Sometimes, when you open the door to thepast, what you confront is your destiny. Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchantingstories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate livesfor herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about herextraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret forso long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her ownpainful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret ismesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness -- featuring the beautifuland 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.

戴安娜·賽特菲爾德（Diane Setterfield），現年四十多歲，原本研究法國文學，是安德烈·紀德專傢。在英國的中學、大學教書，定居約剋郡。

她在1999年對教學感厭倦，毅然放下教鞭，寫起小說來。不過寫作生涯殊不容易，她開始時曾因寫作進度停滯不前而放棄，與丈夫過著節儉的生活。她其後從創意寫作課程重獲靈感和啓發，終寫成其首部小說《第十三個故事》。