The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

It's atypical for me to read a book if I can't identify with at least one of the characters. When I started The Thirteenth Tale, I found myself unable to make any kind of connection with the narrator, Margaret Lea, or with the elusive writer Vida Winter. What drew me in and kept me reading for more than half the book was the very strange tale the elderly Winter was spinning for Margaret. By the end of the book, although I still felt nothing for Margaret I most definitely developed a liking and affinity for Vida Winter.

I am not a twin and so I will never understand what it's like to be one. I guess that's why I couldn't connect to Margaret who just seemed to be unnecessarily self-isolating. She has no life other than books and her father's bookstore. She's fascinated with fairly obscure people who lived years ago and has written a couple of biographical essays. It comes as a great surprise when she receives a letter from the very mysterious Vida Winter, inviting Margaret to write her biography, her true story. Over the years, the writer has told a number of different tales to various resporters and interviewers and Margaret is suspicious and reluctant. Still, she goes to meet the writer.

One of Vida's many books was supposed to have 13 stories in it but apparently was a misprinted title--no copy has more than 12. People have wondered and speculated just what that thirteenth tale was supposed to be...could it be Miss Winter's life story? Margaret is mesmerized and eventually obsessed with it.

It's a very gothic tale that Miss Winter tells and includes ghosts and governesses, a very dysfunctional family and well meaning servants. There are so many salutes to Jane Eyre throughout the book and I found myself staying up later and later to read just another page more. I think people who love Jane Eyre and Rebecca will also enjoy this story.