book nook: the thirteenth tale

the thirteenth tale
diane setterfield

i snatched this book off the shelf of the library as i saw that it got a lot of great customer reviews at chapters.ca and wanted to see if this book was really that good.

the novel's protagonist is book-lover turned biographer, margaret lea, who is commissioned to write the biography of vida winters, a well-loved british novelist. the book centers around ms. winters telling her true life story before it's too late and uncovering hidden secrets of her past along the way, with a few secondary story lines coming into play from time to time.

i enjoyed the vivid descriptions found throughout the story which made it easy to visualize the scenes described, and thought that the story-telling aspect as a whole was good. unfortunately, i didn't enjoy the story line nearly as much and while i thought it started off strong, i found the ending of the book disappointing; it left me wanting more a better ending. haha.

considering this is her first novel i think setterfield did a pretty solid job, but in the end was it that good? ummmm, it was alright. it wasn't a great read, but a good one.