The Thirteenth Tale

It's not often that I finish a book in a day--or that after that 24 hour period I sit down to pump out a review but people can always surprise you, right?

My aunt assaulted me with this book, literally (or literarily, take your pick) pushing it into my hands, saying, "Oh Michelle, you've GOT to read this!" and with an introduction like that what else are you going to do but read it? My biggest complaint was that I was already reading The Feast of Roses (the second in that Indian princess series?) and it kind of ruined the last half of the book for me because suddenly my curiosity was so rampant that I couldn't wait to get started on the new read.

Diane Setterfield's debut novel is a modern 19th century gothic romance (and no, that's not an oxymoron) of the kind that were considered so low and vulgar to the gentry in their drawing rooms but which they devoured in private. Plot-wise it's about Margaret Lea, a ferocious reader and book seller who meets up with the biggest novelist of the day, Vida Winter, who in her last moments of life wants Margaret to record her life story.

Ms. Winter has successfully been dodging questions about her origins for her entire career and when she finally spills those beans she lets loose a ghost story of horror, abuse, tragedy, insanity, love and twins--Adeline and Emmeline--who are born into the declining Angelfield family and live as feral children on their English estate which is as delapidated and moldering as the family who inhabits it.

It's obvious that Setterfield is a fan of the Brontes, Wilkie Collins, Dickens and the rest of the 19th century Brits writing club because not only does it have the twists and turns and shocking secrets á la Jane Eyre or The Woman in White but it also deals with the scandal in 19th-century terms which means you have to do some reading between the lines to come to your "Oh, so THAT'S what the villain did!" moments.

Setterfield has a fine hand as a writer, her prose is clean and careful and her descriptions and characterizations are lovingly thorough. As a mystery writer she does a fine job of leading you along and brings you to the end without cheating you of the satisfaction of an appropriate and entertaining ending.

What can I say? Twenty-four hours is all it took me to get through it. I suppose that's the best endorsement of all.