“Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.”
Donna Tartt’s The Secret History is regarded as one of the standout novels from the 1990s and is lauded as a pioneering work in the dark academia genre. The book follows a group of eccentric misfit students at a New England college who, under the influence of their brilliant professor, are taught to view the world differently from most. However, as they continue to push the boundaries of traditional morality, their elitist arrogance and obsessions lead to violence and evil. Join us at What We Reading for a journey into the best books like The Secret History! These books seamlessly blend academia, suspense, and a touch of macabre, resulting in suspenseful and alluring reads that are sure to resonate with any fan of Donna Tartt.
Who Wrote The Secret History?
Donna Tartt is an American author whose works have been printed in forty different languages. She won the WH Smith Literary Award for her book, The Little Friend and both the Pulitzer Prize and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for The Goldfinch. The Secret History was first published in 1992 and has been credited for popularising the growth of the dark academia subgenre.
Black Chalk – Christopher J. Yates
First up in our list of books like The Secret History is a deliciously dark academic tale from Christopher J. Yates. Black Chalk follows six best friends during their first year at Oxford University and a game between them.
Originally, their game of dare or consequences was a childish affair consisting of silly challenges and funny forfeits. But, as the stakes grew higher and the dares became more personal and humiliating, this game would escalate into a dramatic and violent struggle, one that would leave one of its players dead. Now, fourteen years on from the tragedy, the remaining five players meet up to play the final round. Similar to The Secret History, Yates experiments with an academic backdrop and a close-knit group of students whose moral boundaries are pushed to their limits, with incredibly destructive consequences.
The Shadow Year – Hannah Richell
Readers are whisked to the summer of 1980 in Hannah Richell’s The Shadow Year, where five friends stumble upon an abandoned cottage in the English countryside. For Kat and her friends, it offers the perfect place to escape, spending warm summer days by the lake and intimate evenings curled up by the fireplace. However, as time wears on, tensions begin to rise. And when a strange visitor arrives, things between the group are never the same again.
Thirty years on, Lila has bought the cottage and finds solace in renovating the tumbledown abode. As she works, she begins to wonder about the house’s previous inhabitants. How did they live? Why did they leave in such a hurry? And why does she have an unsettling feeling someone might be watching her now? The Shadow Year is a mystery book that unravels secrets, explores tragedy, exposes lies, and delves into betrayal. It explores the light and dark sides of human relationships in a way any fan of Donna Tartt will adore.
The Rules Of Attraction – Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis and Donna Tartt both attended Bennington College, where they became close friends and have remained so since. Tartt even dedicated The Secret History to the author of American Psycho.
Bennington College probably influenced both The Secret History and Easton Ellis’ 1987 book, The Rules of Attraction. Set at an affluent liberal arts college during the height of the Reagan eighties, readers follow three students – Lauren, Sean, and Paul – who are suitably rowdy, sexually promiscuous, and as carefree about the future as they are about the present. They become entangled in a messy love triangle of sorts, with Easton Ellis’ trademark cynicism and wit offering a scathing criticism of the materialistic and excessive culture of the time. It is also laced with several Easter egg references to The Secret History, making it the perfect go-to for anyone who loved Donna Tartt’s book.
Long Black Veil – Jennifer Finney Boylan
Jennifer Finney Boylan’s 2017 book, Long Black Veil, tells the story of Judith Carrigan. Twenty years after her disappearance at Philadelphia’s notorious and abandoned Eastern State Penitentiary, the body of her friend Wailer is discovered. Judith is the only witness who can testify to the innocence of her friend Casey, who had married Wailer mere days before her disappearance.
The only issue for Judith is how much of a different person she was twenty years ago. To get to the truth of Wailer’s death, she is forced to confront the ghosts of the past and the dark secrets she has kept buried—secrets that would dismantle her idyllic life in a moment. Long Black Veil is the story of six college students who sneaked into Eastern State Penitentiary one night for a thrill, only to be locked in and forced to confront the reality that the building might not have been as abandoned as they had first thought.
These Violent Delights – Micah Nemerever
Lauded as ‘The Secret History meets Call Me by Your Name’, Micah Nemerever’s These Violent Delights is a Hitchcockian story about two university students, each with troubled pasts, whose increasing obsessions with one another lead to unspeakable violence.
When Paul and Julian meet each other as freshmen in 1970s Pittsburgh, they are instantly drawn to one another. Ravaged by the grief of losing his father, Paul is a talented artist whose sensitivity and awkwardness are only compounded by the conventional world. He sees the wealthy, enigmatic, and charming Julian as not only his idol but also an ally against the society he finds so suffocating. Yet, for all of his charm, Julian also has a cruel streak. One of the best books like The Secret History, These Violent Delights is a masterpiece in ramping dread and a dark exploration of the cost of human desire.
The Bellwether Revivals – Benjamin Wood
Bright and bookish, Oscar Lowe has made a quaint life for himself as a care assistant at a nursing home and a student at Cambridge University. However, his life is flipped in an instant by the coaxing sound of an organ being played at King’s College Chapel. There, he meets and falls in love with Iris Bellwether, a beautiful, enigmatic, and mysterious medical student. He soon becomes a part of her world, falling headfirst into her world of wealth, privilege, and the machinations of her older brother, Eden.
Eden is a brilliant, albeit troubled, musician. However, Oscar’s delight at his newfound friendships, which come with a host of special privileges, soon turns to dread as he discovers he is now a part of the school conducting a series of disturbing experiments. As the boundaries between genius and madness blur, he soon becomes aware that danger could await all of them.
Check Out Our Book Review For The Bellwether Revivals
The Lake Of Dead Languages – Carol Goodman
Another one of the best dark academia mysteries for fans of The Secret History is Carol Goodman’s debut novel, The Lake of Dead Languages. Told with gripping suspense and enthralling storytelling, it explores youthful innocence and dark sins.
Twenty years ago, one week before Jane Hudson graduated from the picturesque Heart Lake School for Girls, three girls took their own lives. Now, Jane has returned to the school as a Latin teacher, with her daughter enrolling. However, it doesn’t take long for Jane’s missing journal from that time to reappear, revealing hidden secrets and turning old mysteries into living nightmares. As more troubled students begin to disappear, the earth-shattering truth is finally brought to light.
If We Were Villains – M.L. Rio
A decade ago, Oliver Marks was one of seven young and gifted Shakespearean actors performing at the affluent Dellecher Classical Conservatory. There, he and his friends performed the roles of heroes, villains, temptresses, and tyrants impeccably both on and off the stage. However, such fiery competition soon led to a tragedy that meant all of them were forced to put on the ultimate performance of their careers: convincing the police that they were blameless in it.
Detective Colborne is retiring. He had been the one responsible for putting Oliver behind bars for a decade. But, before he bows out of the force, he wants to get to the roots of what happened. Like The Secret History, If We Were Villains explores themes of love, friendship and obsession against a darkly Thespian and academic backdrop.
Check Out The Best Books After You’ve Read If We Were Villains
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
