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The Thirteenth Tale  By  cover art

The Thirteenth Tale

By: Diane Setterfield
Narrated by: Bianca Amato, Jill Tanner
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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)

What listeners say about The Thirteenth Tale

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    6,630
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    2,982
  • 3 Stars
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
    142

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Riveting!

This is a wonderful read - suspenseful, intellectual, intriguing. The characters are all well-developed and believable, despite being sometimes bizarre. The two narrators are excellent and the readers well-suited to their roles.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

95% great entertainment

Most of this book is thoroughly entertaining. Nothing deep. Just vivid characters with a page-turning story. My only real complaint is that the narrator is such a shallow little drip. If you love books and story-telling and Gothic mysteries, you won't be disappointed with this one.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Unique, Intriguing and Surprising

The first chapter concerned me because the main character and her circumstances were not interesting at all but things changed rather quickly and this audio book became enthralling. This is a story no one has every told which is hard to find. The narration is well done and the plot is excellent. Highly recommend!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love Bianca Amati

I have misophonia so sometimes certain voices or inflections drive me nuts - no offense to the narrator- not your fault! Love this narrator’s voice. The story was great, every time I thought I had it figured out the author swindled me :) Great story telling and description.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

A good one for the book lover. Such a rich story, rich with detail and loss and despair and commitment to the reader. The narrators did a wonderful job as well.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fun to listen to

This was an enjoyable book. The time flew by and the story kept me listening.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Most engaging story I've found in a long time

In world filed with formulaic genre novels, this work deserves to be called literature. Thoroughly entertaining. The author does such a beautiful job unfolding her story that I won't say a thing about it, lest I destroy the revelation. Thank you, Diane Setterfield.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Easy Listening

Wonderful story keeps you guessing. Beautifully narrated, with voices that compliment each other.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

favorite book, great narration

This is my favorite book. I try to read it once every 2-3 years. I was wary to get it in audio book format in case it was terrible, but wow, it was a great performance. while I will still read the physical book, the audio format really enhanced the story for me.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Took me a while to get into

Any additional comments?

This book got off to a slow start for me. At one point, I was considering returning it and then the story got going. The author did a good job of leaving quite a bit of mystery to the very end. Once I thought I had everything figured out, there was another huge plot twist that I sent the story in a totally different direction. Overall though, I enjoyed it.

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