Diane Setterfield
Author of The Thirteenth Tale
About the Author
Works by Diane Setterfield
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Diane Setterfield
- Birthdate
- 1964-08-22
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, UK - Education
- Bristol University (French Literature)
- Occupations
- teacher
author - Agent
- Vivien Green (Sheil Land)
- Short biography
- Diane Setterfield (born 22 August 1964) is a British author whose 2006 debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale, became a New York Times No. 1 best-seller. she won the 2007 Quill Award, Debut author of the year, for this novel. It is written in the Gothic tradition, with echoes of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. The rights were acquired by David Heyman at Heyday Films and the novel was adapted for television by Christopher Hampton. Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Olivia Colman, and Sophie Turner, The Thirteenth Tale was televised on BBC2 in December 2013.
Diane Setterfield's second novel, Bellman & Black, was published in 2013 by Emily Bestler Books/Atria in the United States and by Orion in the UK. Her third novel, Once Upon A River, was published in 2018.
Before writing, Setterfield studied French Literature at The University of Bristol, earning a bachelor of arts in 1986 and a PhD in 1993.[6] Setterfield's PhD is on "autobiographical structures in André Gide's early fiction." Setterfield taught at numerous schools as well as privately before leaving academia in the late 1990s.
Setterfield lives in Oxford, England.
Members
Discussions
The Thirteenth Tale: Middles (SPOILERS) in The 11 in 11 Category Challenge (February 2011)
The Thirteenth Tale: Endings (SPOILERS) in The 11 in 11 Category Challenge (February 2011)
The Thirteenth Tale: Beginnings (SPOILERS) in The 11 in 11 Category Challenge (February 2011)
The Thirteenth Tale: General Thread in The 11 in 11 Category Challenge (February 2011)
Reviews
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
It was ok, but not good enough to love it.
"Reading can be dangerous." Thus [a:Diane Setterfield|22665|Diane Setterfield|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1255913779p2/22665.jpg] writes on page four of [b:The Thirteenth Tale|19673922|The Thirteenth Tale|Diane Setterfield|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387723998s/19673922.jpg|849453]. Too right. So dangerous, in fact, that the reader may lose all track of time and forget to get off at the right train station, or empty the washing machine, or feed the cats, or go to sleep.
One dark, rainy November evening in Cambridge, Margaret Lea comes home to find a letter waiting for her. Margaret leads a solitary life writing the odd historical literary biography and working with her father in his antiquarian bookshop. She doesn't read contemporary fiction, so she is perplexed as to why Vida Winters, Britain's most celebrated living author, is writing to her of all people.
What follows is nothing short of magical. Setterfield weaves stories within stories as we learn more about Margaret and the mysterious author, and the history of ruined Angelfield House. Angelfield, with its gardens, ghosts and vast library. Violent Charlie, his intriguing sister Isabelle, and the strange emerald-eyed twins with their long coppery hair. What happened to this family? How was their ancestral home destroyed? And what does it all have to do with Vida Winters?
This is a book for those of you who love stories, for whom people in books are as real in your minds as your family. It grabs hold of you and doesn't let you go, and its characters voices will stay with you.… (more)
One dark, rainy November evening in Cambridge, Margaret Lea comes home to find a letter waiting for her. Margaret leads a solitary life writing the odd historical literary biography and working with her father in his antiquarian bookshop. She doesn't read contemporary fiction, so she is perplexed as to why Vida Winters, Britain's most celebrated living author, is writing to her of all people.
What follows is nothing short of magical. Setterfield weaves stories within stories as we learn more about Margaret and the mysterious author, and the history of ruined Angelfield House. Angelfield, with its gardens, ghosts and vast library. Violent Charlie, his intriguing sister Isabelle, and the strange emerald-eyed twins with their long coppery hair. What happened to this family? How was their ancestral home destroyed? And what does it all have to do with Vida Winters?
This is a book for those of you who love stories, for whom people in books are as real in your minds as your family. It grabs hold of you and doesn't let you go, and its characters voices will stay with you.… (more)
This is an intriguing and engaging read that ultimately just kind of peters out at the end, unless I missed some hidden symbolism or something.
It follows the life of William Bellman, starting with an incident in his childhood when he kills a crow by launching a stone at it. William is charismatic and successful as a young man, and the book devotes a lot of detail to his rise in his family's woolen mill. There is a lot of detail early in the book, particularly about his family, that ends up having no impact on later events. William is always devoted to his work, but when his family members die, his coping mechanism is to work even harder, burying his grief by keeping preternaturally busy. Every time he goes to a funeral, he sees a mysterious man there. After one funeral, he makes some sort of deal with this man, and for the second half of the book we watch him work hard to fulfill his end of the bargain, even though he can't quite remember what the bargain is.
I found this book to be very engaging at first, but in the second half I found it kept dragging, and the end was very disappointing. It felt like Setterfield had a really good premise, but then wasn't quite sure how to resolve it.… (more)
It follows the life of William Bellman, starting with an incident in his childhood when he kills a crow by launching a stone at it. William is charismatic and successful as a young man, and the book devotes a lot of detail to his rise in his family's woolen mill. There is a lot of detail early in the book, particularly about his family, that ends up having no impact on later events. William is always devoted to his work, but when his family members die, his coping mechanism is to work even harder, burying his grief by keeping preternaturally busy. Every time he goes to a funeral, he sees a mysterious man there. After one funeral, he makes some sort of deal with this man, and for the second half of the book we watch him work hard to fulfill his end of the bargain, even though he can't quite remember what the bargain is.
I found this book to be very engaging at first, but in the second half I found it kept dragging, and the end was very disappointing. It felt like Setterfield had a really good premise, but then wasn't quite sure how to resolve it.… (more)
On the Thames, a girl appears and several claim her. Really likeable characters. Loving.
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Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 5
- Members
- 21,173
- Popularity
- #1,022
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 1,248
- ISBNs
- 181
- Languages
- 22
- Favorited
- 60
