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Diane Setterfield

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The Thirteenth Tale Paperback – September 5, 2019

by Diane Setterfield (Author)

4.4 12,433 ratings

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'Simply brilliant' Kate Mosse, international bestselling author of Labyrinth

***

Everybody has a story...

Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten.

It was once home to the March family: fascinating, manipulative Isabelle; brutal, dangerous Charlie; and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But the house hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart...

Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past, and its mysterious connection to the enigmatic writer Vida Winter. Vida's history is mesmering - a tale of ghosts, governesses, and gothic strangeness. But as Margaret succumbs to the power of her storytelling, two parallel stories begin to unfold...

What has Angelfield been hiding? What is the secret that strikes at the heart of Margaret's own, troubled life? And can both women ever confront the ghosts that haunt them...?

The Thirteenth Tale is a spellbinding mystery, a love letter to storytelling, and a modern classic.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orion; 1st edition (September 5, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1409192954
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1409192954
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.12 x 1.42 x 7.72 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,738,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #29,859 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)
- #82,768 in Suspense Thrillers
- #103,250 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 12,433 ratings

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Diane Setterfield

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Diane Setterfield is a former academic, specializing in twentieth-century French literature. She lives in Yorkshire, England.

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Customers say

Customers enjoyed the captivating story with many twists and turns. They found the writing quality brilliant and praised the characters as well-developed and intelligent. Many described the book as entertaining, romantic, and sweet. However, some readers felt the book was not satisfying or worth their time.

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Story quality Suspenseful story Writing quality Character development Entertainment value Pace Emotional content Readability

723 customers mention "Story quality"723 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story's quality. They find it captivating, compelling, and full of surprises. The book is described as descriptive and well-written. Many readers consider it a great debut novel with plenty of room for growth.

"...This is such a delightful and well received novel that I am shocked that the author hasn't written her second book yet...." Read more

"...Anyway, I recommend this book. It's a good one. Interesting, compelling, no bad language or explicit sex. Just a really good story." Read more

"...I have to say that I was very sorry to see this book end. The story was so original and crafted so beautifully that I am looking forward to see what..." Read more

"...It truly is great story...love, mystery, and a ghost - sort of. The writer does a great job of spinning a story, with a beginning, middle, and end...." Read more

688 customers mention "Suspenseful story"582 positive106 negative

Customers enjoy the suspenseful story with many twists and turns. They find it engaging, with a great mystery and intriguing backstories. Readers describe the book as an exciting debut that explores truth.

"...The culmination of this novel is both surprising and heartwarming...." Read more

"...well-fleshed out characters that keep you interested, and the ending is neat and tidy.Things that bugged me (note: I'm easily bugged):-..." Read more

"...In this fashion, The Thirteenth Tale remains a page turning experience while at the same time keeping the simple yet sophisticated narrative voice..." Read more

"...It truly is great story...love, mystery, and a ghost - sort of. The writer does a great job of spinning a story, with a beginning, middle, and end...." Read more

443 customers mention "Writing quality"413 positive30 negative

Customers appreciate the writing quality. They find the language beautiful and compelling, with a brilliantly done tale. The author uses tasteful understatement and sketches out details well. The descriptions are good and thoughtful.

"...of Margaret seeking the facts and Vida's tale are brilliantly done by the author...." Read more

"...It is well written and lyrical. It has a plethora of well-fleshed out characters that keep you interested, and the ending is neat and tidy...." Read more

"...The story was so original and crafted so beautifully that I am looking forward to see what else Diane Setterfield has up her sleeve in her future..." Read more

"...It's beautiful and terrible. And even if you avoid gothic novels like I do, this one . . . This one deserves to be made an exception...." Read more

214 customers mention "Character development"186 positive28 negative

Customers find the characters intriguing and three-dimensional. They describe the heroine as intelligent, strong, and sensible. The conversations between characters flow naturally, and the characters are fully human with their own faults.

"...We meet some of the most interesting characters, such as; Adeline and Emmeline March, the Missus and John-the-dig, Dr. Maudsley, Hester Barrow, and..." Read more

"...It is well written and lyrical. It has a plethora of well-fleshed out characters that keep you interested, and the ending is neat and tidy...." Read more

"...I love the characters, and how all the main characters are given the depths they so deserve...." Read more

"...did not appeal to me as much as the rest of the book, Character development was interesting. I recommend the book." Read more

39 customers mention "Entertainment value"39 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's entertainment value. They find the story enchanting, compelling, and enjoyable. Readers describe it as joy in the form of words, with mystery, horror, love, and sadness. The book is described as thrillingly Victorian-Romantic, filled with wit, wordplay, and confrontation. Overall, the book is considered a good love story with thoughtful textures and moments that will stay with them.

