The Secret History (spoilers for the unread) what next?

[3kidsareenough]

So I'm back in the same place I was after reading the Goldfinch. Feeling totally lost now I've finished the secret history. I loved every page of it...Donna Tartts writing just makes me melt...and poor Henry totally devastated with the ending. Each character was so vivid they stay with me, just like Theo & Borris....So what do I read next good readers of Mums net?. After the Goldfinch you recommended A little life and I loved it (again felt lost when it ended). I'm not necessarily looking for something along the same topic of the secret history but definitely something with the same writing style and as interesting....any suggestions Mumsnetters?? Many thanks in advance

Have you read The Little Friend already?

I liked The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer and Cousins by Salley Vickers.

You could try Tana French. I think her latest standalone (The Wych Elm) is the most like Donna Tartt, but all of her Dublin Murder Squad series have a similar sort of feel, for me at least.

I was just about to recommend The Interestings by Meg Wollitzer, too. It has the intense/glamorous friendship group dynamic in a privileged American setting, without the misery porn element of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, which I loathed. In fact The Interestings is more or less what I thought A Little Life was going to be.

What I liked about The Interestings was seeing the characters develop over that long time span and the attention paid to the dark side of friendships and relationships.

I haven’t read A Little Life yet, it’s been sitting on my bookshelf for months. I half wondered if the OP meant The Little Friend instead, as it seems odd not to mention it.

Thanks for the recommendations will definitely check them out The Interestings & cousins. I haven't read The Little Friend yet, I do have it but keep putting it off (don't know why!!) I had read so many bad reviews that I think it has put me off a bit but I will still read it. Yes I get what you mean about A Little Life that piece of Jude's life before college was very difficult to read, porn misery is a good way of describing it really....

Yes welchwabbit I have read the Tanya French Murder squad books and really enjoyed them - will check out the Wych Elm too

Someone at work recommended Kate Morton, in that they are long descriptive books with characters that develop over time...anyone else recommend them?

Thanks again

Donna Tarth is one of a kind. The Secret History is my favourite novel, I think. I was bereft when I finished it for the first time.

A different type of author, but maybe try John Updike. He does plot well, and come from the same (ish) canon. I also recently enjoyed The Poisonwood Bible and think they Curtis Sittenfeld and A M Homes should both be better known in the UK. Both excellent novelists.

I liked The Little Friend as well as her other 2 books.
Also Curtis Sittenfield is a brilliant writer- have read Prep, Sisterland and American Wife - all very good.

I have to say I don't really like Kate Morton as a writer.

Thank you Sparkle and Boogie I've started reading Prep and I love it, love the writing also read a sample of AM Holmes and have ordered two books I've also downloaded the wife they are exactly what I like (very excited about getting them🤗) I will check out Updike too (had the notion he may have been out of my league but it's likely I will enjoy his books) Unfortunately Sparkle I purchased Morton's book before I saw your message and it's just not me but it's a brand new book and there is a few birthdays on the horizon so that's one sorted!! Thanks again for the excellent recommendations

What about The Luminaries? It's similarly complex and intriguing.

Have you read Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood? It's an oldie but a goodie. It's not really like The Secret History but has a similar pot-about-to-boil-over tension.

Have you read A Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne? I finally read it last week and adored it. Along the lines of A Little Life in areas but without the misery porn!!

Have you read the Elena Ferrante Neopolitan novels? I couldn't recommend them more highly.

I enjoyed The Little Friend a lot even though I know not everybody did. It was set in a time that I very vaguely remember from my early childhood and I enjoyed the cultural references. The actual story was quite interesting, although it was slightly spoilt for me afterwards by reading a review that said it was obvious what really happened to [the character that something extreme happened to early on], when I certainly never figured it out (I've since found out that others didn't either and most of them think the reviewer was mistaken).

Another book that rather reminded me of The Secret History, and that I enjoyed a lot and went on to read and enjoy several others by the same author, was Don't Ask Me Why by Tania Kindersley. Set in Oxford, not America, it was also the story of someone who met an interesting set of people at university, but things worked out rather differently for them. It had a strange sort of quietly nostalgic quality.

@Lido - I picked up The Interestings on your recommendation (as I also loved a Secret History) and I absolutely devoured it, thank you!

As The Secret History is possibly my favourite book to date, I am enjoying your suggestions. I would like to add Into The Forest by Jean Hegland, which also has an elegant richness of details. Plus the flawed but fascinating The Magus by John Fowles for another novel linked to mythology.

Have you tried Patrick Gale or Erin Morgenstern?

And some of Isabel Allende's are amazing, too.

Glad you enjoyed it Tourist!

The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst has a similar sweeping quality and long timescale. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe has a similar immaculate attention to detail.

Foxtiger I never figured it out either! I thought that was why so many people disliked TLF; because it left the central mystery unanswered.

TSH is one of my favourite books ever. I read it for the first time when I was in sixth form, and it got passed around all my friends. I still have that copy and it’s falling to bits! I’m about 3/4 of the way through The Goldfinch and I imagine I’ll also feel bereft when I’ve finished. I loved the chapters where Theo and Boris are feral, neglected teenagers in Las Vegas. Sort of heartbreaking but so vividly written.

In terms of recommendations, may I suggest Idaho by Emily Ruskovich? Like TSH it’s a kind of “whydunnit”, with the crime happening at the beginning and the backstory unfolding throughout the book. The plot spans about 30 years and I felt deeply attached to the characters.

How about The Historian? I loved this almost as much as TSH.

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