The Thirteenth Tale

by Diane Setterfield

esoteric,

dictionary count: 8

say. A couple of sentences, a page maybe, and then I would be able to sleep.

pahahahaha

king’s tears left salt burns on his face.

consume less sodium damn

Not many pages left.

me surfing the last twenty pages of cc2

There was no thirteenth tale.

NOW she’s interested

Betwixt and Between, by Vida Winter; Twice is Forever, by Vida Winter; Hauntings, by Vida Winter; Out of the Arc, by Vida Winter; Rules of Affliction, by Vida Winter; The Birthday Girl, by Vida Winter; The Puppet Show, by Vida Winter.

seriously did you have to add ‘by Vida Winter’ after all of them

But if I was to go to Yorkshire to meet Miss Winter

she’s NORTHERN brilliant

pine trees smelled nothing like coriander.

I imagine they smelled like pine

nothing to reveal that she could hardly bear to leave the house, that the most minor unexpected event gave her a migraine,

she’s so like me fr

Though I can’t help thinking of French too.’

Oh I never even CONSIDERED French

I was born, and the woman in the wedding photo disappeared.

tragic

Harrogate,

ugh the spa town

study the unfamiliar views

babes it’s just decrepit towns and a fuck tonne of fields, not much to see unless you’re cow tippin

the further we went, the smaller the villages became and the greater the distance between them until isolated farmhouses were the only interruptions to the naked winter fields. At last we left even the farmhouses behind and it grew dark.

told you

‘Is this the moors?’

well at least she didn’t mention ian brady

Overstuffed sofas were piled with velvet cushions; there were upholstered footstools, chaises longues and armchairs; tapestries hung on the walls and were used as throws over upholstered furniture. Every floor was carpeted, every carpet overlaid with rugs.

so she’s living my dream too cool

‘Miss Winter invites you to meet her in the library at eight o’clock.’

I’ll do whatever she wants as long as I can see her library

‘I could suggest increasing the monthly stipend and the final fee.’

just cut straight to the chase. love it.

pecuniary

dictionary count: 9

‘How horribly dull. I could never have been a biographer. Don’t you think one can tell the truth much better with a story?’

why do I love her

I can hardly spill the secrets of a lifetime to a person of whom I know nothing.

fair

‘Once upon a time there were twins—’

what does she know

Together we began the little ritual of preparing our desks.

oh she must be so lonely :(

One should always pay attention to ghosts, shouldn’t one, Miss Lea?’

WHAT DOES SHE KNOW

I was no more than a sub-plot.

me

Isabelle Angelfield was born during a rainstorm.

oh the pathetic fallacy

ten years of marriage is usually enough to cure marital affection,

another snort

for the fact was, he never thought of Charlie at all.

poor Charlie

Up to the desk she marched and she plumped the baby down in George Angelfield’s arms without a word. Then she turned her back and walked out, slamming the door behind her.

no word of a lie this is how my dad got my mum over her pnd after me. he just went out and left me with her.

personal charge of his daughter.

…and his son????

carrot-topped boy,

carrot top, been a while since I heard that 😂

It was not to be considered unmanly, ungentlemanly, or ridiculous that he kept her constantly by him.

so weird that this is weird

whose mind turned in circles around his few obsessions and preoccupations,

‘tism

that there might be some misdemeanour to correct, and he would spank the child, thinking that if it wasn’t actually owed it would do in advance for next time.

sure, that’s healthy

Charlie was free to do as he pleased, and what pleased him was removing floorboards at the top of the attic stairs and watching the housemaids tumble down and sprain their ankles.

oh so Charlie is cracked, okay

until the household came to be run according to the caprices of a three-year-old child.

uhhhhhh

Her cut was deeper than the one he had given her, and the blood rose up at once and trickled. She gave a sigh of satisfaction as she looked at it and then licked the blood away. Then she offered the wire back to him, and motioned to him to pull up his sleeve.

UHHHH TETANUS ????

Full of anger, Charlie looked for something to hit. But he had already broken everything that was breakable. The things that were left would do more harm to his knuckles than he could do to them.

red flags everywhere

He turned to Sybilla.

oh no

For an hour or two she lent herself to his will, allowing him to enjoy the illusion that she was back for good and that everything between them was as it always had been.

weird vibes weird weird vibes

his feeling for Isabelle.

seek help effective immediately

One beautiful green eye was bloodshot; one cheek looked red and slightly swollen. A trickle of blood crept from her scalp, reached her eyebrow and was diverted away from her eye.

I’m sorry ?????

At some point he opened a drawer and removed the gun

oh my god they’re both absolutely batshit insane

When it became apparent to George Angelfield that Isabelle was gone, he went into his library and locked the door. He refused food and visitors. There were only the vicar and the doctor to come calling now, and both of them got short shrift. ‘Tell your God he can go to hell!’ and ‘Let a wounded animal die in peace, won’t you!’ was the limit of their welcome.

lordt there’s so much to unpack here, he’s mourning her the same way he mourned his wife sigmund where are you

But it was harder than she thought.

because they’ve got crackpot genetics

Adeline would fly at her sister, fists and feet flailing, yanking at hair and landing blows wherever she could. She chased her sister wielding red-hot coals in the fire tongs, and when she caught her she singed her hair.

me and andré at any given point in history

Instead she bowed her head passively and waited for the blows that rained down on her shoulders and back to stop.

I am Emmeline.

like normal children?

because they’re not normal ???

Not English, and not the French that she had got used to when George’s Mathilde was alive and that Charlie still used with Isabelle.

watch it be Archaic Latin or some shit

They don’t realize that I am alive, she thought. They don’t know that anyone is alive but themselves.

stephen king started the ‘twins are creepy’ and this solidified it