The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel Kindle Edition

This was definitely different. It took a little while to get into but then I had to keep going to see what happened. Some things were flipping weird but but the mystery was good - I was surprised.

This story definitely grew on me as it progressed. I worried for a while that it would spiral into some kind of paranormal mumbojumbo but thankfully it didn’t. A nice bit of storytelling.

While author Diane Setterfield pays ample tribute to the Gothic novel in her debut, `The Thirteenth Tale," she fails to fully engage her readers. Its not as if the story isn't interesting--it is. The tale of Angelfield and its strange family are fraught with all manner of things macabre that is the stuff of which the Gothic genre thrives. However, perhaps due to the outer body narration of Ms. Margaret Lea who as a third party conduit has little to do psychologically with the emotional drama contained within the walls of the old estate, readers find that the filter of truth that Ms Lea supposedly brings to the table further distances them from participating fully in the conundrum around which "The Thirteenth Tale" is designed.Take for instance the narrator in " Rebecca ," the classic modern Gothic by the prolific and magical Daphne Du Maurier (check out this biography about her: Daphne du Maurier, Haunted Heiress (Personal Takes)  ). Published in 1938, "Rebecca" still manages to thrill and titillate its audience with its psychologically driven characters and atmospheric setting--the almost-paradise of Manderley where one too many snakes have slithered in amongst the magnificent gardens and drawing rooms to ruin this 20th century Eden. The so wisely un-named narrator with her flyaway hair, unsophisticated manner of dressing and lack of self-esteem and identity becomes a veritable Alice down the rabbit hole. She has much on the line, one discovers as her story unfolds: her marriage, her safety, her life, her husband . . . the list goes on. Her marked insecurity and her personal stake tantalize us as readers--we cannot wait to uncover the mystery of "Rebecca" as we race towards its last page and even then we are tantalized further by the image of the horizon, reddened as if by blood and the glint of ashes that blew in `with the salt wind from the sea.' Throughout the narrative we feel the narrator's insecurity; each and every affront to her, we also experience as blows to our reader egos.Not so with Setterfield's narrator, Ms. Lea. Hired for her skill as a biographer by the renowned and much loved Vida Winter -an author with more than fifty novels under her belt, the bookish Margaret journeys to her home on the Bronte sisters' fabled moors of Yorkshire to capture on paper the elderly woman's personal history. Now Margaret has a few secrets of her own and when Miss Winter begins her tale, she is compelled by the similarities between them--driven, so to speak to discern the truth from the layers of storytelling that Winter has so adeptly applied to shelter herself from sorrow. That's all well and good, but it wasn't enough of a connect for me as Lea's story just serves as an outer frame for Winter's more intriguing tale of love amidst dysfunction and betrayal.Setterfield uses the well-worn technique of Margaret's narration to introduce Vida Winter's telling of her own history. As a guest in Winter's home, Ms Lea travels from her bedroom to the library where she listens and commits to memory the elderly author's installments. We are made to understand that she has little life or love of her own, other than the reading that she does for pleasure and in conjunction with her role as her father's assistant in her family's bookshop. Nonetheless, she does have needs that are expressed often throughout her exposure to Winter. However, rather than pull me into the story more fully, they served as a buffer that disallowed me from fully engaging in the strange tale of Winter's life. From this reviewer's perspective, I believe the story would have been better told from the vantage point of another character, perhaps Ms. Winter herself as grand dame of the British contemporary novel looking back at her life where her characters were all fully fleshed out, but her most major player--herself--lacks substance and definition. This would mean that Margaret's story would wait and be told in another book with another hook."The Thirteenth Tale" leaves no loose ends; the mystery is finely defined. Setterfield's observations about language, the oneness of twins and the loneliness of life even when publicly acclaimed are particularly poignant. To more fully observe that for which the elderly woman searched her entire life, I would have liked to see the character Vida Winter as a middle-aged woman, not only as a child and octogenarian. Setterfield's depiction of sibling love and fealty reminds me of Kate Morton's portrayal of sisters and cousins in " The House at Riverton: A Novel " and " The Forgotten Garden: A Novel ", albeit these were both better reads for this genre. Nevertheless, throughout Margaret's narrative, I found myself slightly bored by the typically Gothic scene: the decaying manor house so like Miss Havisham's Satis House ( Great Expectations (Penguin Classics) , the fire from Thornfield Manor ( Jane Eyre (Vintage Classics) ), the intrusive rain so plentiful and destructive in  Wuthering Heights (Barnes & Noble Classics)  and by the lack of a dark and mysterious hero to beat faster the heart of the rather bland Ms. Lea. (Sorry, the doctor of the second to last chapter does not do it for me--I'd fashion a character like Raoul from  Nine Coaches Waiting  by the esteemed Mary Stewart.) Thankfully, Setterfield does treat us to a denouement not unlike that in Jane Eyre for which the near future of all characters small and large are accounted. However her postscriptum with its attempt at the supernatural leads us back to the bowels of the past rather than bring our Ms Lea into a shinier happier future like all good Gothics should.Bottom line: "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield just didn't connect for me. Reminiscent in feel to the 2009 film " Angel " adapted from the novel by Elizabeth Taylor, the plot involves a story within a story with an outrageous cast of characters that are difficult to like. Modeling her elderly authoress on the likes of a Daphne Du Maurier or a Patricia Highsmith (check out the thirteen tales in  The Animal-Lover's Book of Beastly Murder ), Setterfield would have been better off telling her tale from her elderly author's vantage point to fully take advantage psychological nuance and fierce emotional desires. Recommended only if there is no other hot Gothic to read.Diana Faillace Von Behren"reneofc"

