The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel

by Diane Setterfield | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0743298020 Global Overview for this book
Registered by Flakes of Bloomington, Illinois USA on 12/23/2006
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3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Flakes from Bloomington, Illinois USA on Saturday, December 23, 2006
From Publishers Weekly
Former academic Setterfield pays tribute in her debut to Brontë and du Maurier heroines: a plain girl gets wrapped up in a dark, haunted ruin of a house, which guards family secrets that are not hers and that she must discover at her peril. Margaret Lea, a London bookseller's daughter, has written an obscure biography that suggests deep understanding of siblings. She is contacted by renowned aging author Vida Winter, who finally wishes to tell her own, long-hidden, life story. Margaret travels to Yorkshire, where she interviews the dying writer, walks the remains of her estate at Angelfield and tries to verify the old woman's tale of a governess, a ghost and more than one abandoned baby. With the aid of colorful Aurelius Love, Margaret puzzles out generations of Angelfield: destructive Uncle Charlie; his elusive sister, Isabelle; their unhappy parents; Isabelle's twin daughters, Adeline and Emmeline; and the children's caretakers. Contending with ghosts and with a (mostly) scary bunch of living people, Setterfield's sensible heroine is, like Jane Eyre, full of repressed feeling—and is unprepared for both heartache and romance. And like Jane, she's a real reader and makes a terrific narrator. That's where the comparisons end, but Setterfield, who lives in Yorkshire, offers graceful storytelling that has its own pleasures.

Journal Entry 2 by Flakes from Bloomington, Illinois USA on Monday, January 8, 2007
Sending this off to ILuvToRead2. Thanks for the trade!:)

Journal Entry 3 by wingILuvToRead2wing from -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings --, Illinois USA on Saturday, January 13, 2007
Received in the mail as part of a trade - Thank you! I'm so excited to be reading a "new" book, as I have been reading quite of bit of old ones in an effort to move along the books that have been on my TBR the longest time. This will be a nice break.

Journal Entry 4 by wingILuvToRead2wing from -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings --, Illinois USA on Monday, November 12, 2007
Reserved for KatieLindsay

Journal Entry 5 by wingILuvToRead2wing from -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings --, Illinois USA on Friday, January 4, 2008
Mailed to KatieLindsay. I really enjoyed this book. I hope you enjoy it too!

Journal Entry 6 by KatieLindsay from Morganton, North Carolina USA on Wednesday, July 16, 2008
I was surprised to see the BookCrossing plate inside this book. I had completely forgotten that it came from Flakes. My only excuse is that we moved in April. Thank you Flakes.

I loved this book! It was hauntingly beautiful.

I think I will set up a ray.

Do not read the next lines if you have not yet read the book!!!

The next line gives away something important!!!

Do not read on if you have not finished the book!!!

Tell me, do you think that the Emaline at the end... the one living with Ms. Winter is Emaline or Adeline? Setterfield wrapped up everything so nicely but I'm just not sure about this. Perhaps I am not supose to be. What do you think?

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