The Secret History

The Secret History is the first novel by the American author Donna Tartt, published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 1992. A campus novel, it tells the story of a closely knit group of six Classics students at Hampden College, a small, elite liberal arts college in Vermont. The Secret History is an inverted detective story narrated by one of the six students, Richard Papen, who reflects years later upon the situation that led to the murder of their friend Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran. The events leading up to the murder are revealed sequentially. The novel explores the circumstances and lasting effects of Bunny's death on the academically and socially isolated group of Classics students of which he was a part. The novel was originally titled The God of Illusions, and its first-edition hardcover was designed by the New York City graphic designer Chip Kidd and Barbara de Wilde. A 75,000 print order was made for the first edition (as opposed to the usual 10,000 order for a debut novel) and the book became a bestseller. It has been credited as originating the dark academia literary sub-genre, causing it to "explode like a firework" in the literary scene, according to The New York Times.