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The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel |  | Author: Diane Setterfield
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $0.74
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Seller: totalqualitybooks
Rating:  808 reviews
Sales Rank: 1841
Media: Paperback
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0743298039
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780743298032
ASIN: 0743298039
Publication Date: October 9, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Settle down to enjoy a rousing good ghost story with Diane Setterfield's debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale. Setterfield has rejuvenated the genre with this closely plotted, clever foray into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths. She never cheats by pulling a rabbit out of a hat; this atmospheric story hangs together perfectly. There are two heroines here: Vida Winter, a famous author, whose life story is coming to an end, and Margaret Lea, a young, unworldly, bookish girl who is a bookseller in her father's shop. Vida has been confounding her biographers and fans for years by giving everybody a different version of her life, each time swearing it's the truth. Because of a biography that Margaret has written about brothers, Vida chooses Margaret to tell her story, all of it, for the first time. At their initial meeting, the conversation begins: "You have given nineteen different versions of your life story to journalists in the last two years alone." She [Vida] shrugged. "It's my profession. I'm a storyteller." "I am a biographer, I work with facts." The game is afoot and Margaret must spend some time sorting out whether or not Vida is actually ready to tell the whole truth. There is more here of Margaret discovering than of Vida cooperating wholeheartedly, but that is part of Vida's plan. The transformative power of truth informs the lives of both women by story's end, and The Thirteenth Tale is finally and convincingly told. --Valerie Ryan
Product Description
Sometimes, when you open the door to the past, what you confront is your destiny. Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness -- featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess,a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 808
 Wonderful gothic novel August 31, 2010
Rachel Erin Gray (San Francisco, CA United States)
If you love Jane Eyre as much as I do, and as much as the author and main character of this book do, then you'll probably like The Thirteenth Tale. It is at once both an interesting story of its own and a love letter to books that book-lovers will see their own feelings reflected in.
It took me a little while to get to the point where I didn't want to put the book down. The first few chapters, while interesting and well written, came before the introduction of any real mystery that I wanted to find the answer to. At some point, however, I did find myself reluctant to stop reading, which is a feeling I wish every book invoked in me.
Frequently, I find I've discovered or understood things well before the characters in a story. Sometimes I don't mind this--sometimes that is clearly what the author intends--and sometimes I find it tedious. (But as much as I enjoy the infrequent occasions when I am surprised, what is by far worse than knowing everything already is when I'm utterly surprised at revelations because the author has not laid out the clues properly!) In The Thirteenth Tale, I usually figured things out only pages before the narrator did. Even when the conclusion we both reached was incorrect, this shows that Diane Setterfield laid her clues very well indeed. They were neither obvious nor unfathomable, they were simply elements that, when put together with other elements, produced a reasonable answer.
Some people might complain that the references to Jane Eyre, along with other much-beloved 19th century novels, are not subtle enough or, because of some quibble with the writing style or quality or characterization, are too presumptuous. The thought of these people makes me happy that instead of nitpicking or being disappointed, I was simply able to deeply enjoy this novel.
"Tell Me the Truth..." August 29, 2010
R. M. Fisher (New Zealand = Middle Earth!)
Margaret Lea is an introverted and unworldly bookworm who is stunned to receive a letter from Vida Winters, the most famous, beloved, and best-selling author in Britain. In her correspondence, Miss Winter recounts her long-ago experience with a journalist who once cut through the authoress' usual imaginative storytelling and asked instead for the truth. Shocked by this, Miss Winter has never forgotten his request, and now she claims she's ready to share her life story with a biographer.
For reasons beyond Margaret's comprehension, the world-renowned authoress has chosen *her*. It is not an invitation that one can decline. Furthermore, Margaret has her own family secrets that she wants to escape from, and so she travels to Miss Winter's secluded house in order to hear and transcribe the old woman's story...
What follows is a Gothic tale of an extremely troubled family (and that's putting it mildly), that includes obsession, abuse, incest, betrayal, elopement, bereavement, and two little girls - twins - whose relationship make up the crux of the book. Adeline and Emmeline are identical in practically every way, allowed to run wild through the countryside and wreck havoc both in the house and out of it. But there's something more troubling about these two, particularly Adeline, whose vicious games have a darkness to them that frightens those who come across her. The housekeeper and the gardener are the only staff that remains on the grounds, joined late in the game by a governess who tries to impose some semblance of order upon the household - with mixed results.
As the story goes on, Margaret becomes aware of her storyteller's failing health, and of the growing sense of an eerie presence in the house - or perhaps it's only vague memories of Margaret's own past intruding on the present. The answer lies in the thirteenth tale, the final story that Miss Winter is withholding until the gradual unfolding of her life story is complete.
Told in first-person narrative, but alternating between Margaret's point-of-view and the chapters that cover Vida's story, "The Thirteenth Tale" (which refers to a short-story publication of Vida's that is mysteriously missing its final chapter) is a real page-turner. Drawing on the likes of the Bronte Sisters, Wilkie Collins, Daphne DuMaurier, and other prolific Gothic writers for inspiration, Setterfield has woven a ghostly mystery that fits all its puzzle pieces together in a pleasing whole, whilst leaving a central enigma in place for the reader to ponder long after the book is complete.
