A Book Review
“The Thirteenth Tale” by Diane Setterfield
Setterfield writes a deeply engaging novel about troubled families, the love of books, and the origin of stories.
I often approach contemporary writers with some trepidation, much like Margaret Lea, the narrator of The Thirteenth Tale. I need not have worried, because this gothic tale hooks and reels readers in as soon as one opens its first pages.
“It was November.” — Diane Setterfield
The book’s opening sentence is simple, and yet it contains the promise of a dark, grim ghost story. For in the end, this is what The Thirteenth Tale is; a ghost story of sorts. Maybe not of supernatural beings, but haunted memories of family secrets, lies, pain, and deaths.
“Of course I loved books more than people.” — Diane Setterfield.
Margaret Lea is a young recluse and a biographer who lives above her father’s bookshop in Yorkshire. That she prefers books over people is understandable, and I think sensible. The story starts when…
