The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield
Pub. Date:
Genre: Fiction
432pp

Synopsis from BN.com:
Margaret Lea works in her father's antiquarian bookshop where her fascination for the biographies of the long-dead has led her to write them herself. She gets a letter from one of the most famous authors of the day, the mysterious Vida Winter, whose popularity as a writer has been in no way diminished by her reclusiveness. Until now, Vida has toyed with journalists who interview her, creating outlandish life histories for herself - all of them invention. Now she is old and ailing, and at last she wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. Her letter to Margaret is a summons.

Somewhat anxiously, the equally reclusive Margaret travels to Yorkshire to meet her subject - and Vida starts to recount her tale. It is one of gothic strangeness featuring the March family; the fascinating, devious and willful Isabelle and the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline.

Margaret is captivated by the power of Vida's storytelling. But as a biographer she deals in fact not fiction, and she doesn't entirely trust Vida's account. She goes to check up on the family, visiting their old home and piecing together their story in her own way. What she discovers on her journey to the truth is for Margaret a chilling and transforming experience.

Why I Picked It:
This was an audiobook that sounded like one best "read" by listening.

My Review:
I can't remember the last time I've sat back and had someone tell me a story. Sure, I listen to audiobooks all the time, but this one was genuinely (and purposely) someone telling you a story. I loved it. The narration was spot on. And every last detail was so perfectly placed, developed, and wrapped up. Ask Andrew, I literally laughed and clapped when I finished the book. Not comedic laughter, but more of a "Bravo!" for a wonderful and completely enjoyable story.

Reminiscent of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and other novels of this sort, not only in structure but also throwing in very similar themes and storylines. These novels were also frequently referred to throughout the story. It's a mystery, a ghost story, full of all the important family skeletons -- incest, murder, love, betrayal, bastard children, abandonment and loss.

Vida Winter, a beloved and bestselling author, and Margaret Lea, a bookstore clerk and sometimes biographer, have more in common than they'd ever imagine, and bond in ways neither one would have ever expected. Ms. Winter contracts with Margaret to author her biography, a story never told before. She wants to tell the story before she dies, and will only tell it her own way. So she starts at the very beginning of the family history.

I kept thinking I had it figured out, only to find out I was wrong. I just Love it when I can't figure a story out! This is a sad story - as many family histories are - but full of lots of good dirt! Ms. Winter, being a bestselling author, tells the most important story - her own - with so much suspense, amazing character development, descriptive setting... And then, what I loved was how at the very end every single last detail was resolved, leaving you with nothing to sit and wonder about afterwards... Note even worry about what happened to the cat.

Sometimes I wonder if I would've liked the book as much if I had only heard it read in my own mental voice instead of as an audio production. I think this one would've been incredible no matter what.