Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Title:  Once Upon a River

Author: Diane Setterfield

Publisher: 24th January 2019 by Random House UK, Transworld Publishers Doubleday

Pages: 380 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: magical realism, historical mystery, fantasy

My Rating: 5 crowns

Synopsis:

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, takes a breath and returns to life.

Is it a miracle?

Is it magic?

Or can it be explained by science?

Replete with folklore, suspense and romance, as well as with the urgent scientific curiosity of the Darwinian age, Once Upon a River is as richly atmospheric as Setterfield’s bestseller The Thirteenth Tale.

My Thoughts

“By the river, the air carries the story on a journey, one sentence drifts away and makes room for the next.”

I was excited to finally read a Diane Setterfield book - slow on the uptake I know. Was it worth the wait? Three words for you .... what.a.book! Just like the river it’s based upon, this book flows and meanders to regale an unforgettable story. Setterfield presents a village full of characters, in fact there are many, yet each memorable in their own special way. Each of the families and their story is significant is bound together in an inspiring way. The writing and the atmospheric scene portrayal will transport you to this unique place and time.

“He knew his camera could not capture this, that some things were only truly seen by a human eye. This was one of the images of his lifetime. He simply exposed his retina and let love burn her flickering, shimmering, absorbed face on to his soul.”

Once Upon a River is storytelling at its finest. On the one hand, it is a unique folklore tale of myth and magic  woven together to present a mystery of the river. Yet, if you delve a little deeper, it becomes clear that this tale is so much more - family secrets, as trials and tribulations, secrets and regrets all come to the surface because of the incident that occurs from the very first page.  Each family, and specific smembers within those families, have their story to tell, making this a very character driven tale both for the community as a whole and the journey of the individual. That is magical on a whole new level - Henry and Rita, Margot and Joe, Anthony and Helena, Robert and Bess - each have something unique and special to contribute and the way Setterfield links them all together is mind blowing.

“It had seemed then that her daughter’s absence had flooded Helena, flooded them both, and that with their words they were trying to bail themselves out. But the words were eggcups and what they were describing was an ocean of absence, too vast to be contained in such modest vessels.”

I cannot recommend this book enough. Allow Setterfield to take you away on a special journey to another time and place where puzzle pieces are shifted around the board until the climax comes that will leave you shaking your head in awe. Her writing and descriptions, her ability to weave and interweave, her ability to pull at your heartstrings with twists and revelations that cannot help but leave you both engaged and engrossed on a whole new level. It has been described as a fairytale for grown ups and with magical realism storytelling of this calibre, I wholeheartedly agree. It is a tale to be read slowly and savoured, allowing the atmospheric nature of the village and people seep into your bones, much like the river itself.

“Tears welled in her. She hadn’t thought it would be like this. She had expected heaving masses of water, violent currents and murderous waves, not this serenity without end.”

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This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release