From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

The Thirteenth Tale

Diane Setterfield

Start date: August 2, 2014

Finish date: August 21, 2014

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What Members Thought

Jan 19, 2010 Trisha rated it it was amazing

Hillsboro evening book club Oct 20th.

A very beautifully written story with stories within stories. I was sucked in to the story on page 1 and just couldn't let it go. I would re-read this, even though I know the twist in the end. Such a great story! ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 09, 2014 Nancy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-about-books, still-owned

The Thirteenth Tale is a beautifully written book which keeps you gripped right from the outset. It might be a ghost story or it might not, but it is nevertheless a book full of mystery and discovery of the past. I loved the descriptions of the bookshop and the library - if you're a book lover, then you can't help but feel the same thrill and delight at the thought of both of them. About the only tiny thing that detracted was the end. I felt the author laboured the end a little bit. It could hav ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 08, 2010 Mandy Beyers rated it really liked it

Margaret receives an unexpected invitation from a reclusive, mysterious, best-selling writer - "come write my biography". Vida Winters is famous for spinning a different story for every reporter that comes to ask about her life when one of her books is published (all fifty-six of them), and turning down twenty-two biographers that have asked to write her life story. Margaret is the semi-reclusive daughter of an antique bookseller who has written a few essays about the almost-famous. As Margaret ...more

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May 12, 2010 Rachel N. rated it liked it

Margaret Lea is hired by the reclusive writer Vida Winter to write her autobiography. This leads into the odd tale of Miss Winter's past and the twins Adeline and Emmeline. This book just didn't grab me like it seems to have grabbed a lot of other people. The main characters were all so depressed and disturbed that I found the book bringing me down and it took me a really long time to read. ...more

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Aug 01, 2014 Rebekah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-historical, genre-fantasy, genre-book-club, genre-historical-fiction, genre-adult, genre-adult-fiction, genre-mystery, genre-gothic, genre-fiction, genre-writing-books-about-books

Modern novel written in the Gothic style of the Bronte sisters. If you love books and reading, writing, and particularly tales of Yorkshire moors and screwed up families, you will enjoy this one.

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