The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield As many people who read my reviews know, I tend to read a lot of fantasy based books, though I am also partial to books which take place in the ‘real world’ as such. I have to be in the right frame of mind to read a book such as this, and there are not many in which I have read that I have fully enjoyed, so these books do come few and far between. ‘The Thirteenth Tale’ is one such book which falls in the lines of the ‘real world’. Of course, if a book was completely focused on the mundane every day experiences in life without even a tiny bit of ‘magic’ ... more

Book Summary Biographer Margaret Lea receives a letter from the famous author, Vida Winter, asking her if she would write her biography. Margaret is reluctant to do so as she prefers to write biographies of those no longer living. However, Margaret has sorrow of her own, and Vida draws her in with a promise of a story involving twins. Margaret's own sorrow over losing her twin coupled with the fact that Vida has never told any journalist her life story, sways Margaret into agreeing to do the biography. But what has Vida Winter have to do with the forgotten Angelfield House and its strange ... more

I've just finished reading this book and had to write a review about it straight away because it was just so good - everyone should go straight out and buy it! I read quite a lot, but it's not often that I find a book that I can devour within twenty four hours of starting it - this book is an exception. I'm not sure why I bought this book - I think it must have been on offer on Amazon or something as the cover says that it costs £12.99, but I know for a fact I would never have spent that much on a book, however good it is! Based on the fact that I read the book in under twenty four hours ... more

My husband went shopping and came back with this novel, he felt that I should have a change from reading about true life tragedies, he doesn't have a clue about books, and bought it from reading the synopsis on the back cover. Here is my review......... I cannot tell you too much about the storyline because the plot for this novel starts right at the beginning, and I would spoil it for anybody who would like to read it, which I highly recommend. This story is based around world renown writer Vida Winter, people have tried and failed to find out the real person, but nobody knows who she is ... more

I stumbled upon this book last year, desperate for a book to read on the plane I had a quick scan of mums book case and came upon this rare treat. The Thirteenth Tale is an amazing novel and has to be Diane Setterfield's masterpiece. This novel has it's reader traveling through an intricatly woven and twisted plot . It is unlike anything I have ever read. Setterfield tells the tale of a young writer, who is called to write a biography for a famous novelist Vida Winter. No-one knows who this mysterious figure really is but Margeret is determined to get to the heart of her intriguing story of ... more