The Thirteenth Tale by Diane SetterfieldMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The book is based upon the almost tangible bond that binds twins, how different even identical twins can be and how the absense of one twin affects the other.The story begins when Margaret Lea who is the daughter of a book-shop owner has returned back home one night to find a strange letter addressed to her. This letter from one of the greatest novelists of that time, Vida Winter leaves her confused and surprised. By the way, Ms Vida Winter writes "fairy-tales" all of which do not end the same way they do in classic childrens' fairy tales. They all have a suspenseful and morbid ending.
So coming back to letter, the reason Ms Lea is surprised, is because she has never shown any interest in the writer at all, and neither has she read any of her books. Why did this mysterious Vida Winter decide to write to her? Well, it turns out Ms Winter is dying and needs a competent biographer to portray the extremely strange story she wants to tell the world. The only problem? You can never tell when Vida Winter is lying! Having lied about her origin, her family and her life to journalists all the time, there are supposed to be hundreds of articles about Ms Winter all of which contradict each other. As the letter offers no explanation of why she was chosen, Margaret trudges into her father's book-store, finds her most famous book "Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation" and is intrigued when at the end of the book she only finds twelve! The way "curiosity killed the cat", it drives Margaret to Vida Winter's desolate mansion where she takes up the job of being her biographer. What follows is a strange tale of Ms Winter's childhood, curious discoveries and a twist to the tale that you cannot imagine.
Diane Setterfield writes extremely well and keeps the reader spell-bound even when she is rambling about ghosts in the window turning out to be hallucinations of the troubled protagonist. She pulls off the "victorian" feel to the book, although by mentioning "Jane Eyre" a gazillion times (which seems to be the inspiration for this book) she annoyed the hell out of me . However, I enjoyed the "story within a story" concept and the transition from the present to the past and vice-versa did not feel jarring. I loved the spooky descriptions and actually enjoyed the goose-bumps, despite being a terrible, terrible coward who is usually scared by even a silly "Boo"!
I did not like the character of Margaret Lea one bit. She seemed too dull and too depressed to be able to pull off the task of an autobiographer. I had the same problem with the character of Vida Winter. Just another old, dying lady with a will of steel and holding a girl hostage with the ruse of a biographer's job. She could have been much, much more! The supporting characters in Ms. Winter's story however stood out exceptionally well. The Missus, who cares for the twins, was well defined, as was her relationship with John-the Dig. The twins were beautifully described as being so very different, yet so connected to each other that they couldn't bear staying apart and fell ill on being separated. Setterfield fashions a very lucid village filled with people who were each connected to the story in a major way and not just randomly. The best part was that at the end, every dot was connected, and at no point are you left searching for answers.
Recommended for: Fans of Gothic fiction, Victorian settings and spooky mysteries.
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