Ms. Hen reviews The Thirteenth Tale

 

The Thirteenth Tale

Diane Setterfield

Washington Square Press

2006

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she found it in one of the Little Free Library boxes near where she lives. She doesn't remember which one it was, and she picked up the book because she liked the cover and read the back and it sounded intriguing to her. She had never heard of the book, but she understands it was a bestseller when it came out.

Margaret Lea is a young woman who works in a bookstore with her father. She has always lived in books, but prefers nineteenth century tales because they have a definite ending: people get married, or someone dies, or a tragedy occurs. She is summoned by a famous writer, Vida Winter, to write her biography, but she hesitates, because she has never read any of the author's books, but she devours some of them and decides to take on the task. She travels to Miss Winter's home in Yorkshire to meet her and write her story.

The novel becomes a story within a story, with Miss Winter's life story intertwined with Margaret's. She tells Margaret of her mother and uncle and her own life with her twin sister in the strange house. The novel takes twists and the way it turns out is not the way appeared to be. This is a ghost story, and a story about a family and siblings, and the horrible things people do to the ones they love.

Ms. Hen thought it was difficult to get into this novel at first. She thought the language was a little too wordy and flowery for her taste. But she became involved in the story about the twins and their dysfunctional lives, and she fell into the novel. Most of the novel takes place in the winter, near Christmas, and Ms. Hen enjoyed reading it during the holiday. On Christmas day, she sat on a chair and read this book and ate chocolates most of the day and enjoyed herself.

This novel is written in the Gothic style, and people don't write like this anymore. When Ms. Hen was in writing school, she was taught that the American style of writing should be clear and simple, not too flowery or poetic, even for poets. KISS or Keep It Simple Stupid was one of the things she learned somewhere in her academic career, but that might have been when she was an undergrad. Ms. Setterfield might be able to get away with writing like this, since she is not American. It's difficult to be an American when such high standards and expectations are held for us, but Ms. Hen does her best to attempt to write as clearly as she can.

Even though this book is loquacious, Ms. Hen enjoyed it. She likes a good scare now and then, especially in the winter, when it's dark, and she knows there are ghosts around watching her, and waiting until the time is right to bring fear or music back into her existence.