The Thirteenth Tale

A Novel

By: Diane Setterfield

Narrated by: Bianca Amato, Jill Tanner

Winner of the 2007 Audie Award for Literary Fiction and Finalist for Multi-Voiced Performance

Instant #1 New York Times bestseller

“Readers will feel the magnetic pull of this paean to words, books and the magical power of story.”—People

“Eerie and fascinating.”—USA TODAY

Sometimes, when you open the door to the past, what you confront is your destiny.

Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness—featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

For lovers of books

Reading is highly personal, we know that what one loves, another may disdain. And so the reading of The Thirteenth Tale cannot please all. It's rare, however, to find so much divergence in reviews of this amazing story. Personally, I became enthralled after the first half hour of listening. As others have mentioned doing, I found excuses to listen. My sessions at the gym lengthened, I drove the long way home instead of taking the shortcut and I hung on every sentence. The narration is absolutely perfect for the story. Let's hope the author is hard at work on her next.

She had me...until the end...

I'm a book lover. I don't mean, I like to read and have a few books. I mean, I read a couple hundred books a year and have a room devoted just to books. (Oh what I would give to have an old fashioned library with a fireplace and a sliding ladder!) This being the case, I was immediately in love with this book. The gentle, slow way the author talked about rare books, you could tell that she loves them too. I liked the slow, plodding pace of the book. It didn't drag, nor did it rush.

I was totally in to this book until about hour 12. It started with a little irritation at the frequency that the author used the word twin. I was thinking of starting a drinking game. I would take a shot every time she said twin. Then I thought better of it, as it was before noon, and I would surely be too trashed to make dinner for my family that night. I digress. Back to the twin irritation. As I said, it was a mild irritation. I would roll my eyes and continue listening in the hopes that Miss Setterfield would pull herself together and get back to the good stuff. But then....

But then...no. It's too terrible to talk about. But I must continue, if only to caution future listeners.

I can't quite put my finger on the exact point that it started. It was a slow, gradual slipping. One that you could dismiss because the first part of the book had so much promise. But by hour 14 there was no denying it. The book was taking a headlong leap into the deep abyss.

I know that an author can't make everyone happy. They would go mad if they tried. I read reviews for books that complain the ending was too abrupt and left them scratching their heads. (Her Fearful Symmetry, for example. Hmm. Also about twins.) Then there are the reviews that say the ending was too well explained. (Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore.) I liked the ending of both books. But this book was different.

The reader is taken on a strange journey and asked to believe some things that seem outlandish. After the outlandish bits, then we are told the Thirteenth Tale. That part is interesting and should have been the end of it. But no. There is an epilogue, then a post script, then a...well I don't know what to call it. It just got weirder and weirder.

I am disappointed that a book with so much potential turned out to have an unbearable ending. It ruined the whole book for me.

Made too much of it

A excellent tale overly convoluted in lengthy detail. Very, very good narration almost saved elongated and overly detailed story. It took effort to remain interested when the descriptions dragged the story. Too detailed. Too long. Too good a story not to finish. Liked it but not too much.

Outstanding !!!!!!

I've listened to a lot of Audible books and I think this one is the best I have ever heard! I was so caught up in the story that I stayed up until 2AM just to hear the last 6 hours of the story. I believe that I could hear the whole thing over again and not be bored.
The narration was wonderful and I felt so close to the characters that I wanted to hug them in times of sorrow. I hope the author will continue with her writing as I will be a big fan. However, she'll have to go a long way to top this book.

The 13th Tale

It has been a month since I finished this listen and I still think of what a satisfying story it was. I had grown weary of so many of the books I had downloaded that I wasn't finishing them. This one got me back on track. I can't stand a contrived or overly stylized novel and this was both-yet I enjoyed it immensely. I hope to stumble onto more novels of such caliber. After I finished it my wife told me she had put in a special request for it at the library and read it before I had even ordered it. Now I know what she was doing hiding up in our bedroom back then.