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by: Diane Setterfield
List Price: $15.00Amazon.com's Price: $10.20 You Save: $4.80 (32%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780743298032
ISBN: 0743298039
Label: Washington Square Press
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 432
Publication Date: October 09, 2007
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Release Date: October 09, 2007
Sales Rank: 580
Studio: Washington Square Press
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Settle down to enjoy a rousing good ghost story with Diane Setterfield's debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale. Setterfield has rejuvenated the genre with this closely plotted, clever foray into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths. She never cheats by pulling a rabbit out of a hat; this atmospheric story hangs together perfectly.
There are two heroines here: Vida Winter, a famous author, whose life story is coming to an end, and Margaret Lea, a young, unworldly, bookish girl who is a bookseller in her father's shop. Vida has been confounding her biographers and fans for years by giving everybody a different version of her life, each time swearing it's the truth. Because of a biography that Margaret has written about brothers, Vida chooses Margaret to tell her story, all of it, for the first time. At their initial meeting, the conversation begins:
'You have given nineteen different versions of your life story to journalists in the last two years alone.'
She [Vida] shrugged. 'It's my profession. I'm a storyteller.'
'I am a biographer, I work with facts.'
The game is afoot and Margaret must spend some time sorting out whether or not Vida is actually ready to tell the whole truth. There is more here of Margaret discovering than of Vida cooperating wholeheartedly, but that is part of Vida's plan. The transformative power of truth informs the lives of both women by story's end, and The Thirteenth Tale is finally and convincingly told. --Valerie Ryan
Product Description:
Sometimes, when you open the door to thepast, what you confront is your destiny.
Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchantingstories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate livesfor herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about herextraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret forso long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her ownpainful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret ismesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness -- featuring the beautifuland 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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Lives up to the hype
I'm not a hype reader, so I didn't pick up this book until May of 2008, long after it had been hyped and written about all over the web. However I was drawn in by the subject matter (a booklover and writer who is asked to write the biography of a very well known and successful, yet mysteriously private, author).
The style is gothic--similar to a Bronte novel, and so it reads as old-fashioned. There is something of a ghost story, and there is a definitely a suspenseful unraveling of ... Read More
Rating:  - Wonderful read
I couldn't put this book down. It had me guessing until the very end. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: - Eerie!
This book is exactly what I hoped it to be upon picking it up. It strangely reminds me of a dark roasted coffee- rich and deep and flavoful. It's a brilliantly woven yarn with layers of complexity and so mysterious as it leads you to the next unexpected twist lurking just around the corner. Read it near a fireplace and lose yourself to the brilliantly eerie story.
Rating: - Great gothic ghostly story
The audio version is well narrated and superbly done. Be patient for the first 20 or minutes or so - at first I was like, oh dear, I'm not so sure this was a good purchase, but then, I couldn't stop listening. Fabulous writing! Wonderful, spooky story..many twists. I laughed; I cried and was entranced by the whole atmosphere of the story! And her "experience" at the end, with her unexpected visitor, warmed me so much! I also appreciated the way the author "wrapped everything up" at the end. ... Read More
Rating: - ...shh.it's.a.secret...
I stumbled across this book whilst at work, a teenage girl came up to me gushing about how wonderful it was, and begging me to tell her she had written more. After having a 5 minute or so conversation of how wonderful it was, I quit pretending I had read it, bought the copy myself, and started reading.
Absolutely amazing.
This is truley a book by a wonderfully talented woman. I absorbed every page, feverishly until the end. It is a book to lose yourself in.
I can't wait to see ... Read More
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