The Thirteenth Tale

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


To my surprise I found myself enjoying this book. I had heard a number of people remark on how "wordy" this book was but I didn't find that the case. There was the odd pretentious phrase that, for me, disrupted the flow of the story. My favorite was " a single lupine exhalation could reduce it to rubble", I'm sure the Three Little Pigs never used that phrase.

I became totally absorbed in the uncovering of Vida's story which I found fascinating and very easy to read. Some of the twists I could see coming but not all of them. I enjoyed meeting the strange personalities that were revealed.

Apart from that fact that Margaret was the device to uncover the real story in this book, I could've done without her completely. I found her histrionics regarding her twin really annoying and had to agree with the Doctor's diagnosis later in the book. "You are suffering from an ailment that affects ladies of romantic imaginations."





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