The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
★ Top 5 book of 1992 · #2 on Best Books of 1992
A circle of clever, eccentric students at an elite New England college falls under the spell of their charismatic classics professor. Crossing the lines of ordinary morality, they drift from obsession into corruption, betrayal, and evil.
Best for: Readers who like dark campus stories about obsession, moral decline, and betrayal
The Secret History is #2 on BookWard's Best Books of 1992, out of 43 1992 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Secret History is about
Richard Papen leaves his ordinary life in California for Hampden College, a small elite school in Vermont, where he is accepted into the classes of the charismatic Professor Julian Morrow. There he is drawn into a tight circle of five other students: the twins Charles and Camilla, Francis, Henry and Edmund, known as Bunny. They are brilliant, aloof and a little strange, and Richard wants badly to belong to them.
He tells the story years afterward, and from the start we know that something terrible happened. The question is how a group of cultured young people let their devotion to beauty and to each other lead them somewhere so dark. Readers who enjoy atmospheric, bookish suspense about obsession, guilt and betrayal will feel at home.
The Secret History on the Best Books of 1992
The Secret History came out in 1992. Of the 43 books first published in 1992 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #2 on our Best Books of 1992 list.
Why it made the list: 2,022 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (89 ratings); 90 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
It earns Being read right now.
Nearby on the 1992 list
- Welcome to Dead House Robert Lawrence Stine, #1
- The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes Bill Watterson, #3
- Snow Crash Neal Stephenson, #4
See all Best Books of 1992 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1991 Best Books of 1993.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 1,780 want to read it, 90 are reading it now and 152 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4 out of 5 from 89 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 100 | 55% |
| Reader love | 67 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 100 | 20% |
Questions about The Secret History
When was The Secret History published?
The Secret History by Donna Tartt was first published in 1992.
Was The Secret History one of the best books of 1992?
The Secret History is #2 on BookWard's Best Books of 1992, out of 43 1992 books that cleared our data bar. 2,022 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (89 ratings); 90 are reading it right now.
Why is The Secret History on the Best Books of 1992 list?
2,022 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (89 ratings); 90 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 1992
- Welcome to Dead House Robert Lawrence Stine, #1
- The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes Bill Watterson, #3
- Snow Crash Neal Stephenson, #4
- The Shadow Rising Robert Jordan, #5
- The Artist's Way Julia Cameron, #6
- Small Gods Terry Pratchett, #7
See the full Best Books of 1992, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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