I love a magical mystery tale and this did not disappoint. Set in the Victorian era and starts in an inn on the Thames. Well written and flows nicely. I really enjoyed this read.

The Thames flows through this Gothic story uniting and dividing different characters and communities.

At the start the author makes much of the story telling traditions that flourished . A girl is found who is presumed dead. All her vital signs indicate that she has died. Rita ,a self trained midwife/ nurse/doctor, is puzzled when the girl lives. The experience leads her to question all her science learning but are there things which cannot be readily explained?

Who is the mysterious mute girl? Is she the disappeared daughter of the wealthy Vaughan family ? Is she the granddaughter of the engaging black farmer Mr Armstrong? Is she the sister of the elusive Lily? The story meanders , much like the river through these possibilities.

The river in its power and mystery reminded me of the river in Pullman's "La Belle Sauvage". The character of Rita was reminiscent of The Essex Serpent.

Even the minor characters were well drawn- the son at the Inn for example.

Although there is the inexorable pull of the current of writing, I sometimes found that the book meandered into a stagnant pool and I lost interest in some places. However this style is part of the tradition of storytelling, particularly Gothic novels. so I can recognise that it was deliberate..

Overall an original, memorable updated Gothic novel.

Set in the Victorian era among a small community along the bank of the Rover Thames, this most enjoyable novel concerns the mystery surrounding the identity of a young child. One dark night she is brought into the local pub apparently drowned. Miraculously – or so it appears to the onlookers – she comes back to life and is immediately claimed by 3 different families, all of whom have lost a child. It’s a wonderfully compelling tale, a tale that unfolds slowly and meanders just like the ever-present river, which is as much a character in the story as any of the people who are all in some way bound to it. There’s a wide and disparate cast of characters, mysteries and puzzles, heartbreak and loss and the portrayal of a community on the cusp of profound changes. Folklore and magic are still providing answers but science is making inroads and miracles can now sometimes be explained away. Above all it’s a story about stories and storytelling, how central stories are to our lives and how we need them to explain the world to us. Diane Setterfield is on top form in this absorbing and moving story from a master storyteller.

A magical book that kept me enthralled. Perfect for reading curled up during the winter. I enjoyed this book thoroughly

Thank you for the chance to read this Netgalley.

I really liked this book, it’s not one I would’ve gone for usually but I read the description and I thought I’d give it a go.

A SPELLBINDING, MULTI-LAYERED MYSTERY SET IN THE 19TH CENTURY AROUND THE THAMES.

If you like folk tradition, a little bit of magic and myth then you will love this.

A magical tale of intrigue and mystery.
Set along the Thames in the 19th century, men women and families areally enjoying each others company when a strange man opens the door with a dead child in his arms.
Everyone is shocked but even more so after a few hours the child awakes and is alive.
How can this be?
Who is the man and what happened to this young girl?

What a marvellous magical, lyrical story that meanders, speeds up, gets lost in tributaries, crosses from shore to shore, just like the Thames, the river in the title.

It is set in mid-Victorian times, when science has tried to replace magic, and they co-exist uneasily.

On the winter solstice a man is injured and a drowned girl is found, then she lives.
A girl has been lost, is this the child?
Why does everybody feel a connection to her.
A farmer looks for his estranged son.

The stories of the large cast of characters interweave as they bring the mysteries of that night to a satisfying conclusion over the course of a year.
My only complaint is that the evil characters (and there are some) seem to have no redeeming traits, but there are such people around.

Otherwise, an amazing book.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the opportunity to read this book.

To be honest the story is a little slow paced in parts, however that could just be me. A book of story telling, full of colourful characters. Not my usual genre, but i gave it a go and enjoyed most of it.

I was sent a copy of Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield to read and review by NetGalley.
This is a story book in the true sense of the word. I was completely hooked from the start, totally immersed in the tales of the river told and retold in the Swan Inn on the banks of the Thames. This novel is beautifully written, enchanting and also rather magical. The lives of the whole community are touched by the appearance of a little girl; who is she and who will claim her as their own? There are many twists and turns to the mystery, with an array of characters all bursting into life on the page. I loved it!

Once Upon A River is a meandering tale that is probably best described as magical realism, with a strong fairytale current flowing through it. I did enjoy this book, but I didn't love it. The undercurrents didn't quite transport me to a different world!

The writing is beautiful, but overall I think the book was just too long. Lovingly described, the river is indeed quite a presence in the story, but the dreaminess was too prolonged.

Magic and the material world converge in a spellbinding story.

