OK, this book is VERY slow to start. I almost quit on it when it got GOOD...very GOOD! This is one of those stories that takes you all sorts of places you dont expect with a little mystery, a little chaos, but ties it all up nicely at the end with no strings dangling. Well written, but stick with it... ( )

Hillsboro evening book club Oct 20th.

A very beautifully written story with stories within stories. I was sucked in to the story on page 1 and just couldn't let it go. I would re-read this, even though I know the twist in the end. Such a great story! ( )

The perfect October/ Autumn Read
Not since [b:Rebecca|17899948|Rebecca|Daphne du Maurier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386605169l/17899948._SX50_.jpg|46663] by [a:Daphne du Maurier|2001717|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1422444467p2/2001717.jpg] has a book so entranced and haunted me . I rarely read a book twice but when this came up for a sit in book group I was so excited as I longed to pull the curtains and welcome in the Autumn nights with this wonderful multi-layered mystery with its gothic athmosphere that gave me chills down my spine.

Set in the English Country side Angel field House stands abandoned and forgotten. It was once the imposing home of the March family facininating, manipulative Isabell, charlie, her brutal and dangerous brother and the wild untamed twins. But Angelfield House conceals a chilling secret whose impact still resonates.

Unnerving and compelling in equal measure, this is one of those books where the pages turn by themselves. A story of twists and turns to keep the reader on the edge of their seats. No guts or gore in this one just a good old fashioned style mystery that is chilling and haunting. Great character that will leave a lasting memory. So if like me you enjoy, Abandoned manor homes where secrets and mysteries lure the reader in then this may well work for you.

Even though this was my second time to read this novel and I even seen the TV adaptation, I still enjoed every moment spent with this book and will gladly replace this one on its well earned spot on my book shelf. ( )

December 2018 EVERYONE group....
....
Nope. Too many triggers. Some lines are lovely, some are clever, but according to the bunches of reviews that I read, going on will not serve me well (understatement). I just cannot understand why ppl like reading dark stuff, stories about ugly stuff. Does this edify? Does it entertain? (Rhetorical questions... I really don't actually want to discuss.) I guess I have to accept the fact that I'm sensitive.

This was a little darker than I was expecting. A wonderful ghost story. Lots of twists and turns. Very gothic. I read this at my sister's recommendation. It was quite the page turner. Two excellent narrators really brought this audiobook to life.

"Reading can be dangerous." Thus [a:Diane Setterfield|22665|Diane Setterfield|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1255913779p2/22665.jpg] writes on page four of [b:The Thirteenth Tale|19673922|The Thirteenth Tale|Diane Setterfield|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387723998s/19673922.jpg|849453]. Too right. So dangerous, in fact, that the reader may lose all track of time and forget to get off at the right train station, or empty the washing machine, or feed the cats, or go to sleep.

One dark, rainy November evening in Cambridge, Margaret Lea comes home to find a letter waiting for her. Margaret leads a solitary life writing the odd historical literary biography and working with her father in his antiquarian bookshop. She doesn't read contemporary fiction, so she is perplexed as to why Vida Winters, Britain's most celebrated living author, is writing to her of all people.

What follows is nothing short of magical. Setterfield weaves stories within stories as we learn more about Margaret and the mysterious author, and the history of ruined Angelfield House. Angelfield, with its gardens, ghosts and vast library. Violent Charlie, his intriguing sister Isabelle, and the strange emerald-eyed twins with their long coppery hair. What happened to this family? How was their ancestral home destroyed? And what does it all have to do with Vida Winters?

This is a book for those of you who love stories, for whom people in books are as real in your minds as your family. It grabs hold of you and doesn't let you go, and its characters voices will stay with you. ( )

This one of my favorite books. I don't re-read books very often. This is one of the few that would make the list. This book has been reviewed about 3000 times, so I'm not going to add more to the pile. I will just stay I recommend this book to all book lovers no matter what genre you prefer. A+ ( )

Certainly an homage to classic Victorian/ goth like the brontes and Wilkie Collins. Bit flowers in the Atticish for me. ( )

2.5 stars ( )

A long winding tale of two sets of twins, a man searching for his past, and a famous author. ( )

Started this on audio, but had trouble catching interest. It comes so highly recommended from friends I trust that I suspect this might be one of those books that are better in bound version than audio. I've put the hardcover on my library wish list and will revisit again later.

