who understood the ending of the The Thirteenth Tale book by Diane Setterfield?

Question

I was so confused with the jumping from the past to the present: the narrators Margaret supposed twin along with the authors Vida twin sister and whatever happened with the boy with the straw hat?

Answer 1

Okay. The boy in the straw hat was actually Vida Winter--she was one of Charlie's bastard children who was never given a name. Her mother brought her to Angelfield in hhopes she would be taken care of. Similar in appearance to the twins, she lived her life as the "ghost" and went unnoticed.

Vida and Emmeline became close when Adeline was taken not present, and Vida loved Emmeline as a sister...so the night of the fire, when Emmeline went to save Adeline from the fire, Vida went to save Emmeline...however, it is hinted that perhaps Vida saved the wrong twin, and that it was Emmeline, not Adeline, who perished in the library. Since literally no one knew of her existence, after the fire Vida gave herself her new name and pretended to be Adeline.

The question of which twin would never be resolved, since the twins are mentally stunted in a way to begin with, and at separation completely lose all control of themselves and their basic motor functions. A twin without her equal is only half a person...and Vida is forever plagued with the question of just which twin she saved.

Answer 2

I understood it.

Okay, so there's Margaret, who was a twin, but her twin died, which caused her mom to have a spaz out of tremendous proportions and become a distant mom. That doesn't change. At the end of the book, she has a dream where her twin comes to her, and when her twin comes to her in her dream, she's able to better accept everything that has happened.

Then there's Vida who is telling her own story, about twins. It turns out that Adeline and Emmeline were the twins; she was an illegitimate child of Isabelle. She never speaks of herself, only the twins. It turns out that Adeline had 'relations' with the gardener's apprentice (the boy with the straw hat)-- their son is Aurelius Love. There is a fire (sparked by, I think, one of Adeline's rages); Vida is able to escape with only Aurelius and herself. She leaves Aurelius on the doorstep of the old woman in the cottage-- that is who he is raised by.

In the end, Margaret tells Aurelius that he does have a family-- it's the gardener's apprentice (who's name I can't remember for the life of me-- sorry) daughter, who has the fraternal twin boy and girl. All Aurelius has ever wanted is a family, so his story concludes there.

Margaret moves back to the city and the bookstore with her father. She remains in contact with the doctor who took care of Vida-- it seems as though we are to believe that they are now in a relationship.

I hope this answers your question-- if it doesn't, ask me something more specifically.

Answer 3

i dont.