Hello, it is Tuesday, which as we know on Quiet as Mouse means Reviewsday.
This week is book reviews, and the book I
am reviewing this week
is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.
The story starts with Margaret, who is a
woman who has always been surrounded by
books, she grew up in a bookshop
which her father owns, she now lives above
that book shop,
she is also a biographer, and one day
she receives a letter from a famous
writer called Vida WInter. She asks her to
come to her house
and be her official biographer. She wants
to tell the story of her
childhood which has not been told before.
And then the rest of the
story is split in two, where one
plot is
Margaret's story and her relationship
with the Vida Winter
and her increasing interest in Winter's story,
and then the other plot is the story that
Vida Winter tells, which is the story
about her childhood which is very unusual.
It's a gothic novel, it's a bit of a ghost
story,
there's quite a lot of mystery to it,
there are twists and turns and shocks.
It's very atmospheric, it's a story about
twins. I really loved this book, I would
quite happily have read it all in one
sitting, unfortunately I was mainly reading
on trains sothat wasn't really possible. I was
very impressed by Setterfield's writing,
this is her first novel and I'd never
heard of here before
I came across this book. She writes characters well and the reader really comes
away with a good understanding of who
the characters are, why they do
what they do, and although many
characters aren't likable you feel like you
understand
where they're coming from and why they are
the way they are.
I first discovered this book from the TV
adaptation of it on the BBC
last Christmas, I recommend that as well. It
stars Vanessa Redgrave,
Olivia Colman and Sophie Turner. I
watched it again last night and it was
more different from the book than I
remembered
but it's still very good. However I would
very strongly suggest that you read the
book first, because my enjoyment of the
book was slightly reduced
by the fact that I knew what some of the
twists and turns
were. And the book is, in my opinion,
better, so if you only want one
then go for the book. Yes, I love this book, 
and I think it's going on my list
of top ten books now and I'll give it a 4.7.
In two weeks time on the 12th August, I
shall be reviewing The Ocean at the End
of the Lane by Neil Gaiman,
and then the book I shall be doing after
that on the 26th of August,
is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre is
actually mentioned in The Thirteenth Tale
several times and so although it was already on
my list
of books that I really had to read it has
now jumped up that list
and is now going to be straight after
The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I've been reading modern
novels
for a while now so I'm looking forward
to getting back to nineteenth century.
Also because it's a nineteenth-century
novel it means that
if you would like to read this book
along with me then you can for free
in e-book form because it is out copyright.
This is for some reason the heaviest
book I own so I'm going to find a slightly
smaller travel-friendly
version. Let me know what you thought
about The Thirteenth Tale if you have read it or
seen the TV adaptation.
No spoilers please. And see you tomorrow.
