[I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

"When the moon hours lengthen . . . it is the time of magic. And as the borders between night and day stretch to their thinnest, so do the borders between worlds. Dreams and stories merge with lived experience, the dead and the living brush against each other in their coming and goings, and the past and the present touch and overlap."

"They were collectors of words . . . they kept an ear constantly alert for them, the rare, the unusual, the unique."

"In this room, in this inn, they had seen her dead and seen her alive. Unknowable, ungraspable, inexplicable, still one thing was plain: she was their story."

What happens when a wounded stranger carrying a dead girl stumbles into an ancient inn known for storytelling, and the dead girl comes back to life, all on a cold, dark, winter's solstice night? Stories and conjectures abound, as three different parties come to the forefront and claim a connection to the silent, mysterious child. Is she Lily White's dead sister, the Vaughan's lost daughter, or Robin Armstrong's abandoned child?

Of course, I can't tell you how it all resolves, but I can tell you that the book is worth every word, every sentence that leads to the climactic ending. This rich, atmospheric book is the kind of story perfect for devouring in from of a roaring fire on a snowy, winter's eve. I hadn't read anything by Diane Setterfield before this, but now I'm going to have to look up her other works -- her writing style is just exquisite.

Set during the Darwinian age of rural England, the townspeople near the Swan Inn are still very steeped in folklore and legends. Setterfield weaves in the magical, the mythical, and the physical into a beautiful story. If you're a fan of Katherine Arden's The Bear and the Nightingale, this magical, historical tale is for you.

I also adored the characters. They're unstable, lovers of stories, greedy, honest, optimistic, hardworking, and painfully good and occasionally undeserving of the way they're treated -- but most of all, they're very real. Setterfield focuses on three groups of people that lay claim to the girl and explores their sorrows, their triumphs, and their hearts, and like any masterful storyteller, she weaves it all together for the perfect ending.

I gave this one 5/5 stars. Excellent, honest characters, intriguing characters and folklore, and a seemingly unsolvable mystery had me invested from the beginning.

I thought this book was so well written with elements of folklore and even a touch of Dickens. Setterfield is quite the storyteller!

On the evening of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, several regulars are gathered in the Swan on the Thames in Radcot where stories reign supreme. Suddenly the door opens, letting in a cold draft, and every eye turns to see who'd be coming in so late.

A tall, strong man with a monstrous, bloody face stands there and in his arms appears to be a limp waxen puppet. As the man begins to bellow and sway, the patrons spring to life and grab hold of his burden before he slumps to the floor in a dead faint.

To their shock, they discover his burden is not a doll at all but the lifeless body of a 4-year-old girl! Rita, the local nurse, is summoned and her tests also prove the girl is dead so the poor little thing is laid out in an outer building while Rita sees to the man's horrifying wounds.

But later, when Rita checks the girls again she detects a slight pulse! She lives! Is it possible she had not been dead at all? Or has she somehow miraculously come back to life?

There are three local people/families who want to claim the child as their own. How can her identity be proven for sure? When the wounded man recovers enough to speak, he can only say he found her lifeless body in the river.

As one would surmise, the river Thames plays a major role in the story with all the folktales the people tell, such as about the ferryman named Quietly who is said to rescue the unwary who fall in or carries them to the other side if it's their time. The characters spring off these pages--a mixture of good, evil and possibly insane.

I enjoyed how the various stories spin around each other and tie together nicely in a satisfying way at the end. The story is both mystifying and entertaining.

I received an arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for my honest review. I wish to express my gratitude for the opportunity.

Diane Setterfield's first novel, The Thirteenth Tale has to be one of my favorite books, so when I heard she had written another novel I was overjoyed! Although Once Upon a River is very different from Setterfield's first novel, it was still very good and quite enjoyable...only in a different way.

The main character in the story is the Thames River which is a very windy river with villages on either side. The other characters are the residence of some of the villages and how a river can somehow bring out the best (and worst) in people.

The story begins with an injured man and a dead young girl collapsing at the doorstep of a local watering hole in one of the small villages adjacent to a riverbank late one night. Hours later the child who had been pronounced dead by the local nurse/doctor suddenly awakens to everyone's surprise. She is mute and no one knows who she is or where she has come from.

Locals from towns along the river believe her to be, well, who they want her to be. A child who has gone missing. A married couple who's daughter was kidnapped years prior believe her to be their missing daughter. An older woman believes her to be her young sister who she believes had died.

