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When Margaret Lea opened the door to the past, what she confronted was her destiny.
All children mythologize their birth... So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's beloved collection of stories, long famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale. The enigmatic Winter has always kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she summons a biographer to tell the truth about her extraordinary life: Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth remains an ever-present pain.
Disinterring the life she meant to bury for good, Vida mesmerizes Margaret with the power of her storytelling. Hers is a tale of gothic strangeness, featuring the Angelfield family -- including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, and the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline -- a ghost, a governess, and a devastating fire. Struck by a curious parallel between their stories, Margaret demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them.
The Thirteenth Tale is a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and we loved as children. Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter, and in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday life.
瑪格麗特·李在她父親的古舊書(shū)店工作。由于愛(ài)好讀古人的傳記，她決定也嘗試為自己感興趣的古人立傳。一天，她突然收到著名作家維達(dá)·溫特的來(lái)信。溫特一直過(guò)著隱居的生活，非常神秘低調(diào)，但并不影響她作品的暢銷(xiāo)。在此之前，溫特編造了很多她生活經(jīng)歷的離奇事情來(lái)糊弄采訪她的記者。但是，隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)和疾病纏身，她決定說(shuō)出自己真正的人生。寫(xiě)給瑪格麗特的信就是召喚瑪格麗特為她立傳。
帶著好奇，同樣深居簡(jiǎn)出的瑪格麗特來(lái)到約克郡見(jiàn)到維達(dá)·溫特。按照維達(dá)的敘述，她媽媽伊莎貝爾美麗而任性，她的父親，哥哥，以及調(diào)皮的雙胞胎弟弟阿德林和埃墨林都聽(tīng)從于她。瑪格麗特自己也是雙胞胎，所以她對(duì)維達(dá)的故事既疑惑，又好奇。但是作為傳記作家，她嚴(yán)格遵守真實(shí)的原則，并不完全相信維達(dá)所說(shuō)。于是她開(kāi)始著手調(diào)查這個(gè)家庭，按照自己的調(diào)查結(jié)果將這個(gè)家庭的故事拼接起來(lái)。然而，尋找真相的過(guò)程令人膽戰(zhàn)心驚，并改變了瑪格麗特自己的命運(yùn)……
About Author
Diane Setterfield is a former academic, specializing in twentieth-century French literature. She lives in Yorkshire, England.
戴安娜·賽特菲爾德（Diane Setterfield），曾研究過(guò)十九、二十世紀(jì)法國(guó)文學(xué)。后開(kāi)始寫(xiě)作，本書(shū)是其處女作。戴安娜現(xiàn)居住于英國(guó)的約克郡。
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