1887: on the long, dark night of the Winter Solstice, a badly injured man stumbles into the Swan Inn on the banks of the River Thames carrying a dead child. The Swan Inn is a traditional hub of storytelling, the miracle of what subsequently occurs spreads rapidly and has a ripple effect which forever transforms the lives of the community. Innkeepers Margot and Joe Bliss and their teenage son Jonathan. Farmers Robert and Bess Armstrong and their adult son Robin. Nurse and midwife Rita Sunday, photographer Henry Daunt. Affluent married couple Anthony and Helena Vaughan, housemaid Lily White – all their fascinating stories flow like tributaries with often tragic undercurrents into the main body of the tale; their fates brought together and intertwined.

The captivating, ethereal quality of a fairy tale and a powerful depiction of the grim conditions of life in the nineteenth century meet at the confluence of this story, heightening its elements of magical realism. The harshness of life on the river is seamlessly juxtaposed with folk tales of water goblins; dead souls haunting the living; the otherworldly ferryman who steers those in trouble either to safety on the shore or to “another shore altogether”; and of course, the catalyst that is the Swan Inn miracle. In keeping with the ancient belief of water being the transformative element and the gateway to other worlds, the river itself is a living entity. Beautiful and lyrical poetic descriptions evoke the river’s moods, constantly in flux with the seasons and weather; ever-changing yet eternal.

The mysteries at the heart of the story are multi-layered and are unravelled gradually but compellingly, keeping the reader hooked throughout. While Once Upon a River is reminiscent at times of a nineteenth-century novel in its density and complexity (which is an excellent thing!), its breadth and depth encompass subjects which are strikingly modern. Issues of race, sex and class are depicted and dealt with sensitively and with subtlety. Brutal violence against women and children, nature versus nurture, the conflict of science and superstition, and heart-breaking loss and its devastating aftermath all wind their way through the book to moving and often gut-wrenching effect.

Wonderful writing, an enthralling story, absorbing sub-plots, thought-provoking themes, and a cast of characters who are as memorable as they are diverse, all converge to make Once Upon a River a terrific choice for readers looking for intelligent novels of substance. Highly recommended.

Arwen Evenstar

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

This is the first book I have read by this author and it was not the type of book I would normally have read. However, I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book and would definitely recommend it to others. It is beautifully written with a style of prose that reflects the tale brilliantly. It begins with an unknown injured man walking into an inn on the banks of the Thames with a dead girl in his arms. This is where the mystery starts and continues until the end of the book when the story comes full circle and we learn exactly did happen on that fateful night. There is a large list of characters, some of whom I warmed to more than others but all of whom I felt were important to the tale. I became totally engrossed in the book and could not wait to see what happened next. The last few chapters built the tension incredibly well and it wasn't clear which way the book would end. There were also several questions from earlier in the book answered and we realised that everything was not quite as it seemed earlier on. I would definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy becoming fully engrossed in a book and its characters.

Many thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest and fair review.

‘A river no more begins at its source than a story begins with the first page.’

It’s a cold, dark night at the Swan Inn at Radcot, when a man bursts through the doors with a dead child in his arms. The man is tended to, unconscious and unable to give answers, and the child is lain aside. Until, she awakens. Now the only question is, who is she? As families fight for her, Setterfield takes you back through each characters past, up and down the Thames as the river becomes a character of its own, ruthless and reckless, dangerous and daring, until one year after the girl first appeared. Can the river shed light on who she is, and where she came from?

I totally didn’t realised this was by the same author of ‘The Thirteenth Tale’ when I requested it on NetGalley – it was only when I went to add it on Goodreads when I started reading it that it clicked. And I got really excited, because The Thirteenth Tale is such a clever telling of a story, and I’ve been wanting to reread it lately because I remember being entranced and so engrossed by it the first time around.

So, I was very excited going it. And that excitement only grew after the first few lines, paragraphs, pages. The opening of Once Upon a River is one of the best openings I think I’ve ever read. The voice of the narrator is so distinctive, so melodic and purposeful in what it’s telling you. I could honestly reread the beginning of this novel over and over again. In my eyes, it is perfect.

Unfortunately, that charm to the voice does die down slightly as the novel progresses. It’s still told beautifully, it is still captivating, and unique, but the quality of the first few chapters that is so amazing loses its shine a little bit. Like I said, it’s still good. It’s still beautiful. But the very beginning is just that little bit more.

One of the main focuses of Once Upon a River, apart from the mystery of the little girl, and the importance of the river itself, is the act of storytelling. It’s used a device within the book to pass information from one character to another, but it’s seen as an art, a skill, something you hone and practice and work at until Friday night at the Swan when you unleash the events of last week and captivate everyone in the building. The way that Setterfield brings it to the front of her own story is fascinating and beautiful, and is reminiscent of how she uses the stories of the author that is her main character in The Thirteenth Tale to further the story. She obviously has a way with words herself, but I adore how she brings stories into stories and highlights the importance of passing on tales.

