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Cover of The Thirteenth Tale

How long does it take to read The Thirteenth Tale?

Diane Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield takes about 7 hours 38 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 7 hours 38 minutes

A weekend read

First published 2006. 416 pages, about 114,400 words.

16 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 12 hours 43 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 7 hours 38 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 4 hours 46 minutes

The page count is the median across 23 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

Sometimes, when you open the door to the past, what you confront is your destiny. 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. 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. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. 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. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

Subjects: Solitarios, Family, Female friendship, Amistad, Fiction, Women authors

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