The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel

by Diane Setterfield

A #1 New York Times bestseller, The Thirteenth Tale is part contemporary, part historical with mysterious threads about family secrets and the magic of books and storytelling weaving the two together.

All children mythologize their birth . . .

     So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.
     The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish histories for herself. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary past. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman who is struck by a very curious parallel between Winter's life and her own.
     As Vida exposes the history she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness, of a remote estate, feral children, a governess, a ghost, and a devastating fire.
     In this love letter to reading, Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter and, in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday world.

• ISBN10: 0385680406
• ISBN13: 9780385680400
• Publish Date: 18 June 2013 (first published 1 January 2006)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: Anchor Canada
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9780385680400

Reviews

[Jo]

Trigger and content warnings are under spoiler tags.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features dementia, self-harm, abandoned children, child neglect, violence against women, rape, incest, violence, murder, and arson.

I bought The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield on a whim, as it was a book recommended to me on StoryGraph based on my reading history. While it's not the usual kind of book I would read, I absolutely loved it!

I bought The Thirteenth Tale on a whim based on the description of a different edition of the book, that hinted heavily that this was a book that was about books and reading, as much as it was about an author's past, and made it sound like it was magic realism. And while there are books, and a mystery surrounding one of Vida Winter's titled The Thirteen Tales of that only featured twelve stories, the story actually has very little to do with books and reading, and was barely a fantasy at all. So once I'd started reading, I was quite wary, as, not getting the story I originally thought I'd be getting, I didn't think I would like it. But I was pleasantly surprised!

Vida Winter, a famous and prolific author, has hired Margaret Lea to write her biography. Over the years, she has told journalists wild tales about her life, each more outlandish than the last. But now Vida is ill, and doesn't have long left. It's time to tell the truth about her past, about Angelfield and the family that lived there. But she has conditions: stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and she will tell her story in order. No questions, no trying to jump forward to look at the last page. She will tell it in her own way. The Thirteenth Tale is that biography, but it's unlikely the biography Vida originally expected. For Margaret has her own story, her own ghosts, and the tale Vida tells, stranger than fiction, has Margaret remembering what she would rather leave buried. But as everyone has a story, so do secondary characters, and as the tale is told, stories overlap and connect in unexpected ways. The Thirteenth Tale is not just Vida's story, but the story of writing it.

I have to say I wasn't a huge fan of Margaret. I just didn't warm to her voice, and wasn't quite as keen when Vida would stop dictating, and we were back with Margaret's thoughts and questions about Vida's story. However, Margaret does her research for the biography, so the things she discovers, the people she meets, the visits to the ruins of the old Angelfield house are all important to Vida's own story. Vida may tell her story her own way, but there are clues as to what happened, all those years ago. But despite the fact I didn't warm to her very much, nor cared a great deal about her story, it doesn't mar my overall love of the story.

Because I absolutely loved Vida's narration. She's not just an author, she's a storyteller, and I fell right under her spell. It was this that kept me reading after I properly realised The Thirteenth Tale wasn't the book I expected. I just loved her voice, and was completely gripped. Her story is strange and weird, and I would often be thinking, "What the hell?!" at how messed up the story was at times. The book is a slow burner, and I did at times wonder where this story was going - yes, it's kind of weird, and the two twins, Adeline and Emmeline, run amok with very little discipline, but what was the point of the story? This sounds like I was annoyed or frustrated, but I was merely curious, because I was absolutely gripped by Vida's voice. But after a while, the mystery made itself more fully known, and I became engrossed in the story itself. Things at Angelfield go from bad to worse, and slowly but surely the questions ramp up. Is Vida actually telling the truth? What did actually happen? And who did what?

When the twist is finally revealed, I was completely knocked for six. I didn't see it coming at all. But as the penny dropped, I realised there were clues throughout. It's the kind of book you want to start reading all over again immediately after finishing, having this hindsight of what was actually going on all the time. When the truth comes out, it's absolutely heartbreaking, and you realise the story of the Angelfield family is more than just weird, it's tragic, in so many ways, on so many levels. You don't expect when reading a mystery to end up close to tears when the truth is revealed. By the time I reached the end, it wasn't the story I thought I was reading.

Considering the neglect and abuse that runs rampant throughout the story, it feels inappropriate to say it's a beautiful story, but it is. Because overall, it's a story about love, a story of survival. But it is more tragic than I can put into words. There's so much I want to say, so much I want to talk about, but I would be giving far too much away. And this is definitely a book you should go into not knowing a huge amount about, so you can fall in love with Vida's storytelling, and then be taken in by the mystery. Just prepare to have your heart completely broken.

