Review: The Thirteenth Tale

In The Thirteenth Tale, Margaret Lea is commisioned to write the autobiography of the beloved, world reknowned author Vida Winter. Vida Winter is notorious for offering many tales of her life which all in turn contradict each other, nineteen different tales in the past two years. Margaret goes out to Winter's estate in Yorkshire wary of whether the stories to be told will be fanciful tales or the truth that everyone seeks.

Margaret soon finds herself wading through Vida's childhood tales gleaning truth and facing the secrets of her very own past. Their childhood stories are intertwined by the fact that they are both twins. Margaret lost her twin at birth, a loss that she still struggles to comprehend. 

While I enjoyed the story, I did not LOVE the story. Sometimes I wonder if my enjoyment of such multi-layered tales is effected by how tired I might be at the time of reading. Or, perhaps The Thirteenth Tale was too Gothic for me, as it is a genre I don't read often. Either way, I am glad I read Diane Setterfield's Gothic tale, but I will be on the hunt for some lighter reads in the meantime.