The Vox Book Club pick for May is Donna Tartt’s The Secret History

Zac Freeland/Vox

Murder cults! Idyllic college campuses! A May where you can’t go outside is the perfect time to read The Secret History.

Welcome to May, the second month of the Vox Book Club. Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and those of us who can are spending as much time as possible indoors and far away from other people. As we hunker down to continue social distancing for the foreseeable future and stare resentfully out of our windows at the beautiful spring weather, I think we can all agree that there is no better time to fantasize about living on a picturesque New England college campus while struggling to cover up a murder.

That’s why I’m pleased to announce that the Vox Book Club pick for May 2020 is Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. This book has everything: idyllic liberal arts college aesthetics; classics majors in a murder cult; deep thoughts on the nature of evil; the strong suggestion that it’s rather nouveau riche to find oneself unable to deal with the consequences of joining a murder cult.

So every Friday for the rest of May, we’ll put a discussion post up on the site with thoughts and discussion prompts from me, your humble critic. We’ll also have comments turned on and moderated so you can share your thoughts, too. Talk among yourselves! Post your opinions and questions! Or use our discussion posts as a jumping-off point for (socially distanced) discussions with your own friends and family. And at the end of the month, we’ll host a live virtual discussion. Come and join us!

Here’s the full Vox Book Club schedule for May 2020

Friday, May 8: Discussion covering all of Book I, the prologue–chapter 5 (pp. 1–254)

Friday, May 15: Discussion covering chapters 6–7 (pp. 255–409)

Friday, May 22: Discussion covering chapters 8–epilogue (pp. 410–538)

TBD: Virtual live event, details TBD.

---

Support Vox’s explanatory journalism

Every day at Vox, we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you, and our audience around the world, with information that has the power to save lives. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower you through understanding. Vox’s work is reaching more people than ever, but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles, videos, and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today.