Book Review: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

By Elizabeth Milo

When I picked up The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, I was drawn in by the rich colors and pictures of old books that adorned the cover.  But it only took a few pages before the story drew me in as well.  At approximately 400 pages, The Thirteenth Tale takes its time to work through the multiple storylines that Setterfield masterfully weaves together, but with so much intricacy to the plot, anything less would feel hurried and sloppy.  

The two main characters, Margaret Lea, a bookseller’s daughter, and Vida Winter, a beloved England author, share the spotlight as Miss Winter dictates her autobiography to Margaret.  The juxtaposition of these two characters creates a wonderful tension that prevents the reader from ever getting bored with one storyline.  At first, I was concerned that I would find the construct of The Thirteenth Tale pretentious: it’s supposed to be the narrative of a woman who is one of the greatest living writers of all time.  But as the story progressed, I found it utterly engrossing and completely worthy of such praise, even if it was fictional, intra-novelic praise.

Setterfield’s academic background in literature shines through in the way she utilizes the Gothic tradition.  In homage to the Victorian novels (Jane Eyre, Woman in White) that her characters love so much, she makes use of many of the Gothic tropes that were adopted by sensation novels, adapting them for a contemporary style of writing. In true Radcliffian style, Setterfield hints at ghosts and mysteries that-- for the most part-- turn out to be nothing more than tricks of the mind.  Setterfield strikes a wonderful balance between allowing the reader to make enough connections to feel clever, and still keeping enough hidden so that the twist comes as a  surprise.  Because of the intricacy of the story, once the big reveal occurred, I wanted to immediately go back to the beginning and reread the novel with my new perspective in mind.

The charm of the English culture that Setterfield describes in The Thirteenth Tale  only adds to its allure.  Her debut novel was not quite as successful in the UK as it was in America where it sky-rocketed to 1# on the New York Time’s Bestseller list.  But for an anglophile, mystery-loving, book junky like me, it’s no wonder why it was a break-out hit.