[MurderByDeath]

Not the book I was expecting based on reviews I'd read.  I was mentally prepped for a darker, somewhat more manipulative, maybe almost a templaric tale.  It wasn't any of those things, but it is an excellent story.   The MC is contacted by an author who is both very reclusive and famous to an almost unholy degree, to write her biography; her true biography, not one of the dozens of made-up tales she's told over the years.  She's finally ready to reveal who she is and what really happened at Angelfield Hall.   I didn't like the MC much (Margaret); her level of personal drama/victimisation irritated me to distraction.  As someone who is neither a romantic nor a twin, I found the level of pain and mourning to be, if I'm being kind, too far removed from my experience to fully empathise.  If I'm not being kind, I found it heavy-handed and unrealistic.  Someone should have shoved both Margaret and her mother into counselling decades ago.   I liked Vida Winter though (the author whose biography she is writing).  This character is where Setterfield's talent as a writer over-shined my irritation with the soppy MC.  Vida Winter kept me reading, even when I'd have rather not.  (There are some twisted family dynamics in this book.)   Her ability to weave a tale borders on magic, and she used language to enthral, manipulate and trick her reader, and did it in a way that made me bump my rating up a 1/2 star.  Her crafting of the plot was outstanding and I did not anticipate that twist; I was so busy anticipating a different twist - one that would have ruined the book in my eyes - that I was rather blindsided by this one. Well played.   My favorite quotes from the book: "I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life and there has never been a time when reading was not my greatest joy.  And yet I cannot pretend that the reading I have done in my adult years matches in its impact on my soul the reading I did as a child. [...] I still forget myself when I'm in the middle of a good book. Yet it is not the same. 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.   and this scene (which I've edited for brevity):   "Doctor Clifton came. [...] He took a thermometer and instructed me to place it under my tongue, then rose and strode to the window.  With his back to me, he asked, 'And what do you read?'   With the thermometer in my mouth I could not reply.   'Wuthering Heights - you read that?'   'Mm-hmm.'   'And Jane Eyre?'   'Mm'   'Sense and Sensibility?'   'Hm-m'   He turned and looked gravely at me.  'And I suppose you've re-read these books more than once?'   I nodded and he frowned.  'Read and re-read? Many times?' [...] I was baffled by his questions, but compelled by the gravity of his gaze I nodded once again. [...] He removed the thermometer from my mouth, folded his arms, and delivered his diagnosis. 'You are suffering from an ailment that afflicts ladies of romantic imagination.  Symptoms include fainting, weariness, loss of appetite, low spirits.  Whilst on one level the crisis can be ascribed to wandering about in the freezing rain without the benefit of adequate waterproofing, the deeper cause is more likely to be found in some emotional trauma. [...] You'll survive.' [...] 'Treatment is not complicated: eat, rest, and take this ...' he made quick notes on a pad, tore out a page and placed it on my bedside table, 'and the weakness and fatigue will be gone in a few days.'  [...]   From the door, he saluted me and was gone.   I reached for the prescription.  In a vigorous scrawl, he had inked:   Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes.  Take ten pages, twice a day, until end of course."   Sherlock Holmes: the cure for what ails you.

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield is the perfect mix of mystery and suspense. I first picked up this novel back in 2011 and zipped right through it. It’s a novel about two authors—both with secrets. And in September, I was in bit of a reading slump and decided to check out the audiobook from the library.

Is is possible that the audiobook was better than actually picking up the book and reading it? Granted, after a bit of research, I discover the MP3 version of the book my library had was the abridged version, which explains the bit of confusion I had when the Adeline and Emmeline’s mother was suddenly NOT around anymore. But that was the only time I noticed a skip in the story, something out of place. Despite being the abridged version, it was pieced together quite well.

Ruthie Henshall and Lynn Redgrave did a stellar job capturing Margaret and Ms. Winter. The story flowed back and forth between them as if we were sipping tea together in Ms. Winter’s cozy library. I was whisked to Angelfield watching Adeline and Emmeline grow up as Ms. Winter (Redgrave) revealed her story. When the story was told from Margaret’s point of view, I could feel the curiosity, hurt and longing in Ms. Henshall’s voice. Their narration went far in conveying the emotions and motivations behind the stories being told.

On this second reading, the reveal seemed a little hastily tied together at the end. I’m not sure if that was because certain aspects of the novel were taken out, or this was my second read and as a result, I pieced things together faster than the characters. Either way, I did enjoy the novel on this second read through. The story is wrought with suspense and for a brief time, you’re left wondering if Adeline and Emmeline will survive and if ghosts are real.


This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews

[Kait ✨]

My initial reaction to this book was that it reminded me a lot of Kate Morton. I have been a fan of her work for years, though I haven’t reviewed any here, and she has a way of writing mysteries that is thrilling and all-consuming. The Thirteenth Tale is much the same; Setterfield sets up a historical mystery early on and continually weaves separate threads of the story.

I absolutely love this kind of historical fiction with a mystery element. I adore historical fiction, but even more than that, I love deep, dark family secrets. (I’m not sure why… my family has none that I know of!) The Thirteenth Tale is about two women, Margaret Lea and Vida Winter, and both have a dark, twisty past that makes for riveting reading. There are twins: multiple sets of twins. There are ghosts. There is a wicked governess. There are sadistic, mentally deranged parents. It is something out of a Gothic novel; more to the point, The Thirteenth Tale is almost entirely convincing as a Gothic novel itself.

