Part historical fiction, part magic, part