I loved the ending of this book. While reading, I could tell that there was going to be a twist to it but couldnt guess the exact details so it was enjoyable until the very end to see how it fell into place.

The book moved along quickly for me. It was one of those books where when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it and looking forward to when I could nestle in and read it some more. And now that I am done, it has stayed with me a bit.

I would recommend this book and will probably even read it again. Great book! ( )

Anxiously waiting for Diane Setterfield to write another book! ( )

What interested me most about The Thirteenth Tale is it’s voice – it reads exactly like something out of the 1800s, without the pretentiousness of modern imitation. There are mentions of cars and firefighters, but it’s such an old-school narrative style and premise that it’s difficult to tell which era it’s set in. That aside, it’s fascinatingly well-written, both in terms of adherence to to Victorian style and in terms of page-turnability.*

Each character is utterly convincing, which is surprising considering the potential for cliches. A reclusive beautiful crazy woman – interesting. A plain female narrator who manages to uncover the truth – also interesting, and besides, it’s not like she didn’t have help. The crazy woman in the metaphorical attic – very Jane Eyre, but who would expect that in contemporary literature? And the clues leading up to her discovery were subtle and creepy enough, with enough potential to lead somewhere else, to keep things interesting.

Though I found the first few pages a bit slow, I was still up until four am reading on, and once you get used to the tone (again, all the readability of contemporary literature with a dead-on voice for the Victorian era – Setterfield is a literature expert, after all) it’s fascinating.

First published: http://www.carolynyates.com/books/thi... ( )

This is one of the books that "spoke" to me. There was something I couldn't explain, some silent communication that occurred between the book and I when I was browsing it on the Top Rates shelf. It compelled me to read it, I sat there staring at the interesting cover and clicked on it, read the summary, the reviews, and I knew I had to read it, immediately. It helped a lot that my friend has a copy, and since she's a good friend, she let me borrow it even though she hasn't read it yet.

After reading the first few pages, I needed to read more. This book really is for book lovers, and those who just doesn't like to collect books, but read them and treasure them. There are a lot of stories in here, there are stories within a story and the first person point of view was used effectively.

Diane Setterfield painted pictures with words, the imagery was excellent and with words she made me feel, made me think, and made me wonder. The reviews proved true when after a feel-good ending, with all the lose ends tied, I still found myself wondering about what would happen.

This book was filled with questions, short stories, angst, eccentricity, and a whole lot of familial love. I only gave this a four because I didn't like the main story told, it's not something I would read again, but I enjoyed reading it because of Setterfield's play of words. The characters were unpredictable and the mysteries sprung forth after every chapter. You'll know all the answers to those eventually. ( )

Synopsis: The world's most popular fiction author Vida Winter has fallen sick, and knowing she is nearing her death she hires Magaret Lea, a booklover who had never once read anything by her, to write her biography.
It isn't easy for Vida Winter to tell the truth about her past, as she is used to the fictional world. But slowly, she begins to tell the story of Angelfield House, hidden for centuries.
Magaret Lea tries to discover Vida Winter's connection with the house, unravelling many deep secrets.
My Opinion: The mysterious plot confused, and sometimes even bored me for the first half of the book. It isn't until the main secret is revealed that everything starts to make more sense and create a more easy-to-read and enjoyable story, but this doesn't happen until near the end. ( )