One of a few audio books my mother lent me, The Thirteenth Tale, doesn't have a jacket I'd usually pick up but "don't judge a book by it's cover" and all that. This book followed the Twilight set in my player. It's pretty different.
The summary from Wikipedia
Vida Winter, the most famous novelist in England and quite possibly the world, has never been forthcoming when it comes to her past. Her entire life is a secret, and for fifty years reporters and biographers have attempted to discover the truth. With her health quickly fading, Ms. Winter enlists a bookish amateur biographer named Margaret Lea to bear witness to the tragic story of the Angelfield family, their eccentric beginnings as well as their demise. Margaret, who has family secrets of her own, must unravel the mysteries of the past in order to reconcile not only Miss Winter with her ghosts, but also Margaret with her own.
That's a very good summary actually. The author did a pretty good job at leaving the actual years pretty vague. That's something that I can sometimes get frustrated about because I'd like to picture the period correctly but in this case I like it- I know the amount of years but I can't exactly place what someone would be wearing so this can be a pretty timeless story. Possibly there are hints but I don't know enough about England maybe and their aristocratic history. The book does seem to drag out a bit and Margaret's "secret", in my opinion, she whines about way too much. Something that isn't exactly something I'd consider a huge secret but more of something just not discussed among her family. (I really want to be more specific but I don't want to give anything away.) Looking back, it secures the novel in a very depressing state. Ms. Winter's story is very intriguing and has lots of really neat twists. I have to admit at first I was kind of disappointed in Ms.Winters biggest twist (which, while each twist is more and more shocking, really doesn't come until way way late into the book of course, as the true climax) because it kind of felt like a cop out that came slightly out of no where but after having moved on to another book and reflecting on it now it was pretty genius actually and even somewhat possible. The ending is wrapped up tidily and there is a pretty happy ending to spite the whole first 90% of the book being so dark.
Haha- my review seems so wishy washy - It sounds like I was disappointed but actually I really would recommend this book, I just want you to be prepared for some pretty sad stuff. If you do audio the readers are pretty great. The whole thing did keep me really entertained. After the first 3 disks I got tired of Margaret's moaning about her secret but I was sucked into the story pretty well so I got over it and I'm really glad I did. I'd give this a 4/5 stars.
Right now I'm reading The Heretic's Daughter, Firestarter, still working slowly on The Black House and listening to Under the Dome.






























