She is contacted by renowned aging author Vida Winter, who finally wishes to tell her own, long-hidden, life story.

Margaret Lea, a London bookseller's daughter, has written an obscure biography that suggests deep understanding of siblings. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.įormer academic Setterfield pays tribute in her debut to Bront and du Maurier heroines: a plain girl gets wrapped up in a dark, haunted ruin of a house, which guards family secrets that are not hers and that she must discover at her peril. Margaret is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness-featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long.

Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Sometimes, when you open the door to the past, what you confront is your destiny. “Readers will feel the magnetic pull of this paean to words, books and the magical power of story.”- People

The 13th tale book