<p>P.S. ignatius: I also meant to say–that was very interesting about the triplets in your family. Seems like several of us readers didn’t like the way Setterfield made both Margaret and her mother mourn indefinitely…You have the real-life story that shows the more practical, and undoubtedly the truer, response.</p>
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<p>I missed out on Dreamers of the Day, so I had no comparison to make. Interesting comment though, the melancholy and mother issues tended to make me want to spend less time with Margaret, and the joie de vivre of the main character in Guernsey made me like her all the more. I wonder how I’ll feel about Agnes of Dreamers - once I get around to reading her story.</p>
<p><a href=“I%20was%20tempted%20to%20end%20that%20sentence%20with,%20“…like%20Dan%20Brown,”%20but%20I’ll%20be%20nice.”>quote</a>
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Ha. He is. (I’m not so nice.) There’s this amazing review of The Lost Symbol on Amazon:[url=<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3A2X0ZIIS9JVD/ref=cm_cr_pr_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3A2X0ZIIS9JVD/ref=cm_cr_pr_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview]Amazon.com:</a> Profile For Valannin: Reviews<a href=“Scroll%20down%20to%20the%20second%20one.”>/url</a> This review is a work of art.</p>
<p>^ Very funny, especially the reviewer’s “code”–the first letter of every paragraph.</p>
<p>You might enjoy this: <a href=“The Lost Symbol and The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown's 20 worst sentences”>The Lost Symbol and The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown's 20 worst sentences;
<p>One thing that struck me in The Thirteenth Tale is that Emmaline and Adeline might have been mixed up since infancy. Missus and John-the-Dig decided just to call one Emmaline and the other Adeline, as their mother more or less just dumped the infants on the house staff without identifying either. From the beginning, the twins’ identities seemed more intertwined than most. </p>
<p>Another thought comes from having sisters that are identical twins: I can tell them apart now, but looking through scrapbooks I can’t tell one from the other. Once I was sitting with one of them as she identified herself for me in the pictures. She commented that she always found her twin in the picture first and then she was the other one. She always saw her sister so she recognized her down to the tiniest detail, so it just became easier to think “Hey that’s her, so this must be me.” Taken to an unhealthy degree, perhaps Adeline could no longer recognize herself without Emmaline as her point of reference. It certainly seemed that she spent the years since the fire looking (digging in the earth) for her twin.</p>
<p>That is fascinating about your sister and the family photographs. I know from the earlier bio links that Diane Setterfield is not a twin herself. I wonder if she did any research on/interviews with twins before she began writing.</p>
<p>Re: twins and photos – My older brothers are identical twins. My father tells me I could always tell them apart, from the time I started talking. When we look at old family photos, I always know which one is which.</p>
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<p>I’ve wondered about whether or not I could identify the twins in photos if I had been closer in age to them. The twins were close to 17 years old when I was born, so I didn’t share a childhood with them. Another sister is only 14 months younger than the twins and easily identifies each in photos (or so she says :)). Anyway, I have no problem identifying the twins in the beginning adulthood pictures and thereafter, but truthfully that’s not so hard. One married when I was four years old and the other when I was five; hairstyles, dress, etc. - not to mention husbands - reflect the two distinct individuals.</p>
<p>In The Thirteenth Tale the unknown, unrealized third girl (Vida) was quickly identified as Adeline based on the fact that her “awareness” could only come from Adeline. I wonder if photos taken of the two girls would have captured the differences between the two as they grew up.</p>
<p>what is next month’s book?</p>
<p>The next book is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. January will be our month for reading, and we will discuss the book in February. In the past, we have begun discussion on the 15th of the month, but some posters have suggested that beginning on a weekend would be easier. If we do that, we would begin discussion on Saturday, February 13th. Is that o.k. with everyone?</p>
<p>yes, that’s great Mary, hopefully many will participate.</p>
<p>The Help is a very good book for Book Club! Will have to make sure I check in here for discussion.</p>
<p>I just checked out “13th tale” a couple days ago and i really like it but i’m not done yet. can i still join this thread in a few days? it’ll be a different year though :(</p>
<p>^ Of course you can! Just read through the thread and add whatever else you’d like…There are a few of us hardcore book club devotees who are always happy to keep discussing. :)</p>
<p>hey everyone, (please exuse typos- my computer won’t type. If you have a question about what I meant to type, please ask me. 
I apologize)
I read The Thirteenth Tale, or at least I started to read it. It seems really good! I should finish it in one or two days- just like i always do with a favorite book. I always wondered- “How could they know which one was Emmeline and which one was Adeline?” For instance, it could be that they took Emmeline and not Adeline for the experiment… wait… no. That couldn’t work. And also the Love guy- Mr. Love. Was he someow related to the (angelfields?)? Yeah. The thing about that book is- there’s a lot of confusing things, but it’s good all the same. Still, not as confusing as some other books I’ve read.</p>
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<p>I figure that by the time of the experiment the twins differed enough in demeanor/personality that telling them apart wasn’t difficult. It seems to me that Emmaline had a certain “slowness” about her and that she followed Adeline’s lead. I don’t picture Emmaline functioning if removed from both her twin and her environment. Adeline, on the other hand, seemed the less malleable of the two, regardless of the circumstances. She depended perhaps on Emmaline but in a different way.</p>
<p>Mr. Love - keep reading and you’ll see his place in the lives of the girls.</p>
<p>Yes, I saw that. Also, how do they know that Emmeline wasn’t the one who escaped the fire unscathed and Adeline was the one that got burned? I mean, they look the same, don’t they? So- if Emmeline was the one to escape, she could have said that her name was Adeline and later changed her name to Vida Winter.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that Emmeline was a bit heavier than Adeline. It was a long time ago when I read this book but I distinctly remember that Emmeline had a good appetite and was more “well rounded” as a young adult.</p>
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<p>I forgot that Emmaline weighed more. My thought: Emmaline did not have the mental acuity to pass as Adeline, much less become a renowned author. Others assumed that Vida was Adeline because at the moment Vida appeared to be the more capable twin (Adeline). Adeline may have differed somewhat in appearance to Emmaline, but the neighbors assumed that only two girls existed. So through a quirk of fate, Vida became Adeline - and Adeline bereft without her twin became for all practical purposes Emmaline.</p>
<p>For a bit, I wondered if perhaps Vida mistook which one she saved, but the baby was the clincher. I don’t think she would have denied Emmaline her child.</p>
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<p>Yes—my impression was that Vida at first believed she had dragged her beloved Emmaline out of the fire, but upon closer look, realized that she had actually saved Adeline. And ignatius, if I understand you correctly, you are saying that if Vida really had saved Emmaline as she initially thought, she would have returned the baby Aurelius to her. Once Vida realizes she has accidentally saved Adeline, she knows that Aurelius is better off remaining with his foster mother. </p>
<p>I imagine the weight/body differences between Adeline and Emmaline would have only been an identity clue for Vida. The public wasn’t close enough to the girls to be that familiar with their body types. Therefore, Vida could pass as Adeline and Adeline could pass as Emmaline without raising suspicion. (Hester would have known the difference, but she was long gone by then.)</p>
<p>Minor question: After the fire, Vida was assumed to be Adeline and she let people believe this. Later, she took the name “Vida” as her pen name. Did ever have a name growing up in that house? Or was she just “Girl”? I don’t think John or the housekeeper ever named her Vida, did they?</p>