I did not expect to like this book. It had been recommended to me and is clearly popular, but I find myself shying away from super popular books because they're usually not very good.But then this one was on sale for $3 and that's cheaper than a sushi lunch and would take me longer to digest, so I bought it. And I'm glad I did.The story is certainly well crafted and grabs you. It is well written and lyrical. It has a plethora of well-fleshed out characters that keep you interested, and the ending is neat and tidy.Things that bugged me (note: I'm easily bugged):- The inter-generational abuse and neglect presented as normal.- Esoteric words chucked in there where simpler ones would do. .... Ok, OTOH, maybe the author fell in love with those particular words and needed to put them somewhere in homage. I can understand that. But it was still vaguely irritating.- The twin thing. Yes I know it was a major theme of the book, but really, I was happily truckling along, completely immersed in the story universe, and then there would be this whine about the twin and it totally yanked me out of the tale and plonked me firmly back into reality. Like seriously, maybe it's time to get over yourself, girl? This obsession is maybe not quite healthy? In that regard the very end had me rolling my eyes so far back in my head I nearly fell over.- There was something else but with my irritation about the twin thing I've forgotten what it was. Curses.The characters: I find it interesting that most of the male characters, barring Charlie, were extremely comfortable to be around. I liked Dr. Clifton very much. His amusement delighted me. I loved Aurelius not only because his name reminded me fondly of Marcus Aurelius, but because he was so caring and safe. Also the cake. That's pretty important. I liked John because he kept on doing the best he could.Charlie and Charlie's Dad, of course, both needed to be put out of their misery.Of the women, most of them were flawed. Even Hester, who brought cleanliness and order, also brought chaos. Missus cared and loved, but was inadequate. Isabella needed to be put out of her misery. And Margaret whined.I wonder what that was all about? The gender thing? Was it deliberate? Surely not. OH hey...Mrs. Love wasn't flawed. She was just lovely. <3OH! I remembered what the other thing was that irritated me. The vague hints that this was going to be a ghost story. My mind stamped a firm "NOPE" on that one and I got inwardly snarly whenever it came up.Anyway, I recommend this book. It's a good one. Interesting, compelling, no bad language or explicit sex. Just a really good story.

I was part way through The Thirteenth Tale when I was lucky enough to hear Diane Setterfield speak at the 2018 Henley Literary Festival about her approach to writing and, in particular, about her forthcoming book, Once Upon A River.I was struck by Diane’s thoughts on storytelling as an important theme in her books. Admitting she’d always had an interest – and not just a professional interest – in storytelling, Diane observed that we all organise information, gossip, and so on into stories about ourselves. Diane described humans as intrinsically ‘storytelling animals’. To quote from The Thirteenth Tale, “Everybody has a story.”The book epitomises that emphasis on storytelling because, not only is its main character, Vida Winter, an author but she is a notably reclusive one who has carefully guarded the true facts of her life, spreading misinformation in its place. Furthermore, the plot centres on the mystery of a ‘missing’ thirteenth tale from her most famous collection of stories. What could be more enticing than the prospect of tracking down and reading a missing story?Having heard Diane’s thoughts made me return to the book with renewed interest and with an increased awareness of the way in which storytelling permeates the book. Many of the characters are in search of or trying to make sense of the story of their life; others are facing up to the need to finally reveal it. In some cases, uncovering the true nature of their story does not bring them the clarity or satisfaction they hoped for. As Aurelius Love observes, “Perhaps it’s better not to have a story at all, rather than have one that keep changing. I have spent my whole life chasing after my story, and never quite catching it.”There is also a sense in the book of the story of Vida’s life having an existence of its own; that it is fighting to make itself heard. At one point she comments: “Silence is not a natural environment for stories. They need words. Without them they grow pale, sicken and die.”I found The Thirteenth Tale an engrossing read; full of atmosphere and with a series of intriguing mysteries at its heart helped by some fine writing. ‘From the day I was born grief was always present. It settled like dust upon the household. It covered everything; it invaded us with every breath we took. It shrouded us in our own separate mysteries.’ The settings have a real sense of the Gothic. I’m now excited to start reading Once Upon A River very shortly.

