The Secret History

Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic, Donna Tartt’s novel is a remarkable achievement - both compelling and elegant, 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. ‘It takes my breath away, it is so accomplished’ Ruth Rendell ‘Enthralling . . . Imagine the plot of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment crossed with the story of Eurípides’ Bacchae set against the backdrop of Bret Easton Ellis’s The Rules ofAttraction . . . forceful, cerebral and impeccably controlled . . . ferociously well-paced . . . remarkably powerful’ The New York Times ‘Excellent; Donna Tartt has discovered not the usual collegiate mix of sex, drugs and rock and roll, but a heart of darkness as stony and chilling as any Greek tragedian ever plumbed; she keeps the pace fast and the tensión taut... a thinking person’s thriller’