Join a book club that is reading The Secret History!

The Busy Girl’s Book & Movie Club

A club for busy ladies based in South Florida, but primarily virtual. All genres welcome.

Book Club School

Join an online English book club course to use and improve your English and develop your spoken accuracy and fluency with a qualified English teacher.

The Secret History

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.

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

BUY THE BOOK

Published Apr 13, 2004

576 pages

Average rating: 7.23

646 RATINGS

|

Community Reviews

AlixKRex
Oct 01, 2025
10/10 stars
I don't know if I'll ever return with a long review (perhaps a paper or two I might end up publishing), given there's plenty, but I will say: this book has changed my life, and funnily enough, I read it after The Goldfinch, and didn't particularly like it. This was because I had read them too close together and had expectations. Becoming aware of this unconscious act, I took a break and shook off those comparisons I'd found myself making to let this story be separate and bloom in its own right. After doing so, that's when I became just as immersed in it as I had with The Goldfinch. Now, I find myself embracing myself more fully, and right after reading it, becoming indulgent with my interests in writing, reading, philosophy, and the Classics, I found my calling as well as myself, fully, and accepted all. Not many novels can help us in such life-changing ways, but this one absolutely calls us to examine ourselves and the world, honestly, and because of this, it does just that, changes the reader, that is, if we're bold enough to accept that call to adventure.

If you love this book and Homer, I highly recommend "Why Homer Matters" by Adam Nicolson! If Henry could have read it, I think he would have enjoyed it a great deal.

This book has become a favorite of mine, which I've read a few times over now as a comfort in changing seasons spiral into excessive thinking. It somehow both excites and soothes me.
Kaylyneryle81
Sep 26, 2025
9/10 stars
Embodied exactly what I love about dark academia. Pretentious and obsessive characters. Dark story line. Constantly unsure of the direction of the book.
jnaegele
Sep 05, 2025
8/10 stars
Gorgeously written and engrossing story that builds up suspense and drammatic tension. One of the most compelling and engrossing books I’ve read in years.
Nanizee
Aug 25, 2025
6/10 stars
Everyone in this book is insufferable.
@weirdoftheopera
Aug 04, 2025
1/10 star
DNF

See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.