The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Along with friends in my book club, I have just finished reading this first novel by British author, Diane Setterfield. The book caused great excitement in England by the size of the advance Ms. Setterfield was paid – remarkable for an untried author. The Thirteenth Tale also topped the best seller lists in U.K. for a while.

In this gothic story of lies and family secrets, Margaret Lea, an outwardly colorless antiquarian bookseller and biographer is contacted out of the blue by Vida Winter, currently England’s most popular novelist. For fifty years, flamboyant yet dissembling Ms. Winter has succeeded with lies in completely obscuring her identity and origins. Now terminally ill, she asks Margaret to write her authorized biography and promises she will not lie to her. Margaret travels to a remote house on the Yorkshire moors to hear Ms. Winter’s story. The story that she tells is a story of madness, orphaned twins, a governess, a ruined English estate and a deadly fire. The reader, as Margaret transcribes Ms. Winter’s stories of what happened at Angelfield, perhaps during the 1900s, is drawn in to a dark tale of guilt, murder, and forbidden love. Mystery is piled on mystery, is perhaps explained, and then is complicated by further revelations.

My book club thought that the plot was too rambling and could perhaps have done with some editing. I thought that the complexity was appropriate for what one critic called an homage to the gothic genre. The book is full of references to works such as The Turn of the Screw, Jane Eyre, and Rebecca. Some of my friends enjoyed these references, but others thought the book was too derivative.

I think lovers of such fevered tales will appreciate the dark and looming presence of the house and garden at Angelfield. This estate is as important to the characters as was Manderlee in Rebecca. Lovers of good writing will appreciate the beautiful language, which tends to a nineteenth century elegance.

One theme in this book which has many themes is the nature of the relationship between twins. Another important theme is the consequences that follow from keeping secrets or denying truths.

I hoped this has piqued your interest without giving too much away. I was totally engrossed by the book, and eager to see if my solutions for all the mysteries were the right ones. I heartily recommend The Thirteenth Tale.