Reading Report - The Thirteeth Tale

The Thirteenth Tale, Ms. Setterfield's debut novel has met with stunning success and positive reviews. The story is a modern day Gothic mystery and a book within a book.

For the first third of the story I read along indifferently, then the author captured my interest and I read eagerly to the final pages. Where once again I became unenchanted, perhaps by the writer's design.

The repressed heroine of The Thirteenth Tale is not to my taste, but this is nothing other than personal preference, and should not put anyone off a well-written book.

This story made me long to re-read Jane Eyre and Rebecca to see if the magic of those long ago tales still remains true and potent.