Rate this book

The Thirteenth Tale (2006)

by Diane Setterfield(Favorite Author)

3.93 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Atria Books

review 1: I have failed in my third attempt to read this book. This time I got nearly halfway in before I had to call it quits and delete it forever from my Kindle. Overly pretentious language, characters that veer between boring and loathsome, and the author felt the need to throw in every tired old Gothic trope imaginable (and again, this is only in the first half of the book), plus a few extra arched-eyebrow attempts to shock the reader. It all amounts to a hot mess, and life is too short.
review 2: The sentence structure and meat of every sentence had me enchanted from the get-go. It reminded me of Winter's Tale...so beautifully written. By page 30, I'm hooked and love every word!!After seeing libraries in Melk and Vienna, my picture of what Margaret lives with eve... morery day in her Father's shop, made my heart swell. She describes her home as being so brittle and unsubstantial that a wolf could blow the house down. In some ways, I view some of the scenes like something out of Edward Scissorhands. This is a gothic tale about twins who grew up in a mansion (also having an impressive library) with no responsible people to take care of them--told by a famous author who asks Margaret to write her biography. It is a dark, sad story, and Margaret longs to find the truth of every word she has been asked to write. The family she is writing about has many copies of Jane Eyre on the shelves, and the story reminds me of the likes of Rebecca (I've only seen the movie). After reading it, the twist at the end had me re-reading much of the book over again. Very cleverly written! less

Download links for: The Thirteenth Tale

Advertising