She is contacted by renowned aging author Vida Winter, who finally wishes to tell her own, long-hidden, life story. Margaret Lea, a London bookseller's daughter, has written an obscure biography that suggests deep understanding of siblings.

Former academic Setterfield pays tribute in her debut to Brontë and du Maurier heroines: a plain girl gets wrapped up in a dark, haunted ruin of a house, which guards family secrets that are not hers and that she must discover at her peril. Put on some flannels, wrap up in a blanket, and settle into a riveting story, or what Vida Winter would call “he soothing, rocking safety of a lie.” (p.5)įor more popular reading suggestions visit Richmond Public Library’s website at. If there was ever a book to read as the rain rages outside, this is it. The Thirteenth Taleis a gothic novel full of windswept landscapes, stormy nights, skeletons in the closet, family betrayals and life-long secrets. Vida’s story brings Margaret face to face with her own demons, which she must eventually acknowledge. The darkness of the English moors seems to permeate her thoughts as her own family secrets haunt her. Margaret, as biographer, listens to Vida’s unbelievable tale and verifies her facts. Indeed the bizarre and somewhat sinister lifestyle at Angelfield involves many other characters and eventually culminates in a mysterious fire that leaves the house in ruins. As Vida Winter is a pen name, the truth of her parentage unfolds over time. Initially it is unclear where Vida fits in. Adeline, like her predecessors, is prone to physical violence which she forces on the submissive Emmeline. The next generation at Angelfield, Emmeline and Adeline, are twins who, as children, can only communicate in twin language. He attempts to take his revenge on her, but shockingly, Isabelle proves as aggressive as her brother and the two form an unnatural bond. Disliked by his father, Charlie is a broken soul who cannot abide the way Isabelle is doted on. Vida’s story begins with siblings Charlie and Isabelle.

Born into a strange, almost outcast family, Vida is raised in a large house called Angelfield on the English moors. Vida is the quintessential storyteller like Margaret, she lives and breathes stories. Vida has led her followers astray for years, recounting any number of fanciful tales as the story of her life.

When she is commissioned to write the biography of famous novelist Vida Winter, she wonders why.

Margaret Lea is a bookseller and to her, reading is like breathing or eating it’s essential to sustain life. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner.

The thirteenth tale review