The Thirteenth Tale

I started taking college classes again in the fall of 2006 after a twenty-five year hiatus.  I decided to take English Comp I again because I was afraid I wouldn’t remember basic sentence structure and grammar rules.  Professor B., a German punk band loving former attorney, announced as she was going over her syllabus, that we would be writing a lot during the semester.  She had no intention of wasting time reviewing High School English.  Oh crap!  I thought I was doomed.

I wrote like a crazy person.  I was never satisfied with what I put down on paper so I constantly tweaked and rewrote, over and over.  To my utter amazement she gave me A’s.  That woman had a red pen and wasn’t afraid to use it so I suppose she saw potential or something.  I still have issues with comma placement among other things but I gained so much self-confidence in her class.  Thank you, Professor B.

 

                                                     

                                                  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield   

     “How long did I sit on the stairs after reading the letter? I don’t know. For I was spellbound. There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. 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. Inside you they work their magic. When I at last woke up to myself, I could only guess what had been going on in the darkness of my unconsciousness. What had the letter done to me?”

     The Thirteenth Tale is the story of Margaret Lea, a biographer of nineteenth century obscure literary figures. She lives and works in her father’s antiquarian bookshop and spends six hours a day reading her beloved books. She is haunted by a family secret that she discovered as a child but refuses to speak of.

     Margaret’s life changes quite dramatically when she receives a letter from Vida Winter, “England’s best-loved writer; our century’s Dickens; the world’s most famous living author; and so on.” Miss Winter had published fifty-six books in fifty-six years, including the now legendary Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation, which, in fact, only contained twelve tales. Twenty-two biographers had tried and failed to write Miss Winter’s life story over the years. Now she was requesting that Margaret come to stay with her for the purpose of writing the “truth” about her life. Miss Winter had spent the last seventy-six years telling stories, none of which resembled the actual truth.

     Margaret is not convinced that Miss Winter is capable of telling the truth and declines her offer. As she begins to walk out of the Victorian library she is frozen in place as Miss Winter utters the word twin. Thus begins the ghostly tale of the Angelfields.

     This is a story about Charlie Angelfield and his obsessive love for his sister, Isabelle. We are introduced to Isabelle’s out of control red hair, green-eyed, twin daughters Adeline and Emmeline and Missus and John the Dig who care for them. We are told about Hester, the governess and Dr. Maudsley’s cruel separation of the twins for an experiment. We learn about the mystery of the gentle giant Aurelius and the ghostly woman in white. While relating the tale, Miss Winter finally tells the complete truth about her life at Angelfield.

     The Thirteenth Tale was written for the avid book lover. You don’t want to put it down and find yourself reading sentences over and over again because they are just so beautiful and haunting. You can’t wait to find out how it all ends but don’t want to leave these characters behind when it does. This is definitely a book worth reading more than once.   

Reviewed by Leslie Treloar