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The Secret History: A Novel by Donna Tartt | Conversation Starters
The Secret History: by Donna Tartt | Conversation Starters
Limited Time Offer: $3.99 ($4.99)
The Secret History, Donna Tartt's first novel, tells the story of social class, murder, and guilt. Richard, an unhappy young man living in California, relocates to Vermont to study at Hampden College. He hopes to continue his Greek studies. However, the Classics course he wants to take is highly selective; only the most impressive students are able to find their way in. If he is going to enter the class, he must get the attention and win over the group's leader, Professor Julian Morrow. Eventually, Richard becomes friends with the members of the Classics course. What he discovers, however, is that the group is full of secrets, lies, and multiple murders.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt became an instant bestseller upon its release in 1992 and continues to attract readers worldwide.
A Brief Look Inside:
EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER
than the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive,
and the characters and its world still live on.
Conversation Starters is peppered with questions designed to
bring us beneath the surface of the page
and invite us into the world that lives on.
These questions can be used to..
Create Hours of Conversation:
• Foster a deeper understanding of the book
• Promote an atmosphere of discussion for groups
• Assist in the study of the book, either individually or corporately
• Explore unseen realms of the book as never seen before
Disclaimer: This book you are about to enjoy is an independent resource to supplement the original book, enhancing your experience of The Book Thief. If you have not yet purchased a copy of the original book, please do before purchasing this unofficial Conversation Starters.
Download your copy today for a Limited Time Discount: $3.99 ($4.99)
Read it on your PC, Mac, iOS or Android smartphone, tablet and Kindle devices.
Limited Time Offer: $3.99 ($4.99)
The Secret History, Donna Tartt's first novel, tells the story of social class, murder, and guilt. Richard, an unhappy young man living in California, relocates to Vermont to study at Hampden College. He hopes to continue his Greek studies. However, the Classics course he wants to take is highly selective; only the most impressive students are able to find their way in. If he is going to enter the class, he must get the attention and win over the group's leader, Professor Julian Morrow. Eventually, Richard becomes friends with the members of the Classics course. What he discovers, however, is that the group is full of secrets, lies, and multiple murders.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt became an instant bestseller upon its release in 1992 and continues to attract readers worldwide.
A Brief Look Inside:
EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER
than the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive,
and the characters and its world still live on.
Conversation Starters is peppered with questions designed to
bring us beneath the surface of the page
and invite us into the world that lives on.
These questions can be used to..
Create Hours of Conversation:
• Foster a deeper understanding of the book
• Promote an atmosphere of discussion for groups
• Assist in the study of the book, either individually or corporately
• Explore unseen realms of the book as never seen before
Disclaimer: This book you are about to enjoy is an independent resource to supplement the original book, enhancing your experience of The Book Thief. If you have not yet purchased a copy of the original book, please do before purchasing this unofficial Conversation Starters.
Download your copy today for a Limited Time Discount: $3.99 ($4.99)
Read it on your PC, Mac, iOS or Android smartphone, tablet and Kindle devices.
- GenresDark AcademiaFiction
67 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 14, 2024
I wanted to love this book because I adored "The Goldfinch" and I liked the fact that this one is shorter ... but it was a tough go. I couldn't relate to (or like) any of the characters and the Greek stuff was mostly beyond me. It had some good parts and she's a wonderful writer, but it dragged, too.
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June 19, 2021Good.
October 21, 2025
The first time I read this for the 8 perfect murders group, I gave in 2 stars. Couldn't get into it, didn't much like it, didn't take the time to think about it.
I reread it as a buddy read on CMT and took more time to think about it and realized that this could happen in real life - a charismatic professor, a group of intelligent misfits, a New England college, being led down a dangerous path to where they end up doing something unthinkable and then having to keep a secret that will haunt them for life.
I reread it as a buddy read on CMT and took more time to think about it and realized that this could happen in real life - a charismatic professor, a group of intelligent misfits, a New England college, being led down a dangerous path to where they end up doing something unthinkable and then having to keep a secret that will haunt them for life.
October 5, 2025
Donna Tartt never lets you down - her stories, intricate and nuanced, grip the reader with fascination and wonder. The Secret History tells the story of a transfer student arriving at a Vermont liberal arts college and falling in with 'the cool group' of students - although most of the people at Hampden College would think of them as just weird, and not only because of their singular focus on a classic Greek education.
Character development and plot are excellent; you get an amazing combination of sympathy and disgust for the protagonist, Richard - as he navigates inclusion and participation in this group of highly intellectual individuals. There is a faint morality play in the novel - one that suggests that focus, discipline and throwing oneself totally into any endeavor - could lead to disaster. Sort of like an epic Greek tale, I guess!
Character development and plot are excellent; you get an amazing combination of sympathy and disgust for the protagonist, Richard - as he navigates inclusion and participation in this group of highly intellectual individuals. There is a faint morality play in the novel - one that suggests that focus, discipline and throwing oneself totally into any endeavor - could lead to disaster. Sort of like an epic Greek tale, I guess!
April 6, 2023
A young man decides to go to a college in New England and discovers that he would rather join a Greek mythology class than the usual mathematics, science, or history. The class is being taught by a charismatic classics professor and the young man joins a group of clever, eccentric misfits who discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries.
Through the group’s adventures around the college and their schemes to understand the bizarre world of Greek history, they find themselves struggling with the constructs of human morality. and what is deemed inhumane and not. By the end of the novel, they turn out to be murderers of their own kind and struggle to cope with their decision and the consequences.
Through the group’s adventures around the college and their schemes to understand the bizarre world of Greek history, they find themselves struggling with the constructs of human morality. and what is deemed inhumane and not. By the end of the novel, they turn out to be murderers of their own kind and struggle to cope with their decision and the consequences.
December 29, 2025
A remarkable story about how things to too far...and if one can redeem themselves.
“Forgive me, for all the things I did but mostly for the ones that I did not.”
“I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell.”
“I suppose the shock of recognition is one of the nastiest shocks of all.”
“Forgive me, for all the things I did but mostly for the ones that I did not.”
“I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell.”
“I suppose the shock of recognition is one of the nastiest shocks of all.”
August 10, 2021
Good WWII family mystery although it dragged a bit (nearly 500 pages long).
March 27, 2025
The Secret History has style, but very little soul. It promises brilliance but ends up feeling like it’s trying too hard to be profound without really saying anything new.
Read
February 11, 2026entertaining, secrecy, tragedy and relationships, a good read
February 14, 2026
subtle yet superb
May 4, 2026
This is not the whole novel.
January 7, 2026
coming of age story with violence and themes of duty, loyalty, academic elitism, and the risks of falling too fast into an enigmatic friend group--the price of belonging can be very high. Beautiful writing--Donna is among the very best
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews