The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel
by Diane Setterfield, narrated by Bianca Amato and Jill Tanner, Audible Audio Edition, 15 hours and 40 minutes. Published 2006
...if you would like to lose yourself in a true Gothic mystery The Thirteenth Tale is for you. I was sorry to see it end.
This is a genuine Gothic tale. Margaret Lea, daughter of a London bookseller, comes to Yorkshire to write the biography of a dying Vida Winter. Winter is a world famous author beloved for her many books but mysterious about one story that has not yet been published – the thirteenth tale. She has notoriously never been truthful about her personal life. Lea listens as Winter relates her life story. The story is of the Angelfield family, a mostly dysfunctional group of people; twin girls of the family, a governess, a housekeeper, gardener and at least one ghost all living in a Brontë type mansion in Yorkshire! Winter relates the strange tale, full of mistaken identities, madness, secrets, and sexual obsessions. Margaret travels to the abandoned Angelfield estate to try and confirm the truthfulness of the story.
I really don’t want to give details of the plot as the mystery is central to enjoying this book, but let me make a few comments about the novel. The writing is richly descriptive. The two main characters Miss Winter and Margaret Lea are very well developed and very believable within this book. Margaret is a throwback Jane Eyre type character. She is an intellectual, very well read and with a world of repressed feelings but a true romantic at heart. The pacing of the story is also first rate, just enough information is revealed to keep the reader engaged and off balance in trying to discern the mystery. Lastly the plot itself is excellent. The story just flowed, plot twists were believable, characters remained in character and the conclusion was very satisfying including the wrap up detail given to even the minor characters in the story. I realize this is not a very extensive review but if you would like to lose yourself in a true Gothic mystery The Thirteenth Tale is for you. I was sorry to see it end.
I listened to audio CDs borrowed from The Free Library of Philadelphia
This is a wicked Gothic tale slowly unfolding in the despair of the 1907 Wisconsin winter. Ralph Truitt, richest man in town, has advertised for “a reliable wife”. Catherine Land, the chosen one travels by train to remote northern Wisconsin to become Truitt’s wife. Despite the title, no one in this story is reliable. Truitt, a fifty something businessman, mourns the loss of a family from twenty years ago. Land while presenting herself as from a missionary family is a courtesan with a hidden agenda. Slowly Land comes to love Truitt; slowly Truitt comes to realize that Land is less than advertised. This is a complex and layered story that advances in fits and starts. The deliberateness with which the author introduces the plot supports the character development of both Truitt and Land. To the credit of the author he makes Catherine a sympathetic character despite her nefarious plans. This is a true Gothic story with the requisite elements – a mansion in a remote location, a suspicious housekeeper, a dead first wife, a prodigal son. You are definitely required to suspend belief to accept some of the plot twists. There was lots of imagery in this story, some of which worked for me – winter and snow linking to despair and aloneness- other images which didn’t – water and birds linking to? The author makes the almost unimaginable love story between Truitt and Land ring true. His prose is delightfully relevant “that marriage brought a kind of simple pleasure, a pleasure in the continued company of another human being, the act of caring, of carrying with you the thought of someone else”.