the smartest and most complicated of the bunch. And there’s red-headed Francis, always wearing a billowing cloak or a pince-nez, who likes boys but is essentially closeted due to the times and his extremely traditional, wealthy family.

These are the main players in a murder that ends with Bunny dead at the bottom of a cliff and buried by snow—hardly a spoiler, since Tartt provides this information in the novel’s exquisitely chilling prologue. In part one, the novel rebuilds beautifully to the climax of the deadly event, while the second part deals with its aftermath, its meditations on beauty, ecstasy, morality, and the taint of murder so seductive that it demands and rewards multiple readings.

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Compelling Story • Rich Characters • Author's Authentic Interpretation • Beautiful Writing • Engaging Plot

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Who would have thought life at a Vermont liberal arts college would be do gripping?

Suprisingly gripping

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It’s taken me hours to figure what I want to say about this book after finishing it. The characters aren’t likeable, the story doesn’t have dramatic twists & turns, the narration is quirky, the story is long (22+ hours); yet, I was pulled in & interested in the story & characters from the beginning until the end. I wanted to find a reason to drop this book & couldn’t. The rich, twisted, collegiate world developed by the author was just too intriguing to step away.

Dive In ….

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This writer loves to write...and write and write. I began this book on a day that I wasn't feeling well. I found I could listen for an hour, doze for an hour or two, wake up and the story had barely moved forward. it's not a bad story; it's simply agonizingly slow.

Painfully detailed

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I loved the dark complexity of this story, and enjoyed the author reading it-except for the voice of Bunny. In many audiobooks or paper books, I lose interest half or 3/4 of the way through, but this author’s imagination and character development grips my interest!

Excellent story

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I absolutely love Donna Tarte’s, writing style and vocabulary skills. I loved the narration I didn’t realize until the end that it was she. There were a lot of twists and turns and my emotions ran the gamut through this story. I highly recommend.

Loved this story

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