The Thirteenth Tale

A Novel

By: Diane Setterfield

Narrated by: Bianca Amato, Jill Tanner

Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

All children mythologize their birth... So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's beloved collection of stories, long famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale. The enigmatic Winter has always kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she summons a biographer to tell the truth about her extraordinary life: Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth remains an ever-present pain.

Disinterring the life she meant to bury for good, Vida mesmerizes Margaret with the power of her storytelling. Hers is a tale of gothic strangeness, featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, and a devastating fire. Struck by a curious parallel between their stories, Margaret demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them.

The Thirteenth Tale is a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and we loved as children. Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter, and in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday life.

©2006 Diane Setterfield (P)2007 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Literary Fiction, 2007

"Bianca Amato is stunning as Margaret....[her] respect for the power of story and the written word is heard in every utterance. Jill Tanner accomplishes a tour de force as the enigmatic and mysterious Vida. In conversation her voice has the hesitancy and fragility of an elderly woman, but her voice takes on the strength and power of a master storyteller as she weaves her spellbinding life story." (AudioFile)
"Readers will be mesmerized by this story-within-a-story tinged with the eeriness of Rebecca and the willfulness of Jane Eyre. The author skillfully keeps the plot moving by unfurling a new twist in each chapter and leaves no strand untucked at the surprising and satisfying conclusion. A wholly original work told in the vein of all the best gothic classics. Lovers of books about book lovers will be enthralled." (Booklist)

atmospheric, but slow at the start

I probably wouldn't have listened beyond the paaaaainfully slow and aimless-feeling first couple of hours, but I was trapped in a car with nothing else to listen to. I'm glad I did, though. This is a very atmospheric book that draws you into its little world. It requires some suspension of disbelief to really get into the story (like, about everything you think you know about how human beings behave), but I ultimately found it pretty entertaining.

Spellbinding

This story, and the narration, wrapped me in a world away from ours. The story, above average. The imagery, and the author's ability with words that make the world seem rich and alive, outstanding. And the narration, terrific. You care about the characters and their tales; you live their lives with them.

That said -- this probably isn't a book for someone not content with moving slowly and gently, with someone more intent on action or pace. It's a story for luxuriating in. And although my inclination tends to be with science, non-fiction, and history, I loved this.

I'll look forward to anything else Diane Satterfield decides to write, or these narrators choose to tell.

Wonderful Book!

I hadn't read a fiction book in years. My sister's book club read this one last year and voted it best book of the year. What a treat! Excellent character development and storyline.

Wonderful Work

It started off slowly, but boy when it got going, I was lost in it. What a great storyteller Ms. Satterfield is. I enjoyed her characters and was caught up with the story within the story. I would like to read what else this author has done as her development of the characters was fantastic and her style is great. I look forward to more.

a good balance between narrators

I gave it five stars because the story really sucked me in. The story itself was GREAT, I'm sad it's over, but I was very satisfied with the ending. Very satisfied.
I felt the narrator of the story, Margret, could be a little overly dramatic(The character Margret, not Bianca Amato, the actual narrator.. she did her job well conveying the character's...character)

I had to chuckle at the part where she said the doctor was secretly laughing at her. Good, I wasn't the only one...the author knew what she was doing, and that was a nice break to let us all know that indeed she was a bit overly dramatic.

However, I've been having fun talking like her all week, and my husband keeps rolling his eyes. I better give the guy a break before he strains them.

It was almost a relief at times when Ms. Winter started telling her story. Her narration was wonderful and refreshing. Her straightforward, sometimes harsh(yet not at all heartless) retelling of the story was just the balance that the book needed.

Hiding truth behind a great story

Glorious pros carefully crafted in the midst of perfectly, distinctly, phrased rhythms of sound. Mesmerizing, in their gentility, the words land so softly on my ear while their profound darkness ever so slowly seeps into my mind. I start but stop 4 chapters in. I can not continue to listen for days and weeks my mind hesitates. I fear the loss of my heroine to some unspeakable danger just as I lost another to the preternatural in "The Historian". So I cheat. I listen far far ahead for just 15 minutes......and the reader again draws me in to begin again to the end ; and such a glorious satisfying end it is!

Enchanting!

Once the storyteller began, I was mesmerised. The plot began, and I felt sorry for Isabel. Charlie needed help. Then came the twins. What fun! I won't spoil the book, by giving away the ending, but it beats most gothic novels hands down.

Blown away

I never write reviews. It's probably not a good thing because I rely on them heavily when making my decisions. This book has compelled me enough to write a review. It has been a month since I first listened to this book; I can't stop talking about it and am already listening to it again. I don't know what it is about it, the great narration or the mystery in the story itself, but this book is definitely worth your time.

Amazing!

This book was amazing. The reading was excellent, the writing engaging. This is one of those, Let me drive around the blook a few more times before I get home so I can listen some more, type of audio books! I LOVED IT.

Great Story!

I reallly enjoyed listening to this book. The story is great and so are the narrators.