But this young girl cannot be everyone's missing person. So who could she possibly be? And how do they decide just whose she really belongs to?

This novel has romance, sadness, many mysteries and is quite suspenseful with a conclusion worth waiting for.

Once Upon a River is a fairytale carpet ride down a magical river and along its special water. I enjoyed the ride very much!

Thank you #NetGalley #Once Upon a River #Atria/Emily Bestler Books. The book will be out in December.

I'd never heard of Diane Setterfield, or read anything in the magical realism genre before this book, but found both positively enchanting. The story opens with a little girl, found drowned, but come back to life. This miracle captures the imagination of the inhabitants of the The Swan, an inn on the bank of the Thames where she was found. Stories upon stories spring up about where she is from and who she is. All manner of speculation arises, with the girl in question inspiring maternal instincts in all who meet her. Eventually, three separate families come forward to claim her as their own.

What follows is a beautiful tale of how love and grief intertwine, and how those emotions ripple through communities.

I really admired Setterfield's use of language. The diction of the novel is just the right mixture of whimsy and mystery to convey an ethereal and fantastical tone. As a story that mostly consists of people telling stories and folklore, it felt just right.

Additionally, I loved her use of symbolism. Not something I immediately picked up on (despite a river/water literally being in the title!), and not something you need to pick up on to enjoy the story, but definitely added another layer to the tale, and can give you a sense of foreshadowing of what's to come.

Finally, I also liked all of the characters. From the heartbroken Vaughans to the relentlessly positive Armstrongs to the timid Lily White, all three families harbor secrets that eventually run together over the course of the story. And of course I adored the purveyors of The Swan, as well as Rita and Mr. Daunt, without whom there would be no story.

The only issue I had reading this book was the pace. It isn't a page turner, and at times I had to remind myself to read it (I think also partly due to the fact I read this as an e-book and didn't have a physical reminder of it). However, I do think the slow and steady burn is worth it in the end, and would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes literature, as I think it's a contemporary classic.

This ARC was provided to me from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this is a great book right here! If you are a person who likes stories you need to pick this one up right now and read it. A wonderful book; one of the best I read this year.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for sharing this advance reader copy. I really enjoyed this story, it pulled me in immediately. It seems there have been a lot of literary fiction titles in the past few years that have a similar setting, both location and time (England, late 19th century). I’ve started a few of them but couldn’t sustain my interest, but this one did. I also don’t typically enjoy magical realism or the fantastical but those parts of this tale were well-done and the way they were enmeshed within the story worked. I recommend this title.

Diane Setterfield offers up a great premise and a heaping sense of atmosphere in her newest novel, Once Upon a River, but while the book offers up plenty of satisfying moments, I felt it fell short of its potential and was also somewhat marred by Setterfield’s lack of trust in her readers, though both of those complaints are admittedly more subjective than my typical criticism, so more than usual, one’s mileage may vary here.

As for that wholly engrossing premise, the book opens on the winter solstice in the late 19th Century with a man stumbling into The Swan, an inn on the Thames known for its storytelling. In his hands is a young girl, seemingly dead, an assumption confirmed by the local nurse, Rita Sunday. But not much later, the girl miraculously comes back to life, though unable to speak. Who she is, where she came from, and how she ended up nearly drowned (or perhaps wholly drowned) and saved by the photographer Daunt remains a mystery even after Daunt regains consciousness as he has little memory of events. She becomes therefore a palimpsest, and soon three people are writing their own story on her blank slate. Lily White, the parsonage’s housekeep, claims she’s her sister Ann (despite what would seem to be an implausibly large age difference). Helena and Anthony Vaughan believe (to a varying degree) that she is their long-lost daughter, kidnapped several years ago and now amazingly returned to them. And Robert Armstrong, a well-off and highly educated African-American farmer, thinks she is his granddaughter via his black sheep son Robin. And weaving throughout all this is the river itself, mysterious and meandering, and home to all sorts of stories, including those of Quickly the Ferryman who helps those in need on the river, unless it is their time, in which case he helps them to the “other side.”

