Book Review: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - Page 2

The story of the fall of the Angelfield family and the destruction of their house is engrossing and intriguing and feels like it comes from the nineteenth century rather than the twenty-first. (It is not for nothing Jane Eyre is referenced throughout the story.) The Angelfield narrative could have stood alone as a Gothic horror story; instead, Diane Setterfield skillfully creates a book-within-a-book, both paying homage to and modernizing the genre at the same time.

Margaret is a well-rounded character. We learn much about her, her occupations, struggles, and feelings; the book is really as much her story as Vida Winter's. Ms. Winter is an enigma to Margaret for most of the book, and so she is to us; we must wait to see her story unraveled. The characters in the Angelfield part of the narrative are simultaneously real and unreal; they are drawn in greater detail than some of the contemporary characters, like Margaret's parents, but they exist in a twilight world on the edge of human society and decency, which does indeed feel ghostly.

The stories in this book are essentially personal. Still, the narrative pulls the reader in and drives forward, feeling both urgent and terribly important. These stories - tragedies actually - point out the power of secrets to destroy lives. The people in this tale divulge their secrets only under direst need, but afterward one finds a sentiment I think of as more contemporary — that airing secrets and revealing the truth has a healing effect.

The Thirteenth Tale is a satisfying novel with many twists and turns to keep up interest. For me, the momentum slacked a little in the middle, but that shouldn't stop readers from wanting to continue on to the end. They'll be glad they did, and they just might see a ghost.

Article Author: Nancy Fontaine

Nancy Fontaine is a librarian and freelance writer living in New Hampshire with her husband, two cats, and every four years during presidential primary season, the national press.

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