The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (hardcover 2006, softcover 2007)
Mythology, storytelling, books in general—these topics are paramount in the lives of the characters of The Thirteenth Tale. “All children mythologize their birth” begins the prologue of Vida Winter’s collection of tales Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation, a collection from which the thirteenth tale is inexplicably missing.
When young reclusive, literature lover and biographer Margaret Lea meets older, master storyteller Vida Winter, the secrets of the thirteenth tale that have lived buried in the past for so long are inexorably brought to bear on the present. Both women have secrets and both women are longing for a chance to share those secrets. Their outlet comes in the eccentric relationship that develops between them; in this relationship, they find empathy and understanding as they share their secrets with each other and, in so doing, set the truth free.
Margaret agrees to become Vida’s biographer, if and only if, Vida tell her the truth. Vida, a consummate storyteller has given myriad versions of her life to many other news seekers. However, this time Vida agrees that she will relate only truth. As Vida begins telling her story, the past and the present begin to coalesce. This story-within-a-story gothic tale lays bear truths of familial bonds, of destructive relationships, of loves and of losses that, in the end, cannot stamp out the strength of the human spirit.
The Thirteenth Tale delves deep into the past as it draws upon gothic constructs to revive the past—beginning with the strangeness encompassing the Angelfield family—from the sadistic and masochistic proclivities of siblings Charlie and Isabelle passing forward onto Isabelle’s equally unstable twins Adeline and Emmeline. To add to the gothic ambience, Setterfield throws in ghosts, orphans, mental illness, lunatic asylums, destroyed gardens, a downtrodden estate, a wily governess, a wise but aging housekeeper and gardener, and a fatal fire with cataclysmic consequences.
Margaret’s meticulous research and relentless observation imbues a sense of reality and forthcoming answers into the mysterious plot. Setterfield’s novel has a touch of Jane Eyre-like creepiness and insanity smattered with a sprinkling of Rebecca-like mystery.
Words, both true and untrue, are shown to have powerful and lasting effects on life. Setterfield’s masterfully layered novel requires careful attention in order to understand the truths about human nature and the continuing relevance of the past to the present that she buries within The Thirteenth Tale.
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