The opening scenes are wonderfully compelling and atmospheric, introducing major characters and themes (the power of story, death, loss), the extended metaphor of the river being akin to a story, and offering up a genre that feels like a mish-mash of gothic, magical realism, and Dickens/Austen. Each of the major characters has a strong backstory. Rita, thanks to her job, has a fear of motherhood based off of the horrors of childbirth she’s been witness to. Daunt is always taking pictures of other people’s family, while he himself is a lonely traveler. The Vaughans are the walking dead, having never recovered individually or as a couple from the loss of their daughter. And Armstrong is man of many complications—an African-American in a white world, an educated man among the less so, part of a mixed marriage, a large man of gentle thought and action, a man who converses with his pig more than his estranged son. Lily is fierce in her belief the girl is Anne but has horrid nightmares of her sister’s ghost accusing her of something. Meanwhile, Joseph, the long-time owner of the Swan is dying, with his wife and children doing most of the work in the inn.

As Setterfield talks about bringing in “tributaries” — these other stories — I thought we were heading into a series of linked stories, but she keeps the structure more novelistic, simply following the different characters’ storylines. And this is when I began to feel the novel was moving in too tame a fashion for me. The structure was familiar, and soon the plotting as well, as we get the usual hallmarks of 19th Century fiction—lost relatives, overheard conversations, mysterious letters. And then the atmospheric became too concrete as we were privy to all sorts of interior monologues, dialogues, narrative descriptions or overt metaphors that starkly laid out what I would have preferred was left a bit more to my own discernment. Here, for instance, is a scene with Vaughan riding home after a trying day:
His mount had its muzzle to the ground, exploring for something sweet among the winter bracken. “There’s nothing there for you. Nothing for me either.” He was overwhelmed with a great weariness . . .

I got the connection between the horse’s futile seeking and his own. Even the “sweet” was a bit much for me, but I certainly didn’t need the spoken words. I’ll grant that this style is right out of the 19th Century playbook (“The child . . . was the scarlet letter in another form, the scarlet letter endowed with life!”) and as well some might not find it such an annoyance, but it marred the reading experience for me and grew more noticeable (and thus more annoying) as the novel progressed. The same for how faithfully it hewed to the plots and twists of the form. Finally, it all seemed to wrap up too neatly for me, even its supernatural aspect.

Setterfield had me under the river’s spell early on, and there were good moments throughout the novel, such as a wonderfully playful scenes with the inn regulars debating a storyteller’s word choice and the running contrast between those who are full of empathy and those who are utterly callous to the fate of others, but by the midpoint while the book kept me engaged enough to keep going to the end, it lost its sense of wonder and discomfort and settled into a semi-satisfying but too familiar tale. By the time the river — the metafictional stand-in for story — had flooded its banks, I was wishing Setterfield had let her own story escape its constraints and become just as dangerous and unruly.

I received this from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

A small girl is rescued from a wintry river that winds through a village older than memory, a river that is central to the lives and imaginations of the people who live on its banks.

Like the river flowing through the tale, this story ebbed and waned. I enjoyed the aspect of story telling being so important to the townspeople. A well told story is what they lived for.

3.25☆

To me Diane Setterfield is one of the best writers I have ever read. The Thirteenth Tale is one of my all time favorite books. I without a doubt believe her writing is stunning, magical. I remember after finishing The Thirteenth Tale I could not stop wondering how any person could write like that. When I saw there was a new book coming I knew I needed it. I was so happy to read something new from the author and even thought I knew there was a big chance it was not going to be the same as The Thirteenth Tale but could not help but hope it would be as good as it.

Things I like, the unique and characteristic writing style, so neat and beautiful, all the different elements, you can not put this book in one box because I could see a little bit of mystery, magic, fantasy and some felt like reading a historical fiction and that for me shows the capability on the authors' side of combining different elements, however, the things I did not like, the later at the same time caused some confusion, from the beginning it was a slow start for me, I could never get on board with the story, I kept waiting for that "wow" moment that was going to speed up the pace for me but unfortunately never happened. I really hate to say this but the story never captivated me, could not connect with it nor the characters, this was just not the story for me.

Thank you Atria and Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Diane Setterfield's first two books, especially The 13th Tale. Her last book, Bellman & Black was published in 2013, and since I hadn't seen anything else, this author just kind of faded from my mind. But when I started reading the description of this book, I was taken in just by that and didn't even realize it was Diane Setterfield until I was studying the front cover.

This was very different from her other books, and really unique reading. When a girl is found in the river, brought to a local inn by a stranger, who himself is severely injured, it would seem that he either belongs to her, or that someone in the village would know who she was. It's not everyday that a toddler just goes missing.