"...It truly is great story...love, mystery, and a ghost - sort of. The writer does a great job of spinning a story, with a beginning, middle, and end...." Read more

"...It's an awful lot of fun. Once I got into the story, I listened to the audio while driving, and read the book when at home...." Read more

"...between these two very intelligent, determined women, filled with wit, word-play and confrontation; then there is the emerging story of Ms. Winter..." Read more

"...I love that this is a story about truth. I love that this is a story about love, without having to be a romance...." Read more

100 customers mention "Pace"37 positive63 negative

Customers have different views on the book's pace. Some find it engaging and quick enough, while others find it slow at times and wordy.

"...6. It does start out particularly slowly --- allow yourself the first 50 pages or so to ease into this book like you would a warm bath, before you..." Read more

"...and complicated, rewarding plot made The Thirteenth Tale a fast, enjoyable experience.The story itself has the makings of a classic...." Read more

"...It may start slow, but it picks up speed and barrels through the finish line...." Read more

"...I felt that there was an acceleration of the pace at the end, and while I wanted to figure out who did what to whom, some of it seemed a little..." Read more

65 customers mention "Emotional content"38 positive27 negative

Customers find the book gripping and emotional, with heartfelt details. They describe it as soothing, compassionate, and stimulating. However, some readers feel the content is depressing at times, lacking joy, and overly melodramatic.

"...The culmination of this novel is both surprising and heartwarming...." Read more

"...It will leave you feeling a little unsettled...." Read more

"...his name reminded me fondly of Marcus Aurelius, but because he was so caring and safe. Also the cake. That's pretty important...." Read more

"...The story is a beautiful tale even though it is incredibly disturbing at times and so very sad...." Read more

50 customers mention "Readability"0 positive50 negative

Customers find the book unsatisfying and boring. They feel it's not worth their time, even at a reduced price. The first 70 pages are described as dull and unenjoyable. The language is nice but overdone.

"...this book enough to others, I recognize that this is not a book for everyone...." Read more

"...I enjoyed the book until the ending which I found completely trite and impossible. I like a surprise ending but this one was beyond silly." Read more

"...This book is so bland and the characters have no sizzle to them. These are boring people, even if they are heavy with idiosyncracies...." Read more

"...I guess you can say the plot twist came, but it was very disappointed. So much of the ending of this book just didn't make sense...." Read more

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Rick O
The launching of Diane Setterfield's writing career couldn't have gone better.
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2012
Verified Purchase
The launching of Diane Setterfield's writing career couldn't have gone better. This novel published in 2006 is reminiscent of the old English gothic novels such as Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre'. I would also think that Agatha Christie's Miss Marple would have been proud of the novel's heroine Margaret Lea. Not that our heroine was tracking a cold blooded murderer, but she does use her deduction abilities to solve a mystery festering for sixty years. This is such a delightful and well received novel that I am shocked that the author hasn't written her second book yet. Diane Setterfield can't be out there teaching French again...can she?

The novel starts out with an antiquarian bookseller Margaret Lea getting a letter from Britain's foremost novelist Vida Winter. After years of giving false information about her life, Miss Winter wants to tell her true life's story before she passes away. She has picked a somewhat dilettante biographer in our heroine Margaret Lea. Margaret agrees to go to Yorkshire for a meeting with Vida still unsure of accepting the commission. Margaret wasn't going to do the biography until she found out that Vida had a twin. This perks her interest since Margaret was also a twin. So Vida starts the story of the strange and reclusive Angelfield family. This tale is very weird and Margaret is unsure if Vida is just conning another writer, or is finally telling the truth. During the interview stoppages, while Vida is too ill to continue the tale, Margaret does a little detective work to check on the veracity of Vida's claims. The intertwining of Margaret seeking the facts and Vida's tale are brilliantly done by the author. We meet some of the most interesting characters, such as; Adeline and Emmeline March, the Missus and John-the-dig, Dr. Maudsley, Hester Barrow, and who could forget Charlie and Isabelle! I don't recall a book I've read recently that had so many major characters and the unbelievable part is that I had empathy for all of them. Well done Diane Setterfield on that difficult and rare task. I also enjoyed your perpetual description of the topiary gardens and the gothic mansion of the Angelfield family.

The culmination of this novel is both surprising and heartwarming. Setterfield states near the end of the book that she will have closure on all the characters in the novel and she does, or does she? I'm still unsure of the final outcome of the mansion's fire as pertaining to Adeline, Emmeline and the ghost. If you have read the book, you know what I'm saying! If you haven't read this book, you have 406 pages of ambrosial entertainment ahead of you. As Diane Setterfield might say- " don't get ajangle reading this story "!

