⇒ Read Once Upon a River A Novel Diane Setterfield 9780743298070 Books

Once Upon a River A Novel Diane Setterfield 9780743298070 Books

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Once Upon a River A Novel Diane Setterfield 9780743298070 Books

Brief summary and review, no spoilers.

This fantastic story begins at the Swan, an inn located on the bank of the Thames. (Or perhaps it isn’t the Thames?) We do know it is the night of the winter solstice but we don’t know what year. You see, everything is deliberately a little vague as in any good fairy tale or myth; its meaning and relevance being universal and timeless.

When we start the book we soon learn the good folks at the Swan all love to tells stories, with each person trying to outdo the other. Their night is interrupted when an obviously large but injured man falls into the Swan carrying a lifeless little girl.

The very skilled and beloved nurse Rita is called in to help. She is able to stitch up and save the man but the little girl seems dead. But then, surprising everyone, it turns out she isn’t.

I don’t want to give much more away; it’s so much better and more fun finding out what happens next as the author intended - but I will say that there are several people in the village and just beyond who have an interest in this little girl and believe she belongs to them. Their motivations often as confusing to us the readers as it is to them. Most of these people are of good heart and most all seem to love her.

It is only at the end that most of our questions are answered.

I took over a week to read this book - I normally would read it in a day but I was so in love with it that I would read a few chapters and stop; it’s that good and I didn’t want it to be over. Whenever I picked it up and started reading I was completely transported to this mythic, wonderful place populated with the most wonderful characters. I didn’t want to leave, at the same time I desperately wanted to know what happened next,

It’s not important for me to have to like a character to like a book, but in this case you find yourself rooting for and caring about so many of them. Each character is so three-dimensional and the dialogue so spot and and often funny. Quirky in the best way.

The story itself is marvelous, but it’s the wonderful prose that makes this book one of my favorites. I have dog-earred so many pages (if I threw it across the room I think it might fly) because I thought certain sentences or descriptions were so clever and evocative. I know a lot of people write well, but this was exceptional and I am definitely going to go out and read her earlier books.

Just an example of the writing - a description of the landlady of the Swan, followed by a passage that may give you a feel for the otherworldly essence of the book:

“Margot was a handsome woman in her late fifties. She could lift barrels without help and had legs so sturdy, she never felt the need to sit down.”

“There are stories that may be told aloud, and stories that must be told in whispers and there are stories that are never told at all. The story of the marriage of Mrs. and Mrs. Armstrong was one of these latter ones, known only to the two parties to whom it belonged and the river. But as secret visitors to this world, as border crossers between one world and another, there is nothing to prevent us sitting by the river and opening our ears; then we will know it too.”

I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is so filled with heart and wonderful characters - even the river becomes one. Every once in a while, when I finish a book and turn the final page, I will clutch the book and experience a “reader’s high” for lack of a better phrase. It’s the most wonderful feeling and I got it with this book.

Recommended.


Tags : Once Upon a River: A Novel [Diane Setterfield] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>“One of the most pleasurable and satisfying new books I've read in a long time. Setterfield is a master storyteller...swift and entrancing,Diane Setterfield,Once Upon a River: A Novel,AtriaEmily Bestler Books,0743298071,Historical fiction,Missing persons;Fiction.,Secrecy,Secrecy;Fiction.,Thames River (England),Thames River (England);Fiction.,Thrillers (Fiction),ENGLISH HISTORICAL FICTION,ENGLISH MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,England,FICTION Gothic,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction-Literary,FictionGothic,FictionLiterary,GENERAL,General Adult,United States

Once Upon a River A Novel Diane Setterfield 9780743298070 Books Reviews

What an insanely good book. I am a huge fan of The Thirteenth Tale and so treated myself to Once Upon A River as a Christmas gift to myself. Others have summarized it adequately so I won't do so here but if you enjoyed Thirteenth Tale do yourself a favor and don't wait on this book. It is beautiful and poignant and intricately woven into a story of love, loss, and redemption. So many wonderful characters, so many perfectly described settings, and just enough magic and mystery to keep you hooked until the wee hours. I gorged it in two marathon settings over two nights and I will be going back for a more leisurely read as well. I fail to understand anything less than a 5 star review and those who say it is slow or plodding simply don't get this author's wonderful prose which for me borders on the poetic.
Once Upon a River is an interesting novel with lots of twists and turns. When a young mute girl is pulled near-frozen from the river, multiple families lay claim to her, each with their own reasons to suspect she is their missing relative. The author does a wonderful job of creating and exploring a large number of rich, complex characters. While the plot focuses on the mystery of the girl, the book itself is largely character-driven. I thought the ending was a bit of a sell-out, but I enjoyed the book enough until then to still think favorably of it.

