"What succour, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story?" (The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield)

Member Name: burtybookworm

Product:	The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
Date:	22/06/09 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: compelling, intriguing, fascinating

Disadvantages: none

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 occupants? Many years ago, a strange family lived there, Isabelle and her dangerous brother Charlie who seem to have an unnatural relationship, and two wild and strange twin girls. There are many secrets to be revealed now that Vida, in her last days, has chosen to reveal...

Book Review...

This is one of those books that has been on my "to read" list for a while. I have been sucked in by the hype, along with the masses of raving reviews I have come across. I fully expected to be disappointed as I usually am with this type of thing. You can imagine then, that I was extremely surprised that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one and it did, in fact, deserve the praise that has been heaped on to it!

I liked that there was no hanging around and already from the third or fourth page, the elusive character of Vida Winter was revealed and the mystery surrounding her life had begun. From the letter that she sent Margaret requesting her to do Miss Winters biography, my interested was piqued; she described how over the years, journalists had come to her requesting her life story but she has always managed to successfully evade telling it. Not only did Vida Winter never give up her story, she never even gave them a grain of truth; always choosing to concoct an elaborate, amusing and ultimately interesting story for them to ponder on instead. The fact that Vida Winter had gone to great pains to conceal her life story from the media and her adoring general public meant it was easy to become curious as to what exactly her story was. This resulted in some great expectations on my part but most importantly, it set the scene for an incredible journey through her past.

Firstly, the negatives. There aren't many, and in fact, I can't really call this a negative as it didn't effect my enjoyment of the story. Margaret's character, although inoffensive was not the most enigmatic character and although she has her own secret that she is withholding from Vida, I didn't really find her of particular interest, I viewed her merely as the narrator of Vida's story. The book is split into sections which separate the story that Vida is telling Margaret of her life and Margaret's own point of view, when she is researching and delving deeper into Ms Winters history. This side of the book, although interesting as it had bearing on the history of Vida Winter as a whole, as well as introducing the important character of Aurelius Love, was not as interesting for me, I couldn't wait for it to turn back to Vida, when she would explain the story of her childhood. I just couldn't be drawn into her life, I felt sympathy for her in some instances, but her character wasn't that well developed for me to take a real interest.

Of course, Vida is the most interesting, curious and important character in the book. This is about her life story and within that we find why her whole life has been shrouded in utter mystery. Despite knowing that something dramatic must've happened in her past for her to not want others to pry into it, it comes as a bit of a surprise that her story has many, many layers; her whole identity from birth is questioned beginning with the revelation that Vida is a twin and spiralling out of control from that moment on. There are several irregularities throughout the book that left me feeling confused and with several questions, but patiently (or rather, impatiently!) I had to wait like Margaret for Vida to reveal these discrepancies in her own good time. (Vida pre-empts all of Margaret's eagerness to know everything immediately: " 'You remember our agreement, she began as I sat down in the chair on the other side of the fire, 'Beginnings, middles and endings, all in the correct order. No cheating. No looking ahead. No questions.'" In this way, Vida cleverly lets Margaret think that all these problems and questions will be resolved in time when in fact her clues, very subtly indeed, are there the whole time.

Described as a "gothic mystery" , Vida's tale of the twins at Angelfield House is certainly a spooky one. I found the way in which the whole family was described - from Isabelle an Charlie through to the twins - quite troubling. I couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly was making the whole story quite so eerie and - well - not quite right! I loved the mixing of identities, the way I which Vida confuses Margaret - and in turn the reader - into whom she is referring too. One minute she talks about "they", the next time it is "we" and later, I. At first this could be mistaken for simple irregularities whilst she is reminiscing about her childhood and her sister, but it being hinted at that this is another clue inot Vida not alluding to something important. So subtly is this written, that any normal reader wouldn't pick up on it, which makes the conclusion all the more gratifying. Having said that, I read a review that said seasoned mystery readers would guess what really happened to Vida, although I'd argue against that strongly; I couldn't work out the whole story for myself, although I admit that some of the clues became more and more evident throughout.

This is an excellent debut novel that is unique, beautifully written with lots of layers of mystery that compel you to read as quickly as you can to the end. A dark story of twins and their strange upbringing, of mistaken identity, loss and doing anything for love. Highly recommended.

Summary: An excellent gothic mystery.