---
product_id: 1305308
title: "The Secret History"
price: "9.77 OMR"
currency: OMR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.com.om/products/1305308-the-secret-history
store_origin: OM
region: Oman
---

# Classic Literature Intriguing Plot Timeless Themes The Secret History

**Price:** 9.77 OMR
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 📖 Unlock the Secrets of Literary Brilliance!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Secret History
- **How much does it cost?** 9.77 OMR with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.om](https://www.desertcart.com.om/products/1305308-the-secret-history)

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## Key Features

- • **Cult Classic:** Join the ranks of discerning readers who appreciate literary depth.
- • **Vintage Vibes:** Experience the charm of vintage literature with a modern twist.
- • **Jenna's Choice:** Be part of the exclusive community that celebrates Jenna's curated picks.
- • **Unravel the Mystery:** Dive into a gripping narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
- • **Thought-Provoking Themes:** Explore complex moral dilemmas that resonate with today's world.

## Overview

The Secret History, a captivating novel by Donna Tartt, delves into the lives of a group of elite college students whose obsession with beauty and intellect leads to a chilling murder. Selected as a Read with Jenna Pick, this vintage contemporary classic offers a rich exploration of morality, friendship, and the consequences of our choices.

## Description

The Secret History [Tartt, Donna] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Secret History

Review: Greek Tragedy meets Comedy of Manners - Greek Tragedy meets Comedy of Manners. Crime and Punishment meets The Great Gatsby. In Cold Blood (the movie, not the book) meets A Night at the Opera (the movie, not the album). Donna Tartt’s The Secret History is a novel of breathtaking ambition, mixing literary genres the way a chemist mixes unstable compounds—carefully, brilliantly, and with the occasional explosion. At its core, this is a Greek tragedy in tweed and cashmere: a tale of hubris, fate, and the long, echoing consequences of a single act. But it’s also a darkly comedic study in pretension and privilege, a Comedy of Manners set in a cloistered college where everyone seems to have a martini in one hand and a Euripides quote in the other. Tartt’s prose is crisp, ornate without being showy, and often chilling in its control. The narrator, Richard Papen, is a West Coast outsider seduced by an elite circle of classics students at a small Vermont college—a clique so rarefied they feel less like classmates and more like decadent aristocrats teleported in from a lost Fitzgerald novel. (Crime and Punishment meets The Great Gatsby, indeed—where moral rot hides beneath sophistication, and where beauty and lofty ideals walk hand-in-hand with Dyonisian violence.) The book operates on a slow burn, turning up the psychological temperature degree by degree. By the time blood is spilled, you feel complicit. Tartt isn’t writing a whodunit so much as a whydunit—and then a what-happens-to-everyone-after. Stylistically, the novel blends gothic dread with drawing-room wit. It’s In Cold Blood (the film, with its bleak detachment of rain shadows for tears) filtered through the off-kilter absurdity of A Night at the Opera—though in this case, Groucho’s anti-aristocratic quips are replaced by Bunny’s provocations. Beneath all this, The Secret History is a meditation on elitism—not just academic elitism, but the dangerous, intoxicating belief that intelligence, taste, and beauty can lift one above consequence. Tartt shows us how that illusion of detachment leads not to enlightenment, but to moral collapse. It’s a book that feels like a warning, a confession, and a dare. It reminds us that brilliance without grounding is just a more elegant kind of madness.
Review: Excellent but Not Sweet - Published in 1992 this book is famous (infamous?) for providing impetus to the "dark academia" movement - if it can be called that. The story is, more or less, fashioned after a Greek tragedy with deeply flawed characters ultimately facing the consequences of their decisions and actions. Indeed, the characters are grim - they aren't decent human beings at all. The story is not uplifting so it's not a good choice if you are looking for something to improve your mood. There is a lot of alcohol, drugs, and perversity in the story - which is more or less required to get on the New York Times bestselling list. In that respect the story hits all the right notes. There are a few things that are unrealistic - one is the sway one of the characters has over the others, another is that the story takes place at a university, but the "students" seem to study or attend class very little and still manage to matriculate term after term. Of course, writing about students studying would not be interesting reading. Finally, if any college student consumed as much alcohol as depicted by the characters in this story, they would have died of alcohol poisoning before the second term. All that said, the prose is superb. Sooth as butter, the writing whisks you into the story and keeps you engrossed until the end. In fact, The Secret History is so well written that you almost forget you are reading. So, did I like the story? No. Was I entertained and captivated? Yes. I'd have preferred at least one decent, incorruptible, semi-Tom Bombadil type character to shed some light and hope. As it is, Francis was right when he said, "I am looking forward to asking him why the hell he didn't just shoot us all and get it over with."