But apparently in this village, there are multiple toddler girls missing or unidentified. The little girl can't or won't speak and doesn't seem to be particularly drawn to any of the families. So who does she belong to? Who should she belong to? No one in the village can agree on these questions.

This book read like it was being drawn by a very talented storyteller. It actually made me feel like I would have preferred to hear it on Audible, if it had the right narrator. And I've NEVER said that about any book.

This is a book to curl up with under a blanket on a cold day. You'll think about it long after it's over.

Current Goodreads Rating 4.23

Diane Setterfield’s Once Upon A River is her best novel to date. I found the author’s prior books entertaining, but this one hooked me from the start and I loved every word. It is filled with a myriad of fantastic characters along with some folklore and otherworld Fae. The layout and writing style give it a classic ghost story feel. The story even starts on the quintessential “dark and stormy night”.

At the beginning, the number of characters felt daunting. However, as the story progresses it becomes easy to keep their individual stories straight. The major characters each have a storyline, and many of the secondary characters are given enough attention for a thorough backstory. As the story flows around bends and twists, Ms. Setterfield pulls the various story lines together like tributaries flowing into a bigger river. Plot point by plot point the tension builds and the apparent antagonist shifts. Having read many folktales, I guessed the identity of the mysterious young girl early on, but that did not detract from my enjoyment of this book. Ms. Setterfield’s writing is swirly and curly; it is evocative and lyrical. You truly do feel there is a rhythmic flow to the entire story like a river flowing or a classic orchestrated piece of music.

While some might think the story is long, I have to say that there is not one word that could be edited out. Once Upon A River is a book for people who love to read and who love to dive deep into a story. It is not a story that can be rushed or skimmed. Every detail is crucial. Once Upon A River is ethereal and yet earthy in its mystery and suspense. Ms. Setterfield draws her readers in like a master storyteller sitting in the corner of a pub off the Thames or one spinning a yarn at a campfire; she magically captures her audience and spins a tale meant to entertain and enrapture you for the duration.

Once Upon A River is a well-written, deeply atmospheric novel and, as its title suggests, has a strong sense of folklore. One might even call it more of a gothic fairy tale. At the heart of the story is a mystery surrounding the identity of the young girl who is found in the Thames and pronounced dead … until she isn't.

Within the first few pages I realized I was in for a treat. Readers will immediately be drawn to Setterfield's wonderful writing, vivid descriptions of the setting and her diverse group of characters which drives the story much more than the mystery. Much like the Thames itself, the story meanders as the various tributary subplots and characters are introduced but if readers can wade through these slower points in the middle, they'll realize that these aspects all have purpose and are given an incredible amount of depth.

This gothic folktale stands out for its vivid characterizations, imaginative plot and hint of fantastical things with Setterfield's enchanting storytelling abilities easily being the highlight of this book for me. Recommended for fans of Setterfield's first book, The Thirteenth Tale.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher, Atria Books for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield is a very highly recommended, thoroughly enjoyable novel that combines, in part, elements of historical fiction, mysteries, Gothic romances, and folk tales.

At the end of the 19th century, on a midwinter's night at the Swan, an ancient inn, on the river Thames the regulars are gathered listening to story-telling. They are all startled when a wounded man bursts through the doors carrying a lifeless child in his arms. The stranger collapses and the child is caught by the inn keepers son. Someone is immediately sent to get Rita, the local nurse and midwife, to attend to the man. In the meantime, it becomes clear that the child is dead to those there, and she is moved to an unused room. After Rita attends to the man's many wounds, she asks to look at the child. Rita is also sure the child is dead when, unexpectedly, she takes a breath and returns to life.

The miraculous return to life of the child defies explanation. The girl appears to be four years old, but she is mute and unable to answer any questions. The stranger is identified and recovering, but he knows nothing as the child is not his. Soon the tale spreads and in the morning three distinct people lay claim to the child. Helena and Anthony Vaughan, a young affluent married couple, are sure she is their daughter, Amelia, who was kidnapped two years ago. Robert Armstrong, a successful farmer, believes the girl to be the result of a secret assignation child of his ne'er-do-well son, Robin. Lily White the parson’s housekeeper, impossibly believes the child may be her younger sister. Each family has a story, unrevealed secrets, and may have a claim to the girl, but she can't belong to all of them. And what about the murmurings that she may have a tie to the mythical ferryman, Quietly.

