Diana Setterfield is a British writer whose debut novel is The Thirteenth Tale. Probably, it is primarily familiar to readers by the film adaptation of the same name. The book, written in the genre of mystical prose and a detective story, attracted the attention of numerous literary lovers around the world and took its rightful place among the best.
The date of writing "The Thirteenth Tale" is 2002. At the same time, the book was first published in 2006. However, alas, Setterfield did not write a single work as exciting and deep. There are few books on her creative list yet. But perhaps still to come.
What do we know about Diane Setterfield?
The future writer was born in 1964 in Engfield, an old village in the county of Berkshire. After school, she studied English literature at the University of Bristol. The doctoral thesis was dedicated to the autobiographical structures of the early work of Andre Gide. She taught English at the Institute of France, and later lectured in French at a British university in Lancashire. However, she soon gave up work for the sake of writing.
After writing The thirteenth tale in 2002, Diana took up the next novel, entitled "Bellman and Black," which readers in Russia got the opportunity to buy in 2014. It is noteworthy that this work did not cause such a stir. Readers in the reviews claim that with the "Thirteenth Tale" of Setterfield, it can not be compared.
Diana lives with Peter Whittall (he is an accountant by profession) in Oxford.
The first attempt was successful
Critics noted that this work is a typical English novel with a unique atmosphere, unhurried narration and irony logic that appears in every chapter, every paragraph. Anglo-American critics compare this story with the novels of the famous Bronte sisters. The atmosphere of the book resembles Wuthering Heights. Meanwhile, some critics called the work completely mediocre and not worthy of attention.
The rights to the novel were bought from a modest novice writer for a huge amount (one million dollars). It has been translated into dozens of languages of the world. And even awarded the reviewers the honorary title of "New Jane Eyre."
Book Reviews
Setterfield's work is admired by many. Readers note the following in the reviews: the book "The Thirteenth Tale" with the classics of world literature is inappropriate to compare precisely because it will hinder the feeling of the originality and uniqueness written by our contemporaries.
Many consider the novel "The Thirteenth Tale" a unique example of a work in which mysticism, secrets of the past and terrifying cruelty of people are skillfully intertwined. This is really a serious novel with a deep psychological background, which not everyone can read. Especially impressionable people should be very careful about such a reading.
Of the advantages of the novel, splendidly prescribed characters are distinguished, whose feelings seem to flow smoothly into the reader, well-described scenes with a colorful representation of the places of action. On the whole, the work arouses complete reader delight. They note that upon reading I don’t want to break away from this lesson. There is a desire to forget about food and sleep and read the book to the end. From about page 50, the work draws in even more force.
But not everyone admired the book. There are also negative reviews about the book "The Thirteenth Tale." Some readers claim that Setterfield has no supernatural talent. The book seemed fresh to them, predictable and unjustifiably praised. It is noticeable that the writer followed the style of the Bronte sisters, whose works were mentioned more than once in the text of the story itself. There are faint echoes of Dickens, as some say.
Readers note that the work was in vain called "The Thirteenth Tale." The translation into Russian of the title of the book does not at all reflect the whole nightmare described in it. Almost all the heroes of the work have mental problems, which does not seem like a fairy tale, but rather horrors. It was this fact that impressed especially sensitive viewers.
It is worth noting that many people liked the film more than the book, as it is perceived easier and looks at one go. The book is replete with personal experiences of the main character Margaret Lee (who she is, you will understand later), there are numerous descriptions of the life of the inhabitants of Angelfield (the estate in which the events take place). All this, placed on almost 500 pages of text, somewhat complicates the perception of the work. Some argue that reading becomes interesting only at the end of the book, when events develop more dynamically.
Before describing the plot of "The Thirteenth Tale", it is advisable to list the main characters. Indeed, when reading a brief description, it is easy to get confused in numerous names.
Characters
At the beginning of the book, the writer meets Margaret Lee, whose father, Ivan, is a second-hand book dealer and bookstore owner. Parents are her only family. Margaret is about 30 years old. During the story, the reader finds out that she had a sister. The girls were Siamese twins, but after the separation operation one of them did not survive. Katherine Lee is the mother of the main character. Women have a difficult relationship, so Margaret is rarely in her father's house.
Vida Winter is a famous writer whose life is drawing to a close. She left to live no more than a month. The woman is known for never saying a word of truth in her interviews. And so she decides to open Margaret's story of her life.