There’s lots to love about this book:Set in a gothic houseHuge gardens with mysterious pathsRuralAn elderly author lives there as recluseA biographer is invited to come and interview her about books…The house has secrets in its walls…This is one gripping and very visual novel. I’ve seen the adaptation on the TV but the book is so much more immersive and gothic. I would even say the mystery, sense of foreboding and gothic overtones consumed me whilst reading and I felt chills and thrills I’ve never felt before.At its heart is a family mystery, one that weaves and wanders its way through your heart and the pages until its flourishing and wonderful reveals. It’s a book about the love of books, the wonder of reading and stories across time so any bibliophile out there is going to drink it in.Vida Winters, the author in the story writes a letter (a handwritten letter!)to a biographer Margaret Lea as she finally wants to tell the truth. The truth about the house, family, stories and secrets within.Margaret is intrigued about one book the author has written called Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation,but this only contains twelve stories... where is the thirteenth tale? (Cue chills on the back of my neck)I don’t know why I haven’t reviewed it until now. Maybe I felt the time was right to revisit as I’ve just read it for the Nth time. This house, these characters are where I like to go and visit from time to time when I feel I need time alone.Especially when there are lines like this:“Books are, for me, it must be said, the most important thing; what I cannot forget is that there was a time when they were at once more banal and more essential than that. When I was a child, books were everything. And so there is in me, always, a nostalgic yearning for the lost pleasure of books. It is not a yearning that one ever expects to be fulfilled.”

I love Diane Setterfield's writing, but it's taken me a while to get round to reading this, her debut novel. Storytelling is clearly in her bones though as it's an absolute belter.Margaret Lea is a young woman who has lived a quiet and fairly sheltered life. She is enticed away from her world of nineteenth century novels and the sanctuary of her father's bookshop when she is approached to write the biography of a famous novelist.Vida Winter is that enigmatic writer. Prone to inventing herself a new history with every interview, she promises she will tell Margaret the truth. And so we learn the mysteries of Angelfield House, now derelict but once home to generations of an amazingly dysfunctional family.The Thirteenth Tale is a fabulous gothic tale of ghosts, secrets, siblings and the power of stories.

A gem of a book. Loved it…a story that echoes other stories, reminding you of the books you love and making you want to visit them once again.DescentThis was a wonderful bookish book. The MC, Margaret has been raised in a bookshop and spends her day working and reading there, having become something of an “amateur” biographer as she terms it. Books have been her school, her university, her life. Like I say it was just ooooh so bookish.“…you leave the previous book with ideas and themes - characters even - caught in the fibres of your clothes, and when you open the new book they are still with you.”DepthThe storyline follows the biographer’s trip to interview Vida Winters, a prolific, famous and secretive author. The author has never given a truthful account of her life…until now. Margaret journeys to her house in Yorkshire, and you cannot help think (as the MC does) of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Through Miss Winter’s story we discover her tale (and there is a house) Angelfield House involved in the tale. But we are taken down the twists and turns of history, of literature, history echoing story or story echoing history, hungering to discover Miss Winter’s true tale, which, in turn, shares painful similarities with Margaret’s own.AscentI devoured this in two sittings, and I didn’t want to come out of it. It felt like a homage to other wonderful books as well. Just after reading it, I delved into Wuthering Heights again and I’m going to see Jane Eyre shortly at the theatre. So all in all, this is a book that you can luxuriate in and after leaving gets you in the mood to jump into lots of other stories that have inspired it. Also bought a copy of Rebecca recently on holiday, which has a lot to do with the ideas from this book still percolating in my head!

Well written - I found the characters enthralling. However, another book which has only the most basic grasp of human psychology. Children are not born "bad" or broken - they are made so. The book hinges around the idea of a dysfunctional family which is so deeply damaged as to be unbelievable. Think the final episode of Sherlock where Moriarty's sister is some kind of wunderkind evil genius at the age of 5. Doesn't happen.It's a shame as there were interesting ideas here, but the plot just doesn't work,and the characters don't make sense. There's more psychological realism in Game of Thrones (yes, really). The twist at the end was also really annoying. Avoid.