Diane Setterfield is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Thirteenth Tale, and a former academic, specializing in twentieth-century French literature, particularly the works of Andre Gide. She lives in Oxford, England.
"A book that you wake in the middle of the night craving to get
back to . . . . Timeless, charming, a pure pleasure to read . . . .
The Thirteeth Tale is a book to savor a dozen times."-- "The San
Diego Union-Tribune"
"A novel brimming with atmosphere and labyrinthine plotting that
recalls the gothic-like chillers by Daphne du Maurier and Joyce
Carol Oates, spiced with flavors reminiscent of Jane Eyre and
Wuthering Heights. The language is rich, the elements
intriguing."-- "The Sacramento Bee"
"Readers will be mesmerized by this story-within-a-story tinged
with the eeriness of Rebecca and the willfulness of Jane Eyre. The
author . . . . leaves no strand untucked at the surprising and
satisfying conclusion."-- "Booklist"
"The shared literary landscape that The Thirteenth Tale re-creates
with lush precision takes us back to a time when reading could seem
more compelling than life."-- "The Columbus Dispatch"
Former academic Setterfield pays tribute in her debut to Bront? and du Maurier heroines: a plain girl gets wrapped up in a dark, haunted ruin of a house, which guards family secrets that are not hers and that she must discover at her peril. Margaret Lea, a London bookseller's daughter, has written an obscure biography that suggests deep understanding of siblings. She is contacted by renowned aging author Vida Winter, who finally wishes to tell her own, long-hidden, life story. Margaret travels to Yorkshire, where she interviews the dying writer, walks the remains of her estate at Angelfield and tries to verify the old woman's tale of a governess, a ghost and more than one abandoned baby. With the aid of colorful Aurelius Love, Margaret puzzles out generations of Angelfield: destructive Uncle Charlie; his elusive sister, Isabelle; their unhappy parents; Isabelle's twin daughters, Adeline and Emmeline; and the children's caretakers. Contending with ghosts and with a (mostly) scary bunch of living people, Setterfield's sensible heroine is, like Jane Eyre, full of repressed feeling-and is unprepared for both heartache and romance. And like Jane, she's a real reader and makes a terrific narrator. That's where the comparisons end, but Setterfield, who lives in Yorkshire, offers graceful storytelling that has its own pleasures. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
"A book that you wake in the middle of the night craving to get
back to . . . . Timeless, charming, a pure pleasure to read . . . .
The Thirteeth Tale is a book to savor a dozen times."-- "The
San Diego Union-Tribune"
"A novel brimming with atmosphere and labyrinthine plotting that
recalls the gothic-like chillers by Daphne du Maurier and Joyce
Carol Oates, spiced with flavors reminiscent of Jane Eyre
and Wuthering Heights. The language is rich, the elements
intriguing."-- "The Sacramento Bee"
"Readers will be mesmerized by this story-within-a-story tinged
with the eeriness of Rebecca and the willfulness of Jane
Eyre. The author . . . . leaves no strand untucked at the
surprising and satisfying conclusion."-- "Booklist"
"The shared literary landscape that The Thirteenth Tale
re-creates with lush precision takes us back to a time when reading
could seem more compelling than life."-- "The Columbus Dispatch"
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