The Thirteenth Tale
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Emmeline's Name
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The story line information shifts. The bulk of the story focuses on twins right? Then something happens a fire of sorts, and "Emmeline" personality also shifts...there is a reason for it, I don't want to give it away because it a key point to the "thirteenth tale"
I added a spoiler warning.... can you just say it?Upon pondering it further, I wonder if it's about the fire? Does she now see Emmeline as mentally stuck with that lost piece of Adeline on the surface of her consciousness? The two twins become one?
I know it is has been a little bit since I read it but we discussed this in our book club. Are you sure they are just twins? It makes more sense if you think of triplets.
when I was reading this book it took me quite a while to figure out what what was going on
Stephanie wrote: "I added a spoiler warning.... can you just say it?Upon pondering it further, I wonder if it's about the fire? Does she now see Emmeline as mentally stuck with that lost piece of Adeline on the su..."
because one of the twin got killed by the fire, and the one closest to the twins is not quite sure who survived.
When I read the book, I took the shift to mean that when one of the twins died, she wasn't sure who it was, but in order for her to survive, Emmaline had to "die" and therefore became disassociated with her. She became the surviving twin.
Originally there were the twins Emmeline and Adeline, there was also the third half sister. In the fire the third half sister saved one of the twins and because the half sister looked so much like the other they presumed both twins had survived. Everyone thinks she is the other twin so she took up her name.
Vida (the 1/2 sister - the "ghost child") saved the wrong twin in the fire. She wanted to save the real Emmeline and bring her to her baby, but she saved evil Adeline by mistake. When she realized the baby would not be safe because Adeline survived, that is when she sneaked off and took the baby to Mrs. Love. When she returned, the firemen/ambulance people didn't know who was who. They assumed Vida was one of the twins because no one knew she existed (well, other than the twins, John and the Missus). The ambulance guy just started calling her Adeline, so she took it up. I understood that the "real" Adeline was so damaged by the fire that she couldn't speak up and say she wasn't actually Emmeline, so then she became Emmeline. The real Emmeline died in the fire.
I don't think Vida ever came out and said which twin survived the fire. She wasn't even sure herself at the time. After the fire people didn't have a lot to go on to figure out which "twin" was which. The injured girl was unable to speak and the other girl just accepted being called Adeline so it was assumed that was correct. The story is told in a way that the injured girl could have really been Emmaline or Adeline. Vida asks the injured girl beside her and gets no response either way. I'm sure over the years after that she figured out which was which, but she did not tell Margaret.
The survivor could've really been Emmaline. The brief moments we get to see her, she seems to be gentle like Emmaline was. But it is implied that maybe she was really Adeline and the fire combined with losing her beloved twin changed her into a totally different person.
I just can't imagine Emmaline having willingly left Adeline inside the house, even if she couldn't find her or knew that she was already dead. I see Emmaline huddled next to the broken body of her twin and letting the fire consume her too. I would've said that Adeline would have done the same for Emmaline, and I think she would have a few years before, but since she had become so distant and spent so little time with her twin, I don't think Adeline would have sacrificed herself to stay at her sister's side.
The story ends in such a way, we will never know who really died in the fire.
Kim wrote: "I don't think Vida ever came out and said which twin survived the fire. She wasn't even sure herself at the time. After the fire people didn't have a lot to go on to figure out which "twin" was w..."
I interpreted it that she did realize she saved the "wrong" twin as soon as she turned to her when they were lying on the grass and she said "Emmeline" and didn't get a response. Then, when she looked more closely, she realized who it was. That was why she was scared for the baby and went back to where she hid the baby and moved him to Mrs. Love's house. I didn't really doubt at all that Adeline was the one who lived?
Rebecca wrote: "I know it is has been a little bit since I read it but we discussed this in our book club. Are you sure they are just twins? It makes more sense if you think of triplets."I totally agree with the triplet idea - it's what you come to realize near the end and then the fact that the good twin died and the evil survived under false pretense.
I'm not sure Vida knew which twin survived. But since Vida was devoted to Emmeline had to be the surviving twin, I don't think she could live with causing Emmeline's death. But it was probably Adeline that survived because during the experiment Emmeline eventually grew while Adeline was very clearly destroyed by the loss of her twin. The twin that survived wasn't capable of doing much. Besides Emmeline would have wanted he baby back.Also they were not triplets, Vida was the product of one of Charlie's many rapes.
Amy wrote: "Vida (the 1/2 sister - the "ghost child") saved the wrong twin in the fire. She wanted to save the real Emmeline and bring her to her baby, but she saved evil Adeline by mistake. When she realized ..."
This was my interpretation also.
I also interpreted that she realized she saved the wrong twin, but to "save face" because Vida was posing as Adeline to the townspeople, she kept the story going that Emmeline was the one who was saved. The only time Emmeline shows any type of anger was when she thought she was saving her baby from the fire, but like Lynn had stated, if it was Emmeline who survived, even with all her injuries she would've gone after the baby.
I totally agree with Brenna.
Actually we don't KNOW it wasn't Emmeline that lived after the fire. There was a moment when young Vida Winters was unsure which sister she'd saved, but it's never flat out stated that she actually saved evil Adeline and left the good twin to die. In fact, most of Vida's story makes it seems as though SHE believes she saved Emmeline, simply because she emotionally couldn't handle saving the other one. When the surviving twin showed no violence, the odds that she really had saved Emmeline seemed greater. Margaret is a bit more cynical and doubtful; because Vida couldn't say either way, which twin lived, she begins to refer to Emmeline in HER narrative as "The woman referred to as Emmeline". Interestingly, the movie version shows Emmeline as the rescued twin, not Adeline. it also flat out says Charlie was the father of all three, which was only (given, STRONGLY) hinted at in the book.
So I guess it can be taken either way, but despite the fact that she didn't go looking for her baby after the fire, I still think it was Emmeline that lived.
Wow there's a movie:)
Anna wrote: "Wow there's a movie:)"There is actually a movie with the same title.
Yes, there is a tv movie for the BBC. It is 90 minutes long, and stars Sophie Turner as young Vida Winters.
I've given it some thought, and I also wanted to add that maybe the reason Emmeline didn't go looking for her baby after/if she survived the fire is because she believed he was dead or lost. She seemed not to understand young Vida's cries of, "I've saved him Emmeline, he's all right!" and she was fighting with Adeline because she believed her twin had killed or hurt her baby...
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At the end of the book, whenever the narrator mentions Emmeline she doesn't call her Emmeline. She says something like "the person referred to as Emmeline," or "the one they called Emmeline." I feel like I missed something here. Why does she suddenly do this?