02307cam a2200397 i 4500 516945240 TxAuBib 20110613120000.0 060411s2006||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2006042906 9780743298025 0743298020 9780752875743 pbk. 0752875744 pbk. (OCoLC)67361489 TxAuBib rda Setterfield, Diane. The thirteenth tale : a novel / Diane Setterfield. 13th tale, The. First Atria books hardcover edition. New York : Atria Books, 2006. [s.l. : Orion Publishing Group, 2006. 406 pgs ; 24 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself - all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter's story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission. As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling but remains suspicious of the author's sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves. 20110613. Recluses as authors Fiction. Women authors Fiction. Female friendship Fiction. Literary Fiction. Novels. BTCLS