This was a great tale and I really enjoyed the mystery contained in the plot. I'd recommend it to others and look forward to seeing what else the author has to offer. ( )

Read by Bianca Amato
WOW, this book! Many twists kept my attention.

( )

Excellent, gripping tale of disturbed families, moors and twins, wrapped around a haunted? house, fires, and forbidden romance. Throw in a bookstore or two, and bookish references throughout, and a tasty mystery to chew on, and you've got a perfect book to read anytime you want to dip deeply into a new world.
Loved it. I'll be looking for more by this author. ( )

Easily the best of the-book-about-books category. A very heartwarming saga spanning across (4) generations. ( )

I tried. Really I tried. I just couldn't get into it. I don't think I like mysteries. ( )

I waited a few days to write this review, because I needed to digest the story. At first, I was wavering between 4 stars and 4.5 stars, but I've settled on 4.

The writing is phenomenal. It flows so naturally and beautifully, and it makes me envious that I can write that well one day. I loved the Gothic atmosphere. I love stories with enormous manor houses with secrets and dark corners, with hints of either the supernatural or human instability behind each door, down each corridor, in each empty cavernous room. At first the vague setting bothered me, as I couldn't figure out WHEN we were. The book was published in 2006, but we never see Margaret use a computer or cell phone. She hand writes everything, doesn't record Vida Winters' conversations, and chooses to send letters to her father via snail mail. Even Vida Winters' story of Angelfield didn't mention a year or decade. I think we are meant to assume Margaret's timeline is in the late 20th century, and the story of Angelfield is in the early 20th century. Either way, once the story began, I stopped asking questions, because it didn't matter.







***SPOILERS****









I did have some issues with this story. The writing was so beautiful, it disguised the fact that I really felt no payoff by the end. There was so much build-up, but it just didn't do it for me. Part of that might have been because there was just so much happening, so many mysteries that needed to be solved, that it was hard to know which one to care about the most. One mystery was of the young man who interviewed Ms. Winter earlier in her life, demanding she Tell the Truth. That mystery wasn't solved until toward the end of the book, and by that point, I'd forgotten about the young man so this revelation didn't have as big an impact on me as it could have. Also, I felt such a buildup to Hester's introduction, but then her disappearance felt so sudden, and so quick. I felt we were introduced to her, and then she was gone. And she vanished from the narrative for a while, until Margaret thinks about her again later in the book, by which point, some of my emotional attachment to Hester had lessened.

As for the character of Margaret, I felt more frustration with her than anything. I did not understand why she resented her mother so much for keeping her dead twin a secret. Why wasn't she that mad at her father? He kept it a secret as well. What was the point of the strained relationship between Margaret and her mother? There was no parallel to Ms. Winter's story. And, not to sound completely insensitive, but would the death of her twin at birth really affect Margaret to the extent that she becomes completely reclusive and (I read her as) antisocial and withdrawn from everyone? Was she like that as a child? As a teen? I just had a hard time connecting with her. I didn't really like her.

But my biggest issue with the book was the ending, and the revelation of Ms. Winter's real identity. It subverted the entire issue of twins, which the whole book was based around. A third child? A third child who no one knew about, except the Missus and John the Dig? Out of everything in the book, that was the most far-fetched. It was disappointing. We're made to believe Ms. Winters is Adeline, and that she'd always had the ability to be normal, as a normal child had peeked through her feral nature once she'd been separated from Emmeline. That somehow, Hester's teachings had worked and brought sanity to Adeline. But no, Emmeline and Adeline remained feral, and this third child, their half-sister, was the only sane one even though she'd grown up with them.

What I found myself asking, after I'd finished the book, was How did Emmeline and her half-sister spend their adult life? How did the half-sister decide to become a writer? What was it like to go from a recluse into a world-renowned best-selling author? Why didn't they ever try to get in contact with Emmeline's son? Those questions also frustrated me.