Within Once Upon a River, there are multiple characters, each fighting for their families, and for this little girl to join their lives. Each character has their own in depth back story, each relevant to who they are now, and each adds intrigue and detail to the story at hand now.

I loved the mix of reality, of what you know is the logical answer, and the hint of magic or supernatural, whether it’s Quietly, Bess Armstrong’s eye, or the question of if the little girl was ever really dead or not. A book that is set strongly in the historical fiction category, while also tagged as ‘fantasy’ and ‘magical realism’, it makes you wonder whether you believe there are outside causes to these anomalies, or if there is some very easy answer waiting just around the corner.

I adored Once Upon a River. I can’t wait to re-read The Thirteenth Tale, check out Setterfields other book, and look out for what else she releases in future.

An interesting tale weaved through the eyes of several key characters, though a little slow at times.

Overall, I found this book reasonably well-written, but for me, a bit of dense read. Every so often I would have to put the book down because I didn't want to read any further. Not because of the story, but because of the prose.

I also found the way the book refers more or less obliquely to rape, in ways which appear to largely ignore its consequences and as essentially something that was more or less expected to happen to women, disturbing and bothersome, and not in a way that added to the experience of reading the book. It seems to be used as a way to show that a villain is a bad person, for example, and I am honestly tired of that particular trope.

The mix of scientific and supernatural also seemed a bit strange, a bit off, as if the author was trying a bit too hard to combine the two; it felt rather forced.

So while the author certainly sees to have researched the setting very well and certainly showed great skill at the craft of writing, the book did not gel for me into a whole, and never really became a book where I felt I had to continue reading it. I did finish it, and I don't regret it, but it's not a book I think I will recommend

We get it, the novel’s title is Once Upon a River. Jesus Christ.
Whilst the reality of the River Thames is one that characterises every major waterway in the United Kingdom - opaque, freezing and overflowing with rubbish - Diane Setterfield really tries to hammer home the point in this novel that it is, in fact, a magical entity that has a personality all of its own. Ebbing and flowing and all that; influencing the events that take place on its banks. At least, by how many references/descriptions of it in this book, that is what it certainly feels like she's aiming for - take them all out and this book would be a tenth of its size and filled with utter nothingness.

Introduction: A dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the Thames. The regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a little child. Hours later the dead girl stirs.


Is it a miracle?

Lovely atmospheric story dripping in melancholy. Everyone is a storyteller and the plot meanders just like the Thames. Characters weave into the book with their own back story. Beautifully written and observed. An enchanting story – perhaps the ending is a little disappointing but do not be put off. The writing is magic.

I absolutely adored Once Upon a River. Diane Setterfield can really spin a yarn – what an incredible gift for understated storytelling. Reading this book felt just as though I was sitting by the fire with an ale in the dead of winter, hundreds of years ago.

This is a story about stories and storytelling. About the joys of being the first to bring a new tale, of refining one over time, of embroidering a tired story from long ago. It’s also about the distress of being forced to tell a painful story over and over again.

I loved this passage, which sums up how every story is built:

"Something happens and then something else happens and then all sorts of other things happen, expected and unexpected, unusual and ordinary."

The narrative is mesmerising and I found it so difficult to put down. I’d love to see this book made into a movie – I could almost hear Cate Blanchett narrating it in a warm, deep and calm voice, just as she voiced Galadriel: the elven co-ruler of Lothlórien, in Lord of the Rings.

At the Swan Inn that winter, the story of the girl who died and then lived is told again and again, with many variations. The storytellers test out which bits of the story make sense, discarding and adding elements as they try to fill the gaps in the known story with explanations that might make sense. In this way, Setterfield explores the way in which we tell stories in an effort to make sense of the unfathomable.

And then there is the healing power of telling stories – a burden shared is a burden halved and all that. Robert Armstrong apologises to Rita Sunday after sharing his life story with her:

"Forgive me, these are things a man speaks of very infrequently and there is a certain – I don’t know quite what to call it… pleasure? Relief, at any rate, in unburdening oneself."

I highly recommend Once Upon A River. The language is wonderful, the narrative is surprising and the characters are unforgettable.

Although this book was beautifully written and had an interesting premise I found it to be incredibly slow and it didn’t engage me at all.

Beautifully written, some really interesting characters and wonderful description of the setting, everything that draws me into a book. Sadly, for some reason I found it difficult to engage with the story, very slow paced and at times I found it tedious. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed other Diane Setterfield books but this one was not for me.