This is a magical story of a river and the people who live along it. At an ancient inn The Swan regulars are entertaining themselves with stories until a new story walks right through the door. An injured stranger brings with him in his arms a drowned child . Later the girl awakens and thus sets the story in motion. Who is she and why doesn’t she speak.? Does she belong to the Vaughn’s whose child has been missing ? Or does she belong with the Armstrongs whose son has moved away and leads a mysterious life. You will fall in love with this town and inhabitants and will never want to leave . Beautiful , enchanting unforgettable story

Come join us as we go down the Thames and get to know the river and the people who share it’s waters. We shall stop at The Swan, drink and be merry as we listen to the stories woven intricately year after year by the local storytellers. Our story is the story of a small drowned child brought back to life. Who is she and to whom does she belong? Could she be the Armstrong’s daughter missing from 2 years ago or Alice whose mother just died? Or is she Ann, Lilly’s sister from many years back?
Once Upon A River is a beautiful tale full of magical characters and descriptions so lovely you will feel as if you are floating down the Thames right along with Duant, Rita, Helena just to name a few and wait till you meet Maude the cow! As in The Thirteenth Tale, Setterfield has written a wonderfully entertaining novel of a Fairytale for adults! Highly recommend! Suspense, action packed with a little romance and if that’s not enough, touches on the Darwinian Age.

Ahhh I just don't know where to begin. At times it was wonderful, the prose alone was enchanting, but then it would wonder down paths where I would have to suspend belief just to get through the chapter, and not in a good way. The mystery was a good one and the story had a satisfying ending but it will not stay with me the way The Thirteenth Tale has. I received this book from NetGalley.
#OnceUponaRiver #NetGalley

I'm still sort of trying to process the excellence of this novel. Diane Setterfield has crafted a fairy tale for the ages. It's evident through her writing that Setterfield loves the telling of stories, the people who tell stories, and of course, the stories themselves.
I loved reading about so many disparate things in this novel that then came together at the end: pigs' kindness and ability to connect, changelings, rivers' sensibilities and the hardships of childbearing. I felt echoes of CANTERBURY TALES, Yeats' poems, and JANE EYRE, but this novel is very much its own animal.
Having enjoyed THE THIRTEENTH TALE, I feel lucky to have gotten in an early read of this beautiful book, and will definitely be recommending it to friends and family.
I received this novel from NetGalley - courtesy of Atria Books - in exchange for an honest review. taylorhavenholt.com/thhbooks.html

This was a fantastic book! Diane Setterfield is a master story teller, you won't be able to put this book down. Some very important themes are part of this book including love of all kinds: between parents and children, husband and wife, humans and nature. If you liked the Thirteenth Tale by this author you will LOVE Once Upon a River.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautiful novel that intertwines the lives of many families when a child is found and two families have a lost daughter. Both claim the child, and many of the other villagers feel a connection to the girl. Agony, fantasy, and unexpected connections abound in this novel. I love it!

Magic. Love. Despair. Heartbreak. Diane Setterfield has, once again, written a story that captured my heart and held me to the end. She is a true storyteller! Just like I did with The Thirteenth Tale, I will highly recommend this book to all. Thank you so much!

A little girl is found in the Thames, drowned. Only she isn’t actually dead, despite being cold and lacking a pulse, and she wakes up. Is it possible she is Amelia, daughter of the Vaughn family, who was kidnapped two years ago? Or perhaps she is actually Alice, the granddaughter of farmer Robert Armstrong? And Lily, a simple woman who cleans the parsonage, is convinced it’s her sister Ann. The stories of all these families are interconnected in this beautiful tale. The characters are vibrant and fully realized, and the mystery that slowly unfolds is compelling.

This imaginative work begins like a fairy tale and ends with the solving of a mystery. I loved the variety of characters in it, but I was rather sorry that some such as Jonathan and Joe ultimately played small roles after their rather prominent introductions. A little draggy in the middle, but overall an unusual and satisfying read

Loved this nostalgic, romantic tale. RIVETING. Setterfield builds great characters. The plot builds gently with some dull areas, but for the most.com part very strong.

It's not the Thirteenth Tale but it is better than Bellman and Black. The writing is lyrical and the descriptions are lush and the characters are sympathetic. But ultimately I kept skipping the sections with Amelia and her "parent" to read about the other characters who I found much more interesting & dynamic.

What a complex, bewitching, enthralling story! Told with fastidiously written dialogue entangled with just enough deviousness, magic and a touch of the supernatural to keep you entranced long after the story is told. And in the background, the river....always the river flowing eternally.

This book is slated to come out in 2019 and I would make note of it now..

A child is found floating in the river and presumed dead. But she isn't...is it a miracle or some sort of magic? Is she even a real child? And who does this child belong to? These are some if the questions that arise, but the girl, who appears to be about four, can't or won't talk. So begins Diane Setterfield's Once Upon A River, a masterful weaving of characters and plot into a compelling story.

Not my favourite title by Diane Setterfield, but it kept me guess and kept me reading right until the end.

As I become older it’s frustrating because I’m losing the ability to write the correct words to adequately review a book. I will try to give this book the accolades it deserves, but if I fail it’s my fault and not the novels. This book is brilliant. To distill its essence I’d say it’s about the human spirit, what we feel in our hearts, and how we interact with those around us. Even the animals and the river ( a main theme in this book) take on human characteristics that shape the people around them, and how the stories we tell each other bring us closer together, whether they’re real or imagined.
An injured man enters the Swan pub, which is known for its storytelling. In his arms he clutches a dead child he fished out of the river. Rita the nurse is summoned and as she’s attending the body, the child comes back to life. Questions and new stories start to swirl...who is she, what was she doing in the river, to whom does she belong? Everyone wants to raise her, but three sets of families claim she is their missing girl.

I feel completely inarticulate when it comes to describing how much I loved this book. Needless to say, I will be purchasing it for my library and a personal copy for myself, because I know this is a book I will want to reread. It was pure magic and I was hooked from the first page. I'd give it 100 stars if I could!

Setterfield may have made readers wait 10 years for her sophomore publication, but she certainly makes that wait worthwhile. A magical tale of love and loss, good and evil, magic and mystery, Once Upon a River will carry you along it's strong current and won't let go until the end.

Magical! I've waited a long time for this book to be released and it did not disappoint! Don't start this on a night when you need an early morning start. This is an unputdownable, thoroughly engrossable, read into the wee hours of the night type of book. Bound to be an instant bestseller! #OnceUponaRiver #NetGalley

We are all aware of the thin places that are said to exist between earth and heaven, between the spiritual world and humans. They seem especially prevalent at the times of the solstice, when the day is longest and when the night is longest.

And so, Once Upon a Time, it is Winter Solstice, and as revelers and regulars share drinks and stories at The Swan, the door flies open to reveal a frozen man holding a frozen girl. As Rita, a nurse, immediately begins to see to them, she finds that the girl is dead. Or is she? Rita continues to monitor her, and after minutes [or is it hours], feels a faint pulse.

This is a story of grief and of loss. And hope. The girl does not speak, and so those who would speak for her begin to come to The Swan. Helena and Anthony, whose daughter Amelia was kidnapped two years earlier. Robert Armstrong, whose granddaughter, Alice, has been lost. Lilly, who is convinced that she drowned her sister Ann but now has hope that the identity of this child will end to her guilt.

This book is part love story, part mystery, but always enchanting. When I got to the last page, I held it to my chest, took a deep breath of contentment, and wanted to start all over. I hope you have a similar experience.

I read this EARC courtesy of Atria/Emily Bestler books and NetGalley. pub date 01/08/19