Ravenhill Library discussion

I loved this haunting and tragic novel: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and imagery throughout this book and the method of delivery to the reader was superb! I loved the way the author was able to slowly dangle information to us and allow us to discover the mystery along with our narrator, effectively sending us on two emotional rollercoasters at the same time, as Margret is told Ms. Winter's story of her life before she was a writer. A life that she has never told anyone before and holds many dark and disturbing secrets.
I picked up this book hoping I would be able to add it to my dark academia for grownups shelf I am working on for 2022. I am on the hunt for novels that are free from those the young adult viewpoints that generally accompany the top-rated books for this subgenera. And this novel firmly checks all the boxes in my opinion.

*The narrator Margret is and her subject Ms. Winter are both adults and retelling the story of their pasts from an adult perspective. Told from an adult perspective: Check.
*There is mystery, ghosts, secrets, pain, sorrow, murder, and intrigue: that is delivered to us in a tantalizing style by the author that I have not read before, keeping me at the edge of my seat for the whole story. Dark and Mysterious Story: Check.
*The setting is an ambiguous present time but then the story leads us into the character's past in an old estate that is filled with breathtaking gothic victorian imagery, a time of old estates and family secrets. Gothic/Historical setting: Check
*The themes and truths discovered throughout the story touched many emotions. Curiosity, fear, disgust, intrigue, grief, and more. I actually cried at one point in this story, which is a testament to the writers building such real and identifiable characters, relationships, and emotions to connect me to them and their hardships so deeply. Excellent delivery and character development: Check.

I highly recommend this novel to any dark academia fans looking for something a little different, but also to my gothic fiction, historical fiction, and classical fiction lovers, like myself. You will not be disappointed. (less)