I did like this book. However, I would say that the writing and perfectly set atmosphere masked the confusion of too many mysteries spread out too far apart from each other that lacked cathartic payoffs. I also wished the narration went more in-depth into the Angelfield characters' psyches. They're always cloaked in a layer of mystery, and I don't think that served them well here. It lessened any emotional payoffs I was waiting for.

I didn't mean to rant about this, but I think this book, for as great as it was, had potential to be even better, and just missed the mark. Would I recommend this? Absolutely. I was engrossed, sucked into the gloomy, dark atmosphere. I loved the story. Will it stay with me for years and years? No. But it was thoroughly enjoyable in the moment. ( )

Revisited November 2021
I almost never re-read #books, but this week I revisited a novel I read, loved, and enthusiastically recommended for many years. It holds up! And I had misrembered some key points, so that made the experience even better. Perfect #audio performance (Lynn Redgrave!)


January 2008
By far, one of the best books I've read in recent years. Densely written...no brain candy here! I was tempted to skip over some of the descriptive passages (she's very Bronte that way) but I fought the urge and ended up being all the more drawn into the story. I'm always in such a hurry to finish things, this book forced me to slow down and THINK and rewarded me with terrific writing and a really good story. I can't wait to seek out more of Setterfield's books.
( )

excelente ( )

This is fantastic storytelling, Setterfield never disappoints with her craft. The Victorian gothic setting, the family secrets and oddities, the telling of the story to her biographer in snippets while we also explore present-day settings, all excellent. ( )

While the last 50 or so pages really irked me, the overall book was well written and interesting. The stories of Vida and then Margaret well intertwined beautifully. ( )

I rarely reread books for a couple of reasons. First of all, life is short. I am sure on my deathbed I will have regrets. One of them will be that I did not read all of the books I wanted to. Second, and I don't mean this to hurt anyone's feeling, I think it's a bit lazy to reread a book. Where is the challenge in reading something you've already read? And no I don't often watch movies more than once either. :-)

All of this to say I plan to reread The Thirteenth Tale. Mainly because when I got to the end I was like....W H A A A T? I believe I missed a lot in this book so a reread is definitely in order. All of this to say I recommend reading this book! It's a fairly complex story juggling between present time (and that could be anywhere from the 30's, because cars and phones were around, to the 70's) and about 70 years before that unknown time. It's a gothic (not my favorite genre but dang I could almost smell the bookstore and both homes) mystery with a compelling story that draws you in. Add it to your "To read" list. I don't think you'll be disappointed! ( )

The premise started out as intriguing. However, I felt the plot was forced and stretched in order for the author to supply, what I think they thought, would be some ultimate plot twist, only (for me) to fall flat.
The ending was rushed, repetitive in the telling, by a secondary character, and disappointing.
This is not a book I will feel the need to keep in my library. ( )

The Thirteenth Tale
2 Stars

When renowned yet reclusive author Vida Winter summons biographer Margaret Lea to write her life story, Margaret is skeptical but intrigued. As Vida's story unfolds, Margaret soon becomes engrossed in the disturbing details of the strange and mysterious Anglefield family and the events that led to their destruction.

As a fan of gothic literature, the premise of this book was very appealing. Unfortunately, it falls decidedly flat mainly due to the awkward story-within-a-story structure. While the plot revolving around the decidedly creepy Angelfields is engrossing, Vida and Margaret's odd relationship detracts from the mystery and it is difficult to care about either of the protagonists. Consequently, when the twists are finally revealed, it is too little too late.

This book proves just how difficult it is for modern authors to capture the true essence of gothic writing. ( )

I instantly fell for this book and was drawn to the story when I first read it when it was first published. To my dismay I have also listened to it on audible more Han I have actually read it. Audible is great on long drives if you are the driver. I must read the book again, I missed too many hints. I have realized last night that bbc actually made a film from the book. Films are never as good as the books, but Vanessa Redgrave is fabulous. ( )