What I really didn't like about the book was the numerous instances of domestic violence against both women and children. I realize the author was trying be authentic in terms of the frequency of such acts given the setting (1800s England). Still, it was extremely hard to read over and over again about multiple characters being abused. Sometimes these were just passing references and other times more detailed accounts. If this is something you find triggering, don't read this book.
I read about 2 books per week, so I have read a lot of books. This one is special. It is definitely on my Best of the Year list, and I strongly recommend it to everyone. I see that some reviewers have listed the pace as "slow". At first, when reading it, this book was hard to get into, but then I realized that the problem was ME. The writing is so very good that it deserves more than little snatches of my reading time. In reading it, I realized that I had become somewhat addicted to the little, 2 and 3 page chapters of many of today's books. This one requires a bit more of the reader, but, in return, the reader is rewarded with a splendid story, a remarkable resolution, and some of the best writing that I have read all year. Highly recommended.
This is the most long winded book I think I've ever read. It's been a long time since a book has given me feelings of dread every time I picked it up.

Although I've never read a book by this author, I was nonetheless excited to dive into this one based on the rave reviews for not only this book but for Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale. Not every author and/or book is for everybody and this one was certainly not my glass of chocolate milk.

While the prose is without a doubt prolific, the story crawled at an excruciating pace with pages and pages of descriptive text. Some have commented that the prolonged details are necessary in the telling of the story, I humbly disagree. There are a ton of characters in this story and while they are all fleshed out to the nth degree, I didn't care about or relate to any of them.

There is a lot of magic, as well religious undertones in this story, both of which turned me off immediately as I tend to steer clear of those subjects.

I realize that I am in the tiniest of minority of people that feel this book fell way short of expectations while most every other reviewer fell in love with this book. I do not discourage readers from picking this one up for that reason alone.

2 Stars for the writing ⭐⭐

I was provided an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Brief summary and review, no spoilers.

This fantastic story begins at the Swan, an inn located on the bank of the Thames. (Or perhaps it isn’t the Thames?) We do know it is the night of the winter solstice but we don’t know what year. You see, everything is deliberately a little vague as in any good fairy tale or myth; its meaning and relevance being universal and timeless.

When we start the book we soon learn the good folks at the Swan all love to tells stories, with each person trying to outdo the other. Their night is interrupted when an obviously large but injured man falls into the Swan carrying a lifeless little girl.

The very skilled and beloved nurse Rita is called in to help. She is able to stitch up and save the man but the little girl seems dead. But then, surprising everyone, it turns out she isn’t.

I don’t want to give much more away; it’s so much better and more fun finding out what happens next as the author intended - but I will say that there are several people in the village and just beyond who have an interest in this little girl and believe she belongs to them. Their motivations often as confusing to us the readers as it is to them. Most of these people are of good heart and most all seem to love her.

It is only at the end that most of our questions are answered.

I took over a week to read this book - I normally would read it in a day but I was so in love with it that I would read a few chapters and stop; it’s that good and I didn’t want it to be over. Whenever I picked it up and started reading I was completely transported to this mythic, wonderful place populated with the most wonderful characters. I didn’t want to leave, at the same time I desperately wanted to know what happened next,

It’s not important for me to have to like a character to like a book, but in this case you find yourself rooting for and caring about so many of them. Each character is so three-dimensional and the dialogue so spot and and often funny. Quirky in the best way.

The story itself is marvelous, but it’s the wonderful prose that makes this book one of my favorites. I have dog-earred so many pages (if I threw it across the room I think it might fly) because I thought certain sentences or descriptions were so clever and evocative. I know a lot of people write well, but this was exceptional and I am definitely going to go out and read her earlier books.

Just an example of the writing - a description of the landlady of the Swan, followed by a passage that may give you a feel for the otherworldly essence of the book

“Margot was a handsome woman in her late fifties. She could lift barrels without help and had legs so sturdy, she never felt the need to sit down.”

“There are stories that may be told aloud, and stories that must be told in whispers and there are stories that are never told at all. The story of the marriage of Mrs. and Mrs. Armstrong was one of these latter ones, known only to the two parties to whom it belonged and the river. But as secret visitors to this world, as border crossers between one world and another, there is nothing to prevent us sitting by the river and opening our ears; then we will know it too.”

I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is so filled with heart and wonderful characters - even the river becomes one. Every once in a while, when I finish a book and turn the final page, I will clutch the book and experience a “reader’s high” for lack of a better phrase. It’s the most wonderful feeling and I got it with this book.

Recommended.