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Now a major BBC film, directed by Oscar-winner Christopher Hampton (Atonement and Dangerous Liaisons), starring Vanessa Redgrave and Olivia Colman.
Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten. It was once home to the March family – fascinating, manipulative Isabelle, brutal, dangerous Charlie, and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But Angelfield House hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart…
Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield’s past – and the mystery of the March family starts to unravel. What has Angelfield been hiding? What is its connection with the enigmatic writer Vida Winter? And what is the secret that strikes at the heart of Margaret’s own, troubled life?
As Margaret digs deeper, two parallel stories unfold, and the tale she uncovers sheds a disturbing light on her own life…
Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten. It was once home to the March family – fascinating, manipulative Isabelle, brutal, dangerous Charlie, and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But Angelfield House hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart…
Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield’s past – and the mystery of the March family starts to unravel. What has Angelfield been hiding? What is its connection with the enigmatic writer Vida Winter? And what is the secret that strikes at the heart of Margaret’s own, troubled life?
As Margaret digs deeper, two parallel stories unfold, and the tale she uncovers sheds a disturbing light on her own life…
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Reviews
A fireside mystery with all the grisly trimmings
This surprise bestseller is an enjoyably windswept story of incest, unnatural love and northern nastiness
highly accomplished...intriguing twists galore
a captivating read
A firesdie mystery with all the grisly trimmings
An involving and engrossing tale full of twists and turns...hard to put down!
The Thirteenth Tale has all the ingredients of a gripping thriller with twists, turns and false leads to keep you guessing...a beautifully written and absorbing mystery
riveting from start to finish
A real treat...Like all the best first novels, this one seems to bulge with a lifetime's hoarded inspirations. Setterfield litters the book with references to nineteenth-century gothic literature and other meta-textual winks and nudges. The effect is of a lit-crit parlour game, which only adds to the fun
Beautifully written and highly intelligent. Blissful escapism for literate (and literary) females who love an old-fashioned story
Cleverly plotted, beautifully written homage to the classic romance mystery novel...It is a remarkable first novel, a book about the joy of books, a riveting multi-layered mystery that twists and turns, and weaves a quite magical spell
Whimsical, moving and consciously nostalgic, Diane Setterfield knows the limits of enchantment, even as she tries to break them
This bold, unusual debut is, as a Jane Austen character might have said, a vastly entertaining fiction
Setterfield proves a mistress of the craft of storytelling and her musings about the pleasures of reading are beguiling
Guiltily enjoyable
A witty, entertaining and very satisfying read
Make yourself a mug of cocoa and shut the curtains tight - a generous helping of gothic delight is about to be served
A remarkably compelling debut...This is an extraordinary, unusual and atmospheric story with a sense of timelessness about it. It is rare to be able to smell a book as well as read it, but this one is steeped in the aroma of old houses in remote places with strange faded furnishings and little natural light. It will appeal to anybody with a love of literature and a passion for the feel and smell of old books
Brilliantly written - recommended
A dark mystery in the vein of Daphne du Maurier about family secrets and the potency of storytelling
Compelling page-turner
A page-turner of a Gothic mystery
Setterfield establishes, from the very first page, one of those narrative voices which you trust implicitly, warming to its calm understated authority
THE THIRTEENTH TALE is the sort of novel they don't write any more, which makes it all the more welcome. Add to this Setterfield's remarkable imagination coupled with her literate style and you have the makings of a modern classic
This is an excellent emotional mystery which I found harder to put down every night!
Setterfield writes evocatively and assuredly
Setterfield is a master of pacing
The moorland romances of the Brontes and Daphne du Maurier are never far away from our vision of a perfect Christmas read. Draw up a chair, then, for debut novelist Diane Setterfield. It's a windswept feast of abandoned babies, incestuous siblings and feral twins
Simply brilliant - I haven't enjoyed a first novel so much for absolutely ages
Start reading this on the bus and, I swear, you won't only miss your stop, you might even lose the whole day
Vastly entertaining