"Tell me the truth. It is a simple request, but one that shakes the reclusive and enigmatic novelist, Vida Winter, to her very core. For has she not spent the past six decades writing fictional lives that have not only brought her fame and fortune but kept her violent and tragic past a secret? Now old and ailing, Vida Winter cannot escape her own history, no matter how many stories she weaves.
Tell me the truth. These words from the past echo in the heart of young biographer Margaret Lea, for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who love her most, remains an ever-present pain. With a letter that promises finally to reveal the long kept secrets of her life, Vida Winter invites Margaret on a journey to the past.
Vida's tale is one of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family: the beautiful and wilful Isabelle and the feral twins, Adeline and Emmeline. In succumbing to Vida's storytelling, Margaret finds that it sheds a troubling light on her own life. Both women confront the ghosts that have haunted them and both become, finally, transformed by the truth."

I heard about this book through LibraryThing's Groups and everyone was raving about it. After reading the blurb I decided it was right up my alley and bought it from Amazon. I wasn't disappointed at all and am only giving it 9 stars out of 10, because I feel the author could have used a little more suspense in the story and the ending for Margaret could have been better.
But all in all, it's a great book if you like Gothic mysteries, it reminded me of V. C. Andrews' stories though much better written. It has all the elements, a weird family, secrets buried in the past and a fantastic story teller that knows how to appeal to the bookworm in us.
Though it has 400 pages I could have read more, I wanted to know more about Isabelle and her father, about Aurelius, about Vida Winter and Margaret herself. I really wasn't bored! ;o)

This book will now travel as a Mini-BookRing between my friends. Here's the list of participants in no particular order:

- Fantasma
- fflloorr
- Xana
- Moimeme

Here it is! I'm the first :) Couldn't resist, yeah....
With so many good reviews I'm really curious to read it and it won't wait long in my shelf, I'm sure.
Let's see if it's "right up my alley" too! (loved the expression!! :op)
Thanks, V.!

So, what can I tell that Virgulina hasn't said in her JE?
I really liked the book, it's one of those you can hardly put down and that absorbes you into the story, long after you've finished it. The lifes of the caracters stay with you and you can't stop wanting to know more about them, the writing style is addictive.
Some of the misteries stay unresolved, toying with our imagination.

Having said this, I also have to say I wanted to kick Margaret several times through out the book! Sometimes she really unnerved me, that lack of desire to live, the constant longing for a twin sister she never met... I can't know what it feels to have a twin sibling, but in her situation, I don't believe she could either... And the final chapter, totally dispensable and, IMO, ridiculous.
Don't let this turn you down, girls-who-are-to-read-the-book! ;o) The other 406 pages, absolutely compensate for the last 2 ^_^

It's with me :-)

[11/10/2007]

I loved it so much that I've read it in two days :)
Thanks V. for organizing this ring :)