The writing is evocative, but not exceptional, the characters are intriguing but not three-dimensional, the plot-twist is enlightening, but can be seen a mile away - and yet this is an above-average book, perfect for a cold winter day, with a swift plot, poignant resolution, and a great love of books that any fellow book-lover can appreciate.
That is, any lover of Gothic fiction. Suffice to say, if you are not a fan of this particular genre and the deliberate melodrama that it fosters, then you will not be impressed by this volume either. This is a Gothic story in the truest sense of the word, where emotions run high, intrigues are of the most scandalous sort, and everything takes place in a dark mansion that if not haunted by ghosts, has enough bitter, twisted, insane individuals to make up for it.
Only two things really bothered me: that the fascinating character of Isabelle leaves the story in a rather uncharacteristic and disappointing way, and that the final post script is pure cheese (I wish I'd stopped at the second-to-last chapter which ends on an appropriate note of dry humor, rather than read of a strange reunion that had already been resolved with another character's passing, and which shifted the book into the realm of pseudo-spirituality, all completely unnecessarily).
I read "The Thirteenth Tale" over the course of three days, which included a very long night, and I enjoyed it immensely. Is it life-changing literature? Of course not! And it's not trying to be: it's entertainment, pure and simple, with (as Miss Winter is clear to point out) a beginning, middle and an end.
The Proof Is In The Story And The Story Is Spectacular August 23, 2010
Claudine Wolk (www.help4newmoms.com)
So, I picked this book up at Borders, just looking around for a couple of good books to read this summer to stow away and finally pulled it off my shelf to read. I started this quaint story about a gal who loves books, la, la, la, and then, Shazam, the story pops off the page. Seems this "bookish" gal has a bit of intriguing family history. What's more, she's hired by a famous author to write a biography. The famous author wants to finally reveal the truth about her life before she passes on.
By visiting and working alongside Vida Winter, famous author, our narrator, Margaret Lea, figures out a thing or two about her own life. Vita's story is amazing, full of twists and turns and surprises, a masterpiece of literary creativity. Margaret's careful handling of Vita's story and her own understanding and acceptance of her family and her history is inspiring. This is truly a book that was a welcome surprise and definitely hard to put down.
The thirteenth tale August 21, 2010
Daisy
Book was terrific. I couldn't put it down. Throughout you're trying to figure out and predict is this person really who he/she says he is etc. Great!!
the greatest story nevertold is your own August 20, 2010
Tea and Literature (New York, NY)
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield centers around the life of reclusive author, Vida Winter, who has spent the last few years creating a series of alternate lives for herself. Now ill and nearing the end of her life, Miss Winter decides it is time to tell the truth and come clean about the events of her life. Thus she sets her sites on, Margaret Lea, a biographer more interested in the dead that lie in books and archives then in living subjects. However, when Margaret receives a letter from Miss Winter inviting her to her home, her curiosity is piqued and she begins reading Miss Winter's most famous collection of short stories. Margaret goes to see Miss Winter unsure of whether or not she should accept the offer to be the biographer of a woman who has lied to so many journalists in the past, and just when she thinks she makes up her mind, Miss Winter draws her in with one simple sentence: "Once upon a time, there were twins."
The novel consists largely of Vida Winter's narration of her past telling the story of a house in Angelfield and of her parents, Isabelle and Charlie, and the staff The Missus and John-the-Dig. Miss Winter's narration of her past and Angelfield is juxtaposed with Margaret's own musings about her own twin sister. Told with the pace of the mystery, The Thirteenth Tale expertly weaves ends of several stories into a wonderful tapestry of sisterhood and friendship with books being the epicenter of this lovely novel.
The book reads much like a work of classic literature with a setting that reminded me of an old estate and a large garden and the absence of any modern day technology to draw away from the drama and feeling of the story. In a sense the little aspects of this book are so subtle and slight that once the story concludes and the mystery of Vida Winter's wife is solves, the tiny insignificant things seem to have a greater purpose in the plot. In this fashion, The Thirteenth Tale remains a page turning experience while at the same time keeping the simple yet sophisticated narrative voice of reluctant Margaret Lea.
In retrospect, it is hard for me to find anything at fault with the story, while some chapters did seem to rage on about certain niche areas of literary history, in hindsight, most of the prose and the theoretical games posed by Miss Winter's narrative are worthwhile and in the end leave the reader looking at symbols that are so slight and delicate that a reader with a cursory glance would never even register that they were there.
I have to say that I was very sorry to see this book end. The story was so original and crafted so beautifully that I am looking forward to see what else Diane Setterfield has up her sleeve in her future literary efforts. In the meantime as we await another literary masterpiece by Setterfield, I recommend picking up a copy of Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger for another story of twins and ghosts that is sure to please those with insatiable appetites for books about sisters and ghosts.
Final Grade: A-
Showing reviews 1-5 of 808
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