The Secret History

Published in 1992, The Secret History is the debut novel of Pulitzer Prize– and Andrew Carnegie Medal–winning author Donna Tartt, whose other notable books include The Little Friend (2002) and The Goldfinch (2013). The novel follows the lives of six classics students at Hampden College in Vermont: Henry Winter; Francis Abernathy; Edmund Corcoran, who is primarily known as “Bunny”; Camilla and Charles Macaulay, who are twins; and Richard Papen, who acts as the novel’s narrator. All six students study Greek—and a majority of their other subjects—under the charismatic Professor Julian Morrow, a mysterious, wealthy Classics professor who is deeply passionate about his field and who instills a peculiar aesthetic within his students that ultimately leads them on a disastrous path to deception and murder. As the narrator of The Secret History, Richard Papen recounts the series of events that lead to the students’ collective downfall.

This guide refers to the 2004 Vintage Books (Penguin Random House) First Vintage Contemporaries edition.

Content Warning: Both this guide and its source text contain detailed descriptions of and references to violence, incest, murder, suicide, and alcohol addiction.

Plot Summary

As the novel opens, Richard recounts the events that led him to overcome his lower-class upbringing and gain access to the prestigious Hampden College, where he convinces the classics professor, Julian Morrow, to allow him to join his exclusive group of students.