Once Upon a River is an excellent story and features exceptional storytelling and character development. The narrative is atmospheric, suspenseful, and complex. The plot features elements of myth, folklore, science, magic, secrets and rumors. This is a wonderfully-written historical novel with a Gothic feeling but it also has several mysteries that need to be resolved and swirling around the plot are mythical details. Each word is meant to be savored. I was immersed in the story right at the beginning and held enchanted and full of anticipation and anxiety right to the absolutely perfect conclusion.

The character development is phenomenal. Each character is truly a unique individual and Setterfield does an outstanding job developing and expounding on their individual traits. Their stories are intertwined and separate as the plot evolves and the story develops. We learn more about each family and each person just when we need to do so. The novel is largely character driven, so the rich diverse characters make this novel a pleasure to read.

Once Upon a Riverwill likely be in my top ten books of the year and it is certainly worthy of my highest recommendation. (I should admit that I generally don't enjoy historical fiction, but this is a perfect reason why exceptions sometimes need to be made when choosing a novel.)
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Atria/Emily Bestler Books.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/11/once-upon-river.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2604451833
https://www.librarything.com/work/21597915/book/162703703
https://twitter.com/SheTreadsSoftly/status/1066440246143959040
Amazon and Barnes&Noble after publication

From the author of The Thirteenth Tale comes this offering from Setterfield.

In a small village on the Thames gather at the local pub to tell stories. And what storytellers they are. As they are warming themselves and having a drink or two the doors burst open and a monstrous looking fellow with a drowned child in his arms falls into the room.

The little girl is obviously dead. The poor man has had some type of accident leaving his face banged up and his eyes swollen. As nurse Rita tends to his wounds and leaves him to rest she checks on the child. 

After hours, the little girl is obviously dead. No pulse. No breath. Until suddenly she breathes. And is alive. Or is she?

There is so much wonderful folklore and storytelling going on in this tale! 

Storytelling is a gift. And this was a really good one. Part fable, part fantasy and pure enjoyment from beginning to end!

Netgalley/ December 4th 2018 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Honestly, could not bring myself to continue with this one.. I did not care enough about the characters or the plot to finish the book. It seems a bit of a mess. Perhaps it is my lack of appreciation for magical realism.

Overall I thought this book was reasonably enjoyable but no match for Setterfield's debut. However I think it will appeal to fans of her work and those who enjoy reading involving, detiailed historical fiction.

fullsizeoutput_3840Lindas Book Obsession Reviews “Once Upon A River” by Diane Setterfield

Diane Setterfield has creatively written an unusual, intriguing, riveting, enthralling, unique, entertaining and thought-provoking novel. The Genres for this Novel are a combination of Folklore, Tall-Tales, Fiction, Magic, Myth and possibly Science.There is also some Romance and Mystery and Suspense. What a variety of genres in one novel!! Diane Setterfield is an amazing storyteller and vividly describes the characters and landscape. The author describes her quirky, strange, characters as complex and complicated. There are many questions, and just as many answers too many things that happen in this story.

There is symbolism, and the most apparent is the Thames River, which seems to stand for life and death in different ways. By an ancient Inn, where people meet and greet one another and tell stories, an injured man comes in holding what appears is the dead body of a doll-like little girl. The people get the Nurse to treat the man. It appears that the man is a photographer. When the nurse checks on the dead girl, she realizes that she is now alive. How can one be dead, and alive? ” To be or not be”? Is it magic or is it science?

The people in the Inn think the little four-year old mute girl is one that was kidnapped. After the word spreads, it is possible that the little girl could belong to one of three families. Each of the families has many secrets. One moment everything seems so real and life-like and the next moment there is a magical or unrealistic view of things.

I would recommend this suspenseful ,magical and thought-provoking story to readers who enjoy these genres. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

Although I've really enjoyed her other books, this story seemed to stall. I liked the characters but it just felt slow.

I had trouble getting into this but eventually found somewhat of a groove. Setterfield is a master of mood and setting, and this story is wonderfully imaginative.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

2.5 stars rounded up

I fell in love with Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale many years ago. I love the mystery and gothic influence, the layered storyline and the dual timeline. This book is so different, but just as captivating.
A little girl is taken out of the river, believed to be dead, but then is alive. Three separate people lay claim to her - is she Amelia, Alice, Ann...or none of them? The girl doesn’t speak and so the mystery continues, not just of who she is but also about what happened to the other girls.
Heartbreaking and beautifully written, with a myriad of characters to both love and despise, this novel sweeps you up and doesn’t let go until the final page.