The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Published in 2006 by Atria
4 Stars


Goodreads Review
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.


Review:  The Thirteenth Tale is a book for bookish people.  I really enjoyed the literary feel that this book had and the reverence for books.  There's a great mystery that unravels at a comfortable pace.  I loved Vida, she is by far the most interesting character.  I enjoyed learning about her past and figuring out how much of her story was true and how much was fiction. 

My favorite scene in the book was probably when Margaret goes to explore the ruins of the house.  I love exploring ruins of old buildings and hoping to find hidden treasures long forgotten.  There is something magical about being in a place that has seen so much history and I think Setterfield does an excellent job of capturing that creepy wonder. 

There are some parts of The Thirteenth Tale that I didn't like.  Mostly it was the pacing of the non-mystery subplots.  The back story of Margaret was beautifully written, but extremely slow.  The characters in the present were very flat compared to the characters in Vida's flashbacks.  Then again, maybe that was intentional because Vida is supposed to be a fantastic writer and story teller.  I would have liked Margaret and charters surrounding her to be as compelling as the characters set in the past. 

The other part of the book I didn't like was that sometimes the writing would get a little pretentious (and I hate using that word to describe writing, but that's all I can came up with).  I mean, the author bio on the back of the book says "Diane Setterfield is a former academic, specializing in twentieth-century French literature".  *insert eye-roll here*  I understand it's supposed to be written in the Gothic style, and the flashbacks do this very well, but there are other times where the story just drags.

Overall I'd say The Thirteenth Tale is a great book for people who like elegant prose, lengthy descriptions, and a more abstract way of story telling.  The mystery in this book is fantastic and definitely had me guessing (and guessing wrong) the entire time.