The Thirteenth Tale

   The name of Diane Setterfield’s novel in itself draws your attention to it.
‘The Thirteenth tale’ is unknown. Even though the book has been renamed and published famous author Vida Winter’s book ‘tales of change and desperation’ has always been known as the Thirteen Tales. Having more than fifty books under her belt, and constantly under the scrutiny of fans and journalists author Vida Winter is a recluse, and her life remains a mystery all these years, just like the thirteenth tale that was never published. This is until she invites amateur biographer Lea Margaret to tell her story to the world.
Haunted by her past, Vida Winter has kept her story from the world for a long time, and now that her end is eminent she wants to tell it to someone. Because once upon a time there was a dead mother, an inconsolable father, two children mentally unstable, and then along came twins. And this is the story of those twins, with many subplots in them. Margaret is captured by the story as soon as it starts, because her story is unimaginable in itself. It is not the fairytale you would expect but a nightmare. It is haunted by ghosts, the same ghosts which haunt Margaret, and that is what makes it dearer to her. Only the end is not what it seemed to be.
Just like the title the writing captures you. The characters are described easily. And Vida’s story is interesting. But, some of the descriptions are repetitive. Okay ‘hot, sweet tea’..?? We get it…!! Margaret’s character is too frail. Fainting, paling, crying this girl has got it all…!! The characters in Vida’s story make more of a mark than Margaret. And the book would have been so much better if all the characters weren’t so intenseeee… the book is light, but sometimes, it just wears you out. And if you don’t mind tragic family stories then I would surely suggest it to add in your ‘to read’ list.