Monday, April 20, 2009

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (41/81)

Category: New to Me Authors

I’d heard good things about this book but wasn’t particularly attracted to it, but when it was the monthly choice of my book club, I decided to give it a go.

Despite my misgivings, I was hooked from the first page. This is good old fashioned story telling. The plot is about an amateur biographer who is invited to hear the life story of a famous author, who has always fabricated elaborate stories about her background. What follows is a family saga, mixed with elements of ghost stories and references to classic literature such as The Woman in White and Jane Eyre.

It was a gripping story although the resolution was perhaps a little too neat and did require a leap of imagination to make it seem plausible. But that did seem entirely fitting for the style of the novel.

A great book to curl up with on winter's evening (although I read it in a sunny garden!)

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