14. The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield)

I get a lot of my reading suggestions from other book blogs (see the sidebar) - I've found a few that I feel share my taste in books, and so they're generally more reliable than amazon or other review sites.

The Thirteenth Tale was suggested by Bibliolatry. There's a good description of the plot over there, so I won't repeat it. I enjoyed this book partly just because it was something different. It had a distinct gothic feel - think rain, moors, ghosts, a la Wuthering Heights.

The book is a story within a story. Vida Winter, the dying author, tells the story of her childhood to her biographer. I found myself really getting into the story - there are many levels of truth and reality, so I felt like I was always on my toes.

If you don't like ghost stories or anything "dark," then I wouldn't recommend this book. However, if you loved Jane Eyre, you should read this just for the references alone.

Rating: 4 out of 5