The Secret History by Donna Tartt

There’s something deeply powerful about this book, and Tartt writes it beautifully and well. But the power of what Tartt has captured goes beyond the story of five friends and what happened to their sixth, and how secrets become a sickness. Tartt published this in 1992, and her canvas for the portraits she paints is the small college campus, an world away but also one so completely a world and culture to itself that it could be interchangeable with another one a coast—or even a nation—away. 

What happened in higher education in the early 90’s—largely through the early years of the S&L crash in the States, but through so many other factors as well—rendered this a last picture of the way things were. By the time contemporary readers meet Richard, our narrator, and his erudite fellows of the Classics, this will seem as though it was written in a culture that is not merely a few decades ago, but from a time of ancient history. The chronology of this work renders the whole even more compelling, though Tartt doesn’t need any help. The Secret History brings friendship and loyalty, identity and inclusion all to the fore, shining a light on the ways in which we build who we are and craft the scaffolds that support our narratives of self. 

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Published by Penguin, 2014

I fell in love with Ng when I read Little Fires Everywhere, and I adored Our Missing Hearts, so when I learned that her debut novel had somehow missed me, I picked up a copy straight away.

This exploration of family, parental expectations, racism, and society is a brilliant and beautiful work. Ng really sets us up with the first sentence and never lets us go after that. 

Brilliant, deeply moving, and powerful. 

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

Published in 2025 by Tor.

The River Has Roots is immersive, lyrical, and mystical. It’s a fairy tale for grown-ups, and I loved everything about it. The interior illustrations by Kathleen Neeley only make the experience richer. 

I fell in love with El-Motar’s collaboration with Max Gladstone, This is How You Lose the Time War, and couldn’t put my hands on this standalone debut fast enough. It didn’t disappoint. 

Warning: Reading this raised the bar for all the books that I would read after it.

Reading this was like getting a gift.