This is a tale about woman who works with her father in an antiquarian book store until she has sent a letter from a famous English writer asking the woman to write the writer's autobiography. The writer, Vera Winter, is an elusive woman who has hidden her personal life and history from her thousands and thousands of fans. However, Winter is now terminally ill and wants to have her entire story told. Winter's story is intertwined with that of the woman writing the biography and the two stories expose the hidden truths, in both of their lives, that have laid dormant for decades. Issues surrounding illegitimate children, incestuous desires, "twinness", and other gothic elements are woven into these parallel plots.

It is written within the Gothic tradition with overly rich writing that is reminiscent of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights (if even includes the burning down of a house!). While the writing and word choice is extremely discriminating and resonates throughout the pages, the characters fall flat and uninteresting. The most interesting characters in the story are only present in the first fourth of the novel. For the rest of the story, the characters are stereotypical and the plot turns can be seen a hundred pages away. While many reviews praised the novel for being reminiscent of the classic Gothic tales, I found that the book had more or less stolen the Gothic elements from other tales and had not developed them into the author's own story or craft.

In regards to the audiobook, I found the narrators to be exceptional. Though the story was dull and quickly became boring, it was the narrators who kept me listening. Their voices were enchanting and their reading of the story added more to the book than the actual text. However, not even the narrators could save me from the disappointment I felt when I reached the cliched ending. Overall, if you love Gothic fiction, you may be interested to read this book for the language and the allusions to Gothic classics. Yet, if you are looking for something comparable to Jane Eyre or other captivating classics, you have more luck just rereading the classics. ( )

The truth is, I've been fascinated with twins ever since Mary Ann and Kathy Ruane joined my kindergarten class lo those many years ago. They looked exactly alike! but they were not the same person! WTF?

Even MORE fascinating to me are twins who were separated before their memories are functional, but who live with a constant sense of loss. That's the underlying theme of this very well-written book, so it should have been right up my alley. In a way, it was: I read it all in one sitting (it was a trans-Atlantic flight, and my movie-viewer thingy was broken, which concentrates the mind wonderfully) and actually enjoyed it quite a lot. The book opens with a rather lost female writer being called to the home of a famously reclusive author, who, for some unknown reason, has decided to give her an exclusive - and possibly even truthful - interview. The reason, it soon becomes clear, is that both women share a devastating loss - but the nature of their losses is not clear, even to them.

Pretty interesting, huh? So why only three stars? Because the denouement was stupid. Not to be harsh or anything, but the book was darn good: why couldn't Satterfield have come up with a cooler and more satisfying ending? I YEARN to give a book five stars! Help me, Universe!(less) ( )

A thrilling book. ( )

A wonderful read. It is real page turner but not your typical page turner. Its a story about stories plus lots more. Its part mystery, part a celebration of literature. I loved it and highly recommend it. ( )

This is a great story for people who love books - it unfolds slowly and delicately, but still packs a punch once the truth is finally revealed. ( )