Cornflower Book Group 2011: Volume 10

 

    I hope we'll have lots of people joining in with our November read because this book sounds like something we can really get our teeth into. Donna Tartt's 1992 bestseller The Secret History has been dubbed 'a modern classic': "compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful". This story of a group of classics students at an elite New England college is "a highly readable murder mystery; a romantic dream of doomed youth and a disquisition on ancient and modern mores"; praise has been heaped on it and it has sold in millions. 

    A thriller, a comedy of manners - so accomplished "it takes my breath away", says Ruth Rendell - while Vanity Fair describes it as " a huge, mesmerizing, galloping read ... gorgeously written, relentlessly erudite."

    I'm glad to hear it's "galloping" as it's quite a long book, over 600 pages in the Penguin paperback shown here, but we're not daunted by long books, are we? Remember South Riding! However, let's give ourselves plenty of time to read it, and set our discussion date for Saturday, 26th. November. There doesn't appear to be an e-book version of the novel, but in paper form it should be widely available in libraries, shops and online retailers, so get your copies now, and let's hope for a cracking good read!