The Thirteenth Tale
A biographer is hired by a famous reclusive author to hear the true story of her life, which involves twins, fire, and a decaying mansion.
Where The Thirteenth Tale keeps showing up
Four of our editors' lists feature this novel.
What you might want to know about The Thirteenth Tale
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Margaret Lea is a quiet young biographer who works in her father's antiquarian Cambridge bookshop when a letter arrives from the dying bestselling novelist Vida Winter. Summoned to Winter's stone house on the Yorkshire moors, Margaret is told the true story of the twins Adeline and Emmeline March.
The Thirteenth Tale was written by Diane Setterfield and published in 2006. It was Setterfield's debut novel; she has since written Bellman & Black and Once Upon a River.
Yes. BBC released a 2013 TV adaptation starring Vanessa Redgrave and Olivia Colman. The film is largely faithful to the novel's gothic mystery framing.
The Thirteenth Tale is 416 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Thirteenth Tale takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
The Thirteenth Tale is a standalone novel by Diane Setterfield, not part of a series.
The Thirteenth Tale is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
