The Thirteenth Tale

There were a lot of juicy secrets to unravel in this gothic thriller. Murder, feral twins, a devastating fire, an abandoned baby, and a ghost child.

Vida Winter, old and ill, has been safeguarding the family’s secrets, but she doesn’t want to take them with her to the grave. She hires biographer Margaret Lea to write her life story. But Vida isn’t the most reliable narrator, forcing Margaret to conduct her own investigation to uncover the truth. Eventually, the secrets are laid bare, but one question remains open at the end...

I had fun trying to figure out the answer… show more.

This book stays with me because it was one of the few books where I didn’t see the twist coming. I was intrigued by this book due to Vida’s inferences that the story she is ready to tell involves a ghost and dark family secrets. Do you not love that?

I adore books that you think you know where they are heading, but they suddenly veer in a different direction. This book is like that. I usually pride myself on figuring out what the ending is, but this book got me. 

The twists in this book pull you in and keep you from putting it down. I love when I get surprised and think “I never saw that coming!”

Well-developed characters, outstanding description, Setterfield draws book lovers (and bookstore lovers) right into the heart of the story. I couldn’t put it down. It was the only novel in our book club that received a unanimous 10/10

I think my love for this book boils down to Dianne Setterfield’s extraordinary story-telling ability, her choice of language, the wonderful setting, and her interesting characters.

This is a gothic tale, and I love the atmosphere she evokes. Often, I found myself reading the same passages over and over because it conjured up such perfect emotions. Her writing is very rhythmical, her characters hiding behind what they don’t say. Diane Setterfield reveals their backstories with pinpoint timing, the atmosphere building, and the twists catching you off guard.

It’s a brilliant book — an old-fashioned yarn sort of a book, Gothic,… show more.

I loved this book because it had me on the edge of my seat. I could not put it down until I finished reading it.

It is a suspenseful mystery book with great characters and dark secrets revealed throughout the pages.This is an excellent book to read as a book club because the characters’ actions are so deviant of what normal people would do.

In what I would call a modern gothic setting, the story revolves around a reclusive author and the missing thirteenth tale from her collection of stories.

The author commissions a biographer to write the story of her life, which she has fictionalized throughout her entire career. There’s a governess, ghosts, an amazing garden, and an insane fire – all of which stack up for one heck of a great novel.

I loved this book, but looked over my shoulder while I was reading it. Vida Winter is a reclusive writer, who asks Margaret Lea to write her biography. Lea mixes taking notes and recording interviews with visiting the Gothic locations in the story. Vida tells the tale from the past, about the feral twins and their neglectful, volatile mother. Margaret uncovers evidence from the present going backwards. The two narratives arrive at a satisfying conclusion via a fire, a ghost, and a governess. Vida is delightfully unreliable. The reader is left to come to their own conclusions about who dies… show more.

I have read this book several times and it’s the kind that swallows you whole. You’ll find yourself consumed into the weird and almost gothic story of Vida Winters – the enigmatic and eccentric millionaire writer with a missing “tale” – and Margaret, the journalist who is hired to uncover all the secrets of her strange life. It’s creepy and shadowy and unique and totally compelling, and you’ll never figure out where it’s going until you’re there: wide-eyed and all-in.