The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

This book was referred to me by a friend in book club. I was immediately intrigued, but the description she gave and the one on the back of the book doesn't even give this story justice. I'm not sure I can do much better, but let me just say...YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!! I will be buying this one just to add to my collection, cause I know I will read it again one day. This is now on my favorites list.

I am usually really good at seeing the "twist" before it happens. But this book had so many twists and turns that I just couldn't keep up. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. When I was asleep, I was dreaming about it. The story is so vivid and captivating, it enveloped every free moment of thought that I had.

The story is about a reclusive best selling author. She has hidden herself behind a pen-name and no one knows her true story, until she falls ill and decides to finally tell the truth. And the truth is full of mystery, intrigue, murder, craziness, suspense etc. This story has it all.

Margaret Lea works in her father's antiquarian bookshop where her fascination for the biographies of the long-dead has led her to write them herself. She gets a letter from one of the most famous authors of the day, the mysterious Vida Winter, whose popularity as a writer has been in no way diminished by her reclusiveness. Until now, Vida has toyed with journalists who interview her, creating outlandish life histories for herself - all of them invention. Now she is old and ailing, and at last she wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. Her letter to Margaret is a summons.

Somewhat anxiously, the equally reclusive Margaret travels to Yorkshire to meet her subject - and Vida starts to recount her tale. It is one of gothic strangeness featuring the March family; the fascinating, devious and wilful Isabelle and the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline.
Margaret is captivated by the power of Vida's storytelling. But as a biographer she deals in fact not fiction, and she doesn't entirely trust Vida's account. She goes to check up on the family, visiting their old home and piecing together their story in her own way. What she discovers on her journey to the truth is for Margaret a chilling and transforming experience.