The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

All children mythologize their birth...

So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.

The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself -- all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter's story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.

As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire.

Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling but remains suspicious of the author's sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

The Thirteenth Tale is 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. Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter and, in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday life.

Hardcover, 406 pages

Published September 12, 2006 

by Atria Books

Audiobook, 15 hours, 38 minutes

Narrated by: Bianco Amato & Jill Tanner

4/5 stars

“All children mythologise their birth. It is a universal trait. You want to know someone? Heart, mind and soul? Ask him to tell you about when he was born. What you get won’t be the truth: it will be a story. And nothing is more telling than a story.”

Ever since I read Once Upon A River I've been a little apprehensive to read another Setterfield book.  I loved it that much.  Ultimately curiosity got the better of me and I dove in.  First with the book, then a couple chapters on audio had me finishing that way.  The 2 readers did an exceptional job.

The Thirteenth Tale is a dark and Gothic mystery that follows Margaret Lea, who works at her father's rare book shop.  Out of the blue she is contacted to write the biography of Vida Winter, a famous author with a mysterious past.  What unfolds is a story that slowly unravels over 400 pages, revealing unsettling twists.  It was a intricately woven plot and one I wasn't able to predict.

Thirteenth is a tale of family, truth and secrets...so many secrets.  It is well-written and full of surprises.  I highly recommend the audiobook for the unique voices that added depth to Margaret and Vida's stories.

This book was part of my 2023 Reading Off My Challenge, #27.  The audiobook was obtained via Scribd.

Review: Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed.

 Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again, yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens. The child herself is mute and unable to answer the essential questions: Who is she? Where did she come from? And to whom does she belong? But answers proliferate nonetheless.

 Three families are keen to claim her. A wealthy young mother knows the girl is her kidnapped daughter, missing for two years. A farming family reeling from the discovery of their son’s secret liaison, stand ready to welcome their granddaughter. The parson’s housekeeper, humble and isolated, sees in the child the image of her younger sister. But the return of a lost child is not without complications and no matter how heartbreaking the past losses, no matter how precious the child herself, this girl cannot be everyone’s. Each family has mysteries of its own, and many secrets must be revealed before the girl’s identity can be known.

 Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth. Suspenseful, romantic, and richly atmospheric, the beginning of this novel will sweep you away on a powerful current of storytelling, transporting you through worlds both real and imagined, to the triumphant conclusion whose depths will continue to give up their treasures long after the last page is turned.

 Hardcover, 464 pages

Published December 4th, 2018

 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books

*****

I vaguely remember reading Diane Setterfield’s previous book Bellman & Black and will confess to not being overly impressed with the plot but I found her writing captivating. Once I started reading this book I was engrossed with her writing once again. Once Upon a River begins with a scene that dragged this reader right in and as the chapters flowed with different characters I was just drawn in all the more.

Once Upon a River has a folklore feel with exquisite writing that at times I had to stop and reread, it was magically - I didn’t want it to end. The author placed me by the river, in the Swan, walking the streets giving me a real sense of the place.

Who is this young girl? How did she survive that night? With twists and turns, unique characters and storylines that fit together perfectly, reminding me of a jigsaw puzzle - everything clicked perfectly. It came to a conclusion that I did not anticipate.

Basically, the last paragraph of the synopsis sums up exactly what I want to say.  If you haven't read this yet don't wait 6 months like I did.  Definitely made my best of 2019 list.

My copy from personal library and part of my ‘2019 reading off my shelf’ challenge.

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

Bellman & Black is a heart-thumpingly perfect ghost story, beautifully and irresistibly written, its ratcheting tension exquisitely calibrated line by line. Its hero is William Bellman, who, as a boy of 11, killed a shiny black rook with a catapult, and who grew up to be someone, his neighbours think, who "could go to the good or the bad." 

And indeed, although William Bellman's life at first seems blessed—he has a happy marriage to a beautiful woman, becomes father to a brood of bright, strong children, and thrives in business—one by one, people around him die. And at each funeral, he is startled to see a strange man in black, smiling at him. At first, the dead are distant relatives, but eventually his own children die, and then his wife, leaving behind only one child, his favourite, Dora. 

Unhinged by grief, William gets drunk and stumbles to his wife's fresh grave—and who should be there waiting, but the smiling stranger in black. The stranger has a proposition for William—a mysterious business called "Bellman & Black"

Hardcover, 328 pages

Published November 5th 2013 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books

ebook provided by publisher through netgalley for review

The only reason that I requested this book was because of all the rave reviews for The Thirteenth Tale (which I have yet to read) by the same author.  I began this book with no preconceived ideas about what it was about, other than the fact this was a 'heart-thumping ghost story'.  The writing style was wonderful, the words just flowed so smoothly and for a time I did get lost in the story.

I hope that there aren't going to be any or too many spoilers here, I apologize for that. It was just over half way through this book that I began to wonder where the ghost was, yea there is a guy in black, but it's a guy not a ghost.  Deciding to read the synopsis I discovered that it basically told the plot to about 60% of the way through this book. That's a pet peeve of mine, tell me a little about the book but not everything, leave somethings for the reader to discover for themselves, that's what makes reading enjoyable.

I finished the book waiting for the ghost to show up, for some twist, any kind of satisfing conculsion, but alas it didn't happen.  Disappointing because I really wanted to like this book.  Most likely I will keep The Thirteenth Tale in by TBR pile and give this author another chance.