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Madiantin
Pretty dang good
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2018
Verified Purchase
I did not expect to like this book. It had been recommended to me and is clearly popular, but I find myself shying away from super popular books because they're usually not very good.
But then this one was on sale for $3 and that's cheaper than a sushi lunch and would take me longer to digest, so I bought it. And I'm glad I did.
The story is certainly well crafted and grabs you. It is well written and lyrical. It has a plethora of well-fleshed out characters that keep you interested, and the ending is neat and tidy.
Things that bugged me (note: I'm easily bugged):
- The inter-generational abuse and neglect presented as normal.
- Esoteric words chucked in there where simpler ones would do. .... Ok, OTOH, maybe the author fell in love with those particular words and needed to put them somewhere in homage. I can understand that. But it was still vaguely irritating.
- The twin thing. Yes I know it was a major theme of the book, but really, I was happily truckling along, completely immersed in the story universe, and then there would be this whine about the twin and it totally yanked me out of the tale and plonked me firmly back into reality. Like seriously, maybe it's time to get over yourself, girl? This obsession is maybe not quite healthy? In that regard the very end had me rolling my eyes so far back in my head I nearly fell over.
- There was something else but with my irritation about the twin thing I've forgotten what it was. Curses.

The characters: I find it interesting that most of the male characters, barring Charlie, were extremely comfortable to be around. I liked Dr. Clifton very much. His amusement delighted me. I loved Aurelius not only because his name reminded me fondly of Marcus Aurelius, but because he was so caring and safe. Also the cake. That's pretty important. I liked John because he kept on doing the best he could.
Charlie and Charlie's Dad, of course, both needed to be put out of their misery.

Of the women, most of them were flawed. Even Hester, who brought cleanliness and order, also brought chaos. Missus cared and loved, but was inadequate. Isabella needed to be put out of her misery. And Margaret whined.

I wonder what that was all about? The gender thing? Was it deliberate? Surely not. OH hey...Mrs. Love wasn't flawed. She was just lovely. <3

OH! I remembered what the other thing was that irritated me. The vague hints that this was going to be a ghost story. My mind stamped a firm "NOPE" on that one and I got inwardly snarly whenever it came up.

Anyway, I recommend this book. It's a good one. Interesting, compelling, no bad language or explicit sex. Just a really good story.

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Grey Meredith
Interesting book
Reviewed in Italy on August 5, 2024
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I loved this book a lot! It’s very fast paced, the story has many interesting plot twists, it keeps you on your toes and always wondering. You never know what’s really happening. Loved it!

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Jackie Forrest
Wonderful gothic mystery
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2024
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What a fantastic book. This had everything. Diane Setterfield writes absolutely beautifully, Her descriptions are almost poetic and you can visualise everything so clearly. Her characters are well developed and engaging enough for you to care about them. The plot........ Wow. This was so complicated and devious.
I subsequently saw the TV film (which wasn't a patch on the book and I urge you to read the book first) which explained everything in a concise and abbreviated way, but it needed all the ramblings of the book to recreate the atmosphere properly. I couldn't work out from the book when it was set, I'd guessed the early 1900s but the TV film seems to be set after the war, so I'd guess maybe 1940s. There are no clues in the book relating to the time frame.
I'd read Once Upon a River, which although not gothic, was similarly mysterious and again absolutely beautifully written, like a river meandering through the tale. The Thirteenth Tale, in my opinion, was even better and I can't wait to read her third book. This is a talented author for sure.

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Ileana Keymolen
Wow.
Reviewed in Mexico on May 21, 2019
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I’ve read this book 5 times in Spanish and 2 times in English. Every time I have found something new. Something that makes me appreciate the story in a whole different way. I love this book, and it is a must-read. 10/10.

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Cliente Amazon
A book you can't put down
Reviewed in Spain on January 31, 2022
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I decided to buy the book after seeing the film by chance. I really enjoyed the film and so I did the book. I like everything,the storytelling,the plot, the way in which is written!

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Giulia Fischer
Um dos livros que mais amo.
Reviewed in Brazil on September 11, 2017
Verified Purchase
Lembro que li esse livro a primeira vez com 14 anos. Depois reli com 18. E novamente com 23. É um livro que gosto de ter por perto quando quero reencontrar alguns personagens. Diane Setterfield compôs uma história com um ambiente e uma atmosfera tão misteriosos que é impossível largar o livro, pois você precisa saber o que acontece no capítulo seguinte. Os personagens são ricamente construídos e é impossível não amar cada um deles, mesmo com seus defeitos.

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