Continue reading my review on my blog, Bookish Comforts.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Amateur biographer Margaret Lea finds a mysterious handwritten letter waiting for her one night. The letter is a request from what could be considered Britain’s most prolific novelist Vida Winter. Winter’s wishes to recount her life’s story but has been notorious for her abilities to evade journalists’ questions in the past, making up a different story for every journalist. This project will force both women to confront the mysterious paths that have been haunting them and if we are lucky we might find out the mystery of The Thirteenth Tale.

The Thirteenth Tale is a tapestry of two threads weaved together, Margaret’s story both past and present as well as Winter’s past. A gothic mystery that deals with death, identity, isolation and for me it felt like it was a novel about how evil twins are. I’m not sure if it was the current mood I was in when reading this book but I felt like this book was trying too hard to be something it couldn’t live up to. Two alternating narratives can be a difficult literary technique to get right but I never really felt it worked. Sure, many people loved this book but I wonder if they were too caught up in the narrative to notice the problems.

It is true, the writing in the novel is spectacular and I did find myself being swept away in this gothic narrative but then when I reflect back, I notice all the flaws. The novel sets out to piece together the puzzle of both Margret and Ms Winter but some of the pieces were lost and we are left with all these holes. I’m not satisfied with the amount of questions that were left unanswered, I was just left feeling disappointed and have no desire to try and reread this in the hopes to find what I might have missed.

For a gothic novel, I felt like it moved into the realm of clichés; from the mysterious manor to the mysteries of their pasts, everything felt rather predictable in that aspect. I felt like this book was borrowing rather heavily on some gothic classics, there were elements of Rebecca here and even the Brontës. Now I haven’t read Jane Eyre but with the amount of references made to this book in The Thirteenth Tale, I suspect that this was a major source for Diane Setterfield gothic attempts. I never felt like there was anything new or interesting with the plot of this book.

I wish I knew what make people give this book such a high rating, sure the writing was beautiful but I felt like Diane Setterfield tried to do too much in her first novel and it didn’t quite work. Maybe if you are new to the Gothic genre this might be a decent contemporary novel to give you a taste of what to expect but I feel like this book left me high and dry. I would recommend Sarah Waters over Diane Setterfield but ultimately I would rather some of the gothic classics.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/04/28/book-review-the-thirteenth-tale/

[mrs_mander_reads]

Once I finished this book, I really enjoyed it. In the reading, however, I had some mixed feelings. I pride myself on kind of knowing what's going to happen... Being able to predict, in part, how the story will change and grow. This book, however, was an exception to that. I never saw any of the twists until I was in the thick of them. I think it's written extremely well, and I adore the main character, Margaret. She reminds me of me, and I can identify with her quite a bit. I definitely recommend it if you're looking for a quicker read with some substance to it.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Imagine a closed book opened every night, unexplained to the same page, or a child calling for its Mom even though the Mother's children were at school. It was these among several other incidents that made me believe my childhood home was haunted. If I believed this what's to stop me from believe in a ghost story or a tale that begins with Once Upon A Time...

The Thirteenth Tale is part ghost story part fairy tale (Grimm Brother's style). Vida Winter, a famed author renown for her novel The Thirteenth Tale, with the thirteenth tale being omitted. Vida, after numerous interviews has finally decided to unburden herself and write her memoirs with the help of a ghostwriter, Margaret Lea, a freelance amateur biographer who has one thing in common, they are both twins.

Miss Winter's story is a bit strange and enthralling centering on the Angelfield family, once wealthy and well respected and now is slowly whirling into oblivion. Curious things begin to happen at Angelfield all of which are explained away by a ghost, but outside the family unit it is called off to those strange twins Adeline and Emmeline. These two assumptions wave the reader back and forth as to who is responsible for the mother being committed to an asylum, forcing her brother into confinement till his death, or the death of the loyal gardener, or the fire destroying Angelfield estate itself?

The Thirteenth Tale is a dark story with elements of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. An orphaned and unwanted cousin, the slow demise and dwindling number of occupants in the moors, or an unknown lead character who's last name bares a resemblance to a Mrs de Winter. The Thirteenth Tale, is not just for the lover of mystery novels but also those passionate to classic literature that will have any reader mesmerized but the intricate, weaving story.

[inlibrisveritas]

This was one of those rare books that constantly caught my eye in the bookstore, until finally I broke down and got it. To be honest I was sure what to expect out of it, and I didn't really even know what kind of book it was, so I was pleasantly surprised with the way it turned out. It's the type of book that draws you in so subtly that you have no idea you're hooked until you try to put it down. A very very good book

[Eve1972]

Wow, just loved this book! Kept my interest from beginning to end, I can't recommend it enough. I am looking forward to more from this author!!