This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
The second author in our 'The Book That Changed My Life' series is Mark Edwards. He and Louise Voss are co-authors of the hugely popular thrillers Catch Your Death, Killing Cupid and All Fall Down. Their new book, Forward Slash, will be released in July. Mark Edwards tells us why Donna Tartt's The Secret History reignited his desire to be a writer.
"I hope we're all ready to leave the phenomenal world, and enter into the sublime?"
In the summer of 1993 I was between my second and third years at university and earning some much-needed cash by working in a greengrocer’s. At lunchtime I would take a break from bagging potatoes and fighting off wasps by slipping off to the pub with the book I was reading, a book that truly transported me from the phenomenal world into the sublime, that utterly entranced me, pulled me in and spoke to me in a way no book ever had before.
Thus began a 20-year obsession with Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, the novel that reignited my childhood desire to be a writer, that has cast a shadow over every book I’ve read since. From the opening pages, in which Richard Papen describes the immediate aftermath of a murder he and his friends have committed, to the ending (the only good dream sequence in the history of literature, IMHO), The Secret History cast a spell on me, and it became the book that I would press upon everyone I met, so much so that my old uni friends still talk about ‘that book’ – not needing to name it – because I banged on about it so much.
The Secret History is a literary thriller that tells the story of a group of Greek students at a New England college who set themselves apart from their fellows and are arrogant, snobbish and beautiful. Led by the strangely charismatic Henry, and enthralled by their elitist tutor Julian, the group commit a terrible crime and go on to plot the murder of one of their own, Bunny, because he threatens to expose them. The first half of the book leads towards this momentous event; the second half reveals the consequences – the guilt, the anguish and the fear of being caught. This perhaps makes it sound serious and gloomy, but it really isn’t. The book is fast-moving, drenched in atmosphere and contains some moments of pure comedy.
I identified strongly with Richard, the narrator, who yearns for ‘the picturesque at all costs’, because I too was desperate to leave behind my dreary, impoverished, small-town background and find something and somewhere better. I fully understood the appeal of the strange, wealthy Greek students. I too would have fallen in love with Camilla, been bewitched by Henry. I probably wouldn’t have helped my new friends murder someone though. Probably…
The only problem with loving a book so much is that no other book I’ve ever read has matched up with it – least of all Donna Tartt’s second novel, The Little Friend. But this didn’t stop me gasping with excitement when I heard that she is finally releasing a third novel this year, called The Goldfinch. I know it won’t captivate me as The Secret History did, but like an addict desperate for that first sweet hit I will go back, hoping to recapture some – just some – of that virgin experience again. Come on Donna – don’t let me down.