The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel by Diane Setterfield
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Book Reviews of The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel
Book Review: "The soothing, rocking safety of a lie."
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Thirteenth Tale" centers on the life of Vida Winter, a renowned writer who has fed journalists with fabrications of her roots. Nearing the end of her life, she commissions Margaret Lea, a bookish amateur biographer, to write her story, and vows to tell the truth this time. This story, we learn early on, is the thirteenth tale Vida has withheld from her book "Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation." The story Vida relates is one of extreme dysfunction within the Angelfield family that spans three generations. Prominent in her tale are the twins Emmeline and Adeline March, and the bizarre events that visited their lives and the lives of those around them.
A novel about a book lover's search for truths, this strange story is awash in gothic elements and abundant references to 19th-century gothic masters, most notably the two Brontes and Collins, as well as the more contemporary du Maurier. Any stranger and it would have had to reference Stoker. For someone like me who eschews romance, gothic or otherwise, and prefers the extremely dark fiction that deals with the more sensational subject of mental aberrations, "The Thirteenth Tale" faithfully delivers on its promises.
Having decided to stamp her first novel as gothic fiction, Ms. Setterfield goes at it with gusto, employing all the tried-and-true tropes of its genre. It has no pretensions to being grand literature. Rather, it's a genuine effort at old-fashioned storytelling, complete with "ghosts," a decrepit manor, certifiable lunatics and things that go bump in the night. It is archaic, anachronistic, archetypal, and downright entertaining. It didn't promise to be anymore than that. The writing is artistic, the plot is implausibly weird but oddly fascinating, and the characters are intriguing in their wretchedness. It lures with its beginning, mystifies with its middle, and satisfies with its end.
Book Review: A homage to stories
Summary: 5 Stars
Synopsis: Margaret Lea occasionally writes biographies of obscure figures in history, and works in her father's rare book store. She lives a lonely and solitary life haunted by a devastating loss that has shattered her family. One day she receives a letter from Vida Winter, a bestselling author who is known for telling a variety of versions of her life story, none of which are assumed to be true. Ms Winter requests Margaret to come to her home and write her biography, and promises this time to tell the truth. Margaret can not resist this offer and travels to Ms Winter's home for what she thinks will be a short stay and simple write up of the story. What she finds instead is a mysterious and compelling tale of family, ghosts and tragedy that draws her in and changes her irrevocably.
This is not just a good story, it is a homage to stories, the ones that are invented and the ones we invent about our own lives and hold to be true. It is multi-layered with stories within stories within stories. Ms Winter's truth is revealed slowly, with the mystery unfolding at just the right pace to keep me interested and wanting to read just a little more before turning the light off and going to bed. I had a few late nights with this book! I have read other reviews that state the mystery is easily solved and obvious, but I didn't pick it, and when it was fully revealed, and Margaret's story is fully revealed I was deeply moved. I thought about this book long after I had finished it, and needed several days to let it all sink in before I was ready to move onto another book - not something that happens to me very often. This is a perfect book for cold winter nights or rainy days snugged up on the couch. I am really looking forward to her new book which I believe will be released this year (although I can't find any information about what this book is called or what it is about).
Book Review: A Modern Gothic Romance
Summary: 5 Stars
If I were to attempt a plot summary here, my guess is that many readers would be (not unjustifiably) put off by what seems to be a sensationalist, V.C. Andrews-ish, melodramatic series of coincidences, assumed identities, secret twins, incest, ghosts, and murder. I don't know if there's any way that a mere summary can do this book justice. Diane Setterfield's genius is that when you're reading "The Thirteenth Tale," you become so wholly engrossed with the characters and the stories they tell that improbable events - which would make you laugh scornfully in the hands of any other author - instead seem to make perfect sense. Each new lurid detail only pulls you deeper into the story, eliciting very real sympathy for the characters living out this tragedy.
The framing device is rather straightforward - a famous author, whose life story has until now remained a mystery, has chosen on her deathbed to assign her biography to an amateur author, the daughter of a bookshop owner. We learn about Vida Winter's life as young Margaret Lea does - beginning, then middle, then end, we're informed firmly. As an unrepentant page-flipper who always peeks ahead to the end, this was enormously frustrating - but ultimately rewarding. Setterfield knows how to drop just enough clues and hints to keep us hooked, making the plot twist both a complete surprise and - upon reflection - perfectly obvious.
The pace does lag a bit about 2/3 of the way through. A subplot involving an orphan abandoned 60 years ago who befriends Margaret isn't fleshed out quite fully enough; I never cared about Aurelius quite as much as I did the other characters. All minor quibbles in the face of a book that grabbed me fully, leaving me bereft and adrift when I was done. What to read next that can possibly compare? I will eagerly await future writings from Diane Setterfield.
Book Review: Beautiful book
Summary: 5 Stars
Wonderful book. Definitely one of the best I've read in a while.
It's the story of two women. Vida Winters - the most beloved living novelist in the British Isles, now 80 years old. And Margaret Lea - a 30ish, introverted antiquarian bookseller and amateur biographer.
Vida Winters past has always been a mystery, fuelled by the hundreds of `fake' life histories that she has fed to various reporters and curiosity seekers. But now she is dying and she wants Margaret to listen to her tale and write her biography.
At first Margaret wants nothing to do with the project as everything Mrs. Winters has told in the past has been a lie. But slowly she is drawn in (as is the reader) to the story. A tale of wealth & poverty, birth & decay, family & familial indifference, love & loss & twins all set around a dreary and moldering English mansion. As Mrs. Winters story unfolds, so does Margaret's own. The two women are not as dissimilar, as they first appear.
Although beautifully written, this isn't a fast paced novel. It is dark in both setting and story. Think of the cold moors & of Wuthering Heights, the cruelty in the early part of Jane Eyre. It took me a while to get into the story, but by halfway through I was not only hooked, I couldn't put it down.
But what truly made it wonderful was the ending. The stage was set perfectly for the big reveal on Vida Winters. All the clues were in line. I should have seen it coming and yet I didn't. It is not the stereotypical ending to a book. The author did a masterful job, and I love being surprised like that.
And then I spent the rest of the book crying as everything came into focus. I'd highly recommend the experience.
Book Review: A reason not to give up on modern literature
Summary: 5 Stars
A dear friend of mine recommended this book to me. And after knowing that her taste in literature is fantastic, in my opinion, I immediately picked this up at the local library. I am quite impressed.
Diane Setterfield's language is gorgeous, and she really has a way of making the story flow. I found myself frustrated if I had to stop reading and go into work. I just wanted to know all of old Miss Winter's, as well as Margaret Lea's, secrets. Not knowing and having to wait until the end was maddening -- and I love it when a book gives me that feeling! You can have a few thoughts in your mind on how exactly the story was going to end, but I honestly did not know everything when I thought I did -- just like Margaret.
I admit that the part between the beginning of the book and the middle started to somewhat lose my interest. Well, it's more that I found it a little disturbing, like the people who didn't like the book. But above all Diane more than makes up for it as the story goes along. In fact, I felt that my brief loss of interest didn't even occur as I liked it more and more as I went along. My recommendation is to give it a try and keep going. If you find yourself not enjoying it at first, maybe as it goes along you will begin to. I know that sounds absurd, but I always feel that giving a book a chance is worth it.
All in all, I would say that "The Thirteenth Tale" is a pretty darn good book to read. Definitely the type of book that you want to either curl up under a blanket or lay in the grass and become engrossed in. A book that has you try and "skip ahead" like Margaret does, but you still don't know everything like you thought you did. You'll know what I mean when you give it a try.