I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good fictional story, especially historical fiction.When Margaret Lea opened the door to the past, what she confronted was her destiny.Īll children mythologize their birth. I was drawn to this book because of the cover art (I know, I know, but I am a lover of books and can't help myself), the idea of a mysterious biography, the promise of ghosts (which the story isn't nearly as *ghostly* as one would think from the back cover) and reviews by others. The characters are wonderfully written and you can get lost in them and their stories. She gives details, but not so many that you get lost in the details and forget the story.
Setterfield has a beautiful way of writing that I can't quite describe what I loved about it. Characters weave in and out of the story in such a way that you never know what is going to happen next. This is a story that keeps the reader guessing at what will happen next. I'm sure others have already given a synopsis of the story, so I'll spare you the repetition. There are two narrators the biographer and the biographee :) The biographee is a writer herself and has never let anyone know the truth of her life's story. This is the story of a character's mysterious biography. I plan on reading more of Diane Setterfield's work.Įxcellent book! It took me a while to get through this book as life got in the way of my reading :) However, this story was unique and beautiful. A different sort of book (and I read widely), and a welcome change. Because of this, the secret in the plot stays secret until the end.Īs a first novel, this shines. Other characters are drawn into the action in a way that adds complexity but not confusion. As that story develops, the intrigue in the main plot comes from the behaviors of the twins.
The tension builds through the relationship of the storyteller and the writer who is documenting the dying woman's tale. The characters are rich and developed, the setting is tactile, and the plot moves at a good pace-one that matches the action. I'd place the level and depth of The Thirteenth Tale somewhere between popular fiction and strong literature-it's more literature in that it literary techniques are well-used and there is an interesting theme. I think it was the blurb about the author that piqued my interest. I'd not heard of the author, and am not a fan of gothic novels or Jane Eyre, but bored with the book I'd brought with me, I decided to give it a go. I came across this title on a bookshelf at my aunt's beach house.
0 kommentar(er)
