Margaret Lea is a dilettante biographer who grew up in her father's antique bookstore; where she also works at present. One day, she receives a letter from England's most decorated and prolific novelist - Vida Winter - whose books she has never read before.

Throughout her whole career, the mysterious writer has given fabricated and differing accounts of her past to anyone who asked, but that ends now. As she fears that death is a few inches away from her, maybe it is time to tell the truth. While Margaret untangles and weaves together stories of Ms. Winter's past; she then finds herself entangled in her own.

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Have you read The Thirteenth Tale or any of the author's three books?

I've never read any of Diane Setterfield's before this, so I had no idea really, on what to expect. And it turns out, that's the best way to experience this book - to let yourself be thrown in at the deep end.

“Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you? You leave the previous book with ideas and themes–characters even–caught in the fibers of your clothes, and when you open the new book, they are still with you”

The Thirteenth Tale has the perfect balance - a small set of amazing characters (which I'm surprised to like because I love books with a long list of dramatis personnae), a gripping plot with enriching themes, and exquisite writing! I'd best describe Setterfield's writing & story-telling as contemporary with Victorian and modern tones. It's rich without being too flowery, and is just exceptionally poignant. It's a story within a story - which is my most favorite element of this book.

It's also just a book for book lovers. Margaret's deep affection for books is something that all of us can relate to - that all-consuming feeling of having new books and getting lost inside a story; the anticipation when reading a book from an author you've never read before; the constant state of preferring the company of books than people.