George Angelfield is an aristocrat, the father of Isabella. His wife Matilda dies after the birth of her youngest daughter. He devotes himself entirely to his beloved daughter Isabella.
Isabella Angelfield is a beauty with an unbalanced psyche. She married Ronald March and gave birth to twin girls. At the same time, both are completely unlike Ronald, but they inherited the appearance of their uncle Charlie.
Charlie Angelfield is George's eldest son. Isabella's brother. Sadist. He was in a sexual relationship with his sister.
Emmeline and Adeline March are twins, the main characters of The Thirteenth Tale. As a result of incest and psychological abnormalities in the parents, the girls were born with noticeable mental abnormalities.
Esther is the governess of the girls, who, under the yoke of circumstances, left the estate. She had feelings for a local doctor, who soon went to see her in America. They got married, they have four children.
Aurelius is the illegitimate son of Emmeline and assistant gardener Ambros. A good-natured giant and a talented pastry chef.
John-Kopun and Karen are servants on the Angelfield estate. They took care of the girls while their mother was in psychiatric hospitals.
"Thirteenth Tale" - a summary. Start
The story begins with the reader meeting Margaret Lee. A woman who works in a bookstore. She is a biographer by profession. Margaret loves the classics, especially the Bronte and Dickens sisters. Once she discovers in her father's collection a collection of fairy tales by Vida Winter. Her latest novel, The Thirteenth Tale, captivates a woman. However, there are only twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth? ..
Soon she gets the opportunity to find out the answers to her questions. Suddenly she receives an invitation to come from Vida Winter. The writer is dying and wants to tell the story of her life to a person who can understand it.
The tragedy of insanity
The History of Species begins at the Angelfield Estate. The children of the owner of a huge mansion - Charlie and Isabella - suffer from mental disorders. Charlie is a rapist and a sadist. Isabella is absolutely apathetic and allows her brother to do whatever she wants with her.
When Isabella gets older, she gets married and leaves the estate. However, after a while, the widow returns with two small daughters - Emmeline and Adeline. She is completely indifferent to children, she does not even distinguish between twins. The woman is still apathetic. She is in full control of Charlie. Only the gardener John-Kopun and housekeeper Karen take care of the girls.
Girls who adopted red hair and green eyes from their father also inherited the psychic abnormalities of their parents. They do not talk, communicate with each other through sounds and gestures, while they consider the world to be crazy. Adeline is cruel. She even beats her beloved sister, rips out her hair and burns with a hot iron. Emmeline is passive. She lags behind in development and is subordinate to her sister in everything. Once the girls abduct a stroller with a child from a local resident, and only by a miracle he remains alive.
One day, the wife of a local doctor visits the estate to find out the conditions in which the children live. Someone hits her on the head. When a woman comes to, her suspicion falls on Isabella, who still looks like a ghost. A woman is taken to a psychiatric hospital.
The twins are entrusted with the care of the governess Esther, who quickly finds a common language with Emmeline. However, the stubborn Adeline does not make contact and constantly beats her sister. The girls decide to separate. However, Esther falls in love with a local doctor. After his wife sees them kiss Esther, the governess is forced to leave. A year later, the doctor, widowed, will go to her in America and offer his hand and heart. They will have four children.
The March sisters reunite after Esther's departure. When they are 17 years old, Charlie’s corpse is found in the forest. The madman shot himself. Also, under strange circumstances, the servants die - the housekeeper and the gardener.
At the same time, a young gardener assistant, who recently appeared on the estate, seduces the crazy Madame Emmeline. From him she gives birth to a boy. Adeline hates the baby and is terribly jealous of her sister.
The mystery
And here Margaret, recording the story of Vida, begins to understand that in fact there were not two sisters, but three. Although before that, she suspected that she was talking with Adeline. In fact, the illegitimate daughter Charlie, born of a maid, gives her an interview. She inherited red hair and green eyes from him, but mentally she is completely healthy. She also lived on the estate, but only the murdered gardener and housekeeper knew about her. They raised her, but did not give a name.
Rule of three ... magic number. Three trials that a prince must pass in order to get a hand of the princess. Three wishes given to a fisherman by a talking fish. Three bears in a fairy tale about Goldilocks. Three little pigs and a wolf. (Vida Winter)
An unnamed girl looks after the sisters. She loves Emmeline, but is afraid of Adeline. Vida sees Emmeline's crazy sister begin to be jealous of the baby. When Adeline sets fire, Vida rescues her sister and her child. Adeline is dying in the fire. Now it’s clear that it is she who is responsible for the death of the servants.
