What is ‘Secret History’? A good way to think about it is that Secret History sits at the crossroads where counter-factual fiction, faction, conspiracy theory and historical fiction all meet. Got it? Hmmm... Perhaps not quite.
The first thing to say is that Secret History is fiction; Secret History books are novels. Clearly, they must deal with the past, but also with something that somebody wants to keep quiet about. Who? What do they know? Why are they covering it up?
At its core, Secret History deals with real, identifiable people, a few fictional characters to make the story work, real times, a wealth of established facts and, in the gap where the available facts start to become a little thin, a skeleton in the cupboard that seems to fit perfectly… It’s just that nobody has ever rattled those bones before.
Back to the crossroads and the similarity to conspiracy theory novels... Naturally, the more apocalyptic the secret (and the higher up it goes), the better we like it. Secret History implies a direct line from the past (the history) to where we are today. One big difference between Secret History and counter-factual fiction though, is the lack of a branching point; it isn't a "What If ?". Don’t expect President Kennedy’s life to be saved on the operating table, or Rudolf Hess to address parliament. Neither is Secret History trying to tell you what is fundamentally a credible but imagined story (i.e. historical fiction) of ancient Rome, regency romance, boys up chimneys, Nelson’s navy, or wars of conquering and liberation… Nor is Secret History the same as ‘faction’ which, although it uses story-telling techniques to tell a true story, that’s the point – faction is fact, not fiction. The point of Secret History is the secret. It must never leak out into the wider world. It has to stay under wraps (except to the reader, the author and his principle characters, of course).
Naturally with Secret History, there is a similarity with some of those fiction genres mentioned above. At the centre of the story, we find a fictional protagonist. Our hero is normally so insignificant in comparison to the powerful (and often amoral) people who got him into his situation that, in theory, he can’t influence the outcome. But even if he doesn’t… even if the powerful people get away with all the lies and stonewalling that keep the secret safe, then it doesn’t matter. The reader now suspects those people for what they may be concealing from us.
However, this is where it gets tricky for the writer, because some of his characters are real people… and some of them might still be alive! You’ve all seen that bit just after a book’s title page where publishers try to avoid getting sued – ‘any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.’ Well, in Secret History that can’t be totally true. Okay – you might consider calling your prime minister ‘Toby Bligh’ but why bother? Secret History is an established genre of fiction in which you can’t divorce known events from real people without wrecking the credibility of your story. Maybe that’s simply the price of fame or high office. And anyway, if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck...
Finally, when you’ve reached the last page of a good Secret History novel, and said to yourself, for example, “I find that bit about General Eisenhower a bit far-fetched,” what happens? Perhaps you Google it, and maybe you not only find out that it’s true, but it’s interesting too. So, if a Secret History novel merely entertains you, that would be enough. But occasionally, if it can foster in someone a deeper interest in times past, that would be a great thing.
To summarise: Secret History – it’s where the verifiable facts run out and, in the brief moments before they all pick up again, something hush-hush happens that nobody knew about before. It’s a secret, which (although it doesn’t change the world we see around us today) certainly might explain something. And as long as the writer doesn’t destroy all credibility by letting something happen that clearly couldn’t have, (such as Queen Victoria saying, “Yeah, that’s really – like – cool, man”) hopefully the reader is left wondering whether it really could have happened because, when you look into it, everything else seems to be true. And remember… It’s fiction. Okay?