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,184 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #21 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books) #109 in Suspense Thrillers #225 in Literary Fiction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (49,793) |
| Dimensions  | 5.16 x 0.96 x 7.96 inches |
| ISBN-10  | 1400031702 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1400031702 |
| Item Weight  | 1 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 576 pages |
| Publication date  | September 11, 1992 |
| Publisher  | Alfred A Knopf |

## Images

![The Secret History - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31eG5FvV8-L.jpg)
![The Secret History - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41mAQMQlEiL.jpg)
![The Secret History - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71HcEbK3pEL.jpg)
![The Secret History - Image 4](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71JMaCvZflL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Greek Tragedy meets Comedy of Manners
*by A***F on September 16, 2025*

Greek Tragedy meets Comedy of Manners. Crime and Punishment meets The Great Gatsby. In Cold Blood (the movie, not the book) meets A Night at the Opera (the movie, not the album). Donna Tartt’s The Secret History is a novel of breathtaking ambition, mixing literary genres the way a chemist mixes unstable compounds—carefully, brilliantly, and with the occasional explosion. At its core, this is a Greek tragedy in tweed and cashmere: a tale of hubris, fate, and the long, echoing consequences of a single act. But it’s also a darkly comedic study in pretension and privilege, a Comedy of Manners set in a cloistered college where everyone seems to have a martini in one hand and a Euripides quote in the other. Tartt’s prose is crisp, ornate without being showy, and often chilling in its control. The narrator, Richard Papen, is a West Coast outsider seduced by an elite circle of classics students at a small Vermont college—a clique so rarefied they feel less like classmates and more like decadent aristocrats teleported in from a lost Fitzgerald novel. (Crime and Punishment meets The Great Gatsby, indeed—where moral rot hides beneath sophistication, and where beauty and lofty ideals walk hand-in-hand with Dyonisian violence.) The book operates on a slow burn, turning up the psychological temperature degree by degree. By the time blood is spilled, you feel complicit. Tartt isn’t writing a whodunit so much as a whydunit—and then a what-happens-to-everyone-after. Stylistically, the novel blends gothic dread with drawing-room wit. It’s In Cold Blood (the film, with its bleak detachment of rain shadows for tears) filtered through the off-kilter absurdity of A Night at the Opera—though in this case, Groucho’s anti-aristocratic quips are replaced by Bunny’s provocations. Beneath all this, The Secret History is a meditation on elitism—not just academic elitism, but the dangerous, intoxicating belief that intelligence, taste, and beauty can lift one above consequence. Tartt shows us how that illusion of detachment leads not to enlightenment, but to moral collapse. It’s a book that feels like a warning, a confession, and a dare. It reminds us that brilliance without grounding is just a more elegant kind of madness.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent but Not Sweet
*by J***0 on August 5, 2025*

Published in 1992 this book is famous (infamous?) for providing impetus to the "dark academia" movement - if it can be called that. The story is, more or less, fashioned after a Greek tragedy with deeply flawed characters ultimately facing the consequences of their decisions and actions. Indeed, the characters are grim - they aren't decent human beings at all. The story is not uplifting so it's not a good choice if you are looking for something to improve your mood. There is a lot of alcohol, drugs, and perversity in the story - which is more or less required to get on the New York Times bestselling list. In that respect the story hits all the right notes. There are a few things that are unrealistic - one is the sway one of the characters has over the others, another is that the story takes place at a university, but the "students" seem to study or attend class very little and still manage to matriculate term after term. Of course, writing about students studying would not be interesting reading. Finally, if any college student consumed as much alcohol as depicted by the characters in this story, they would have died of alcohol poisoning before the second term. All that said, the prose is superb. Sooth as butter, the writing whisks you into the story and keeps you engrossed until the end. In fact, The Secret History is so well written that you almost forget you are reading. So, did I like the story? No. Was I entertained and captivated? Yes. I'd have preferred at least one decent, incorruptible, semi-Tom Bombadil type character to shed some light and hope. As it is, Francis was right when he said, "I am looking forward to asking him why the hell he didn't just shoot us all and get it over with."

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Utterly Unforgettable
*by A***S on October 2, 2025*

Tartt’s creative masterpiece is a must to read if creative intrigue, extremely developed characters and an imaginative storyline appeal to you. I’ve read her other novels, equally deserving, but this is the only one I’ve read three times. Each time I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it and picked up details I may have glossed over before. Very enjoyable—it’s hard to put this book down.

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*Product available on Desertcart Oman*
*Store origin: OM*
*Last updated: 2026-01-24*