Vida takes the name of Adeline, as the girls are very similar in appearance, and no one will notice the substitution.
The girl throws up the child's sister to a local resident. After all, Emmeline completely lost her mind after the incident. It is noteworthy that the question of whom Vida actually saved remains open. Initially, it seems to the reader that Emmeline survived, but at the end of the book, the author hints that it was Adeline.
Having finished his confession, Vida dies. Her crazy sister also fades away after her. Margaret finds and reads The Thirteenth Tale, which Vida has not published anywhere. This is the life story of a little future writer, a girl who did not even have a name. The gardener and governess took care of her; whenever possible, she helped them keep an eye on the crazy sisters. And when Adeline killed the servants, she took full care of the sisters.
Margaret finds Aurelius, who for sixty years has been tormented by the question of who his parents were. She tells him the story of the sisters. It turns out that his father has a daughter from a legal marriage - a young girl Karen, who lives in the village. Aurelius is happy, because now he has a sister.
Margaret herself begins an affair with a doctor who treated Vida Winter in the last weeks of her life. Having learned the terrible story of the sisters, she finally reconciled with her past, as well as with the death of her twin. Once a ghost appears to her. Margaret is happy. Finally, she found peace of mind.
Film adaptation
The rights to the adaptation of "The Thirteenth Tale" were purchased by the English film company Heyday Films, the same one that produced all the Harry Potter films. The script of the film, almost completely adapted to the plot of the book, was written by the winner of many awards, playwright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton. The film "Thirteenth Tale" in 2013 was presented to the audience.
It should be noted that there are few differences between the book and the film. This is confirmed by reviews of the book "The Thirteenth Tale." In the story, more attention is paid to the feelings and feelings of Margaret Lee, more is told about the life of the inhabitants of the village near Angelfield. In addition, in the book, sister Margaret dies as a result of the operation, and in the film, the viewer learns that the girl died under the wheels of the car in childhood.
The director's chair was taken by James Kent.
It should be said that the film turned out to be really beautiful and atmospheric. The excellent work of the operators, the soulful play of the actors and beautiful landscapes completely immerse the viewer in the story. At first it is very leisurely, but over time it is gaining momentum and the denouement unexpectedly sets in.
Actors and roles
The roles were played by actors, many of which are already known to the reader. Margaret Lee in "The Thirteenth Tale" was played by Olivia Colman. In Vida Winter, a dying writer telling her latest story, Vanessa Redgrave reincarnated. Beauty Isabella played Emily Beecham. However, the reader's attention was focused on two (or rather three) red-haired girls. The nine-year-old twins were played by Madeleine Power. And seventeen-year-old girls on the screen were embodied by Anthony Clark (Emmeline and Adeline) and Sophie Turner (Vida Winter).
It should be said that Antonia played beautifully crazy sisters. She managed to reincarnate not only in the passive and indifferent Emmeline, but also to become cruel and hating Adeline. For a beginner, but already known to many, Sophie Turner, the role was less extensive, but no less significant. The viewer watches her with special attention, feeling the mind in the ocean of madness that became the Angelfield mansion.
Interesting fact: Sophie Turnet herself also had a twin sister, but she died in the womb before birth. It is noteworthy that "The Thirteenth Tale" is not the first film by Sophie in which the twins appear. In 2013, with her participation, the psychological thriller "Another Me" was also released.
The film "Thirteenth Tale" in 2013 was released. Its rating is 6.9. This is a fairly high mark for a modern film in a truly English style.
Reviews about the "Thirteenth Tale"
About the book and the film, the audience responded ambiguously. On the one hand, the acting and the work of the operators are at the highest level. On the other hand, many did not like the length of the narrative. The story is dramatic and unusual, the director was able to convey the atmosphere of the book. However, the viewer cannot be imbued with the same feelings that the reader evokes in the book.
In addition, many are sure that there are too many crazy people in the plot. A mysterious poster and no less mysterious title captivated many, but most expected something more fantastic. Alas, besides the appearance of a ghost at the end of the story, you will not find mysticism either in the book or in the film. This story is filled with terrible secrets and sick imagination of heroines. Some readers argue that the book is still many times better than the film, as it reveals in more detail both the characters of the main characters and the motives of their actions.
Of the minuses, we also noted the crumpledness of the finale, which is described in more detail in the book. In general, the film adaptation received positive reviews. Spectators praised the atmosphere, musical accompaniment and the play of the actors.