For years the press has been mystified and fascinated by Vida, as she refuses to divulge anything about her upbringing, but upon learning she is terminally ill, she decides the only one to tell her story is Margaret. When novelist Vida Winter contacts Margaret Lea asking for her to write her biography, Margaret at first does not want anything to do with telling the elusive author’s life story. The Thirteenth Tale was one of the first novels that I read that truly gripped me – the twists and turns this novel takes brings the reader on a ride they daren’t get off and has one of the biggest twists I’ve ever come across in fiction. The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield Books similar to The Silent Patient, with the use of multiple timelines, are often able to distort events easily, making it all the more intense when the reveal is upon us. The story is largely told through Anna and her mother, Sara’s perspectives, but her father, brother, lawyer and others all weigh in on the case, constantly changing our own opinions in the process.
This one is no exception – when Anna, a “test-tube baby” born to save her sister’s life, decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body, the Fitzgerald family is thrown into turmoil, unable to make the impossible choice of which sister’s life is more important.
My Sister’s Keeper is probably Picoult’s most well-known novel – many of her novels, due to the nature of stories told through multiple perspectives, naturally have unreliable narrators, or ones that are not telling us everything for one reason or another. We Need to Talk about Kevin, by Lionel ShriverĨ Books like The Silent Patient My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult.The First Phonecall from Heaven, by Mitch Albom.The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins.The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield.