The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Diane Setterfield's first and only book--published 2006

Image courtesy of Diane Setterfield's author profile on the Simon and Schuster website: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Diane-Setterfield/38679211

I got my hands on "the Thirteenth Tale" this Christmas--a present from my best friend, Shy. She'd read it over the summer, decided I simply must read it and purchased it for my Christmas present. In August. I hope someday I can be that on top of my Christmas shopping; I usually end up doing mine the day before Christmas.

Here's a brief summary in my own words: A novice biographer, Margaret Lea is called upon by a famous novelist Vida Winter to take down the story of Winter's life--the true story. Lea is reluctant at first, but finds herself wrapped up in Winter's tale. Lea finds herself exploring Winter's home town and childhood residence and meets new characters there that seem to fit into Winter's story.

Upsides: A "I-can't-put-it-down" kind of page turner, two carefully crafted stories (of Winter's life and of Lea's), lovely gothic elements, Setterfield folds in parallels to "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights." One of my favorite features of this novel is the discussion of books--this is definitely a book lover's book. Lea works with her father in his collector's book shop. The dust cover of the hard back edition promises "a love letter to reading, a book for the feral reader in all of us, a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and that we loved as children." This promise is fully fulfilled in this book. Setterfield included this discussion of books very well--entwining it into the plot so that it isn't a distraction slowing the pace down.

Downsides: I'll have to be nitpicking here! There isn't really anything I truly disliked about the book. I will say that the ending is surprising in that the reader expects it to be a lot more dramatic than it is; there is a lot of build-up to the end and then the author shocks you with a bit of a quiet, anti-climactic ending. In many ways, this is an upside simply because Setterfield wraps up some loose ends very nicely, it just isn't what was expected. I had to go back and reread the ending a couple of times to figure out what had happened--to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I have to say, I wish there'd been a touch more information at the end as well, a little more detail. But once again, this is nitpicking.

Overall rating: 5 stars!!!
Are you a fan of Gothic? Romance? Tragedy? Books? Honestly, if you like books, you'll like this one. It's easy to get on with. I think you'll find yourself literally lost in this novel. There were moments of it, as a book lover, I wanted to highlight because they literally represented how I felt about the written word. This book will really get you thinking about your own story as well as the stories contained within the pages. Very thought-provoking. You'll relish every word, I swear. Go out and buy a copy. Or check it out from the library. I'm serious. Go grab your wallet, hit a local bookstore and buy one--it is totally worth it to get it in hardback if you're a collector like myself (cut pages!!!).

Let me know if you've read this in the comments below or if my review has inspired you to go buy/check out a copy!

As always, I'm an amateur review sharing the books I've read and what I thought about them with people.

Happy New Year everybody!
AJ

Ps...next up on the review board will be "Down and Out in London and Paris" by George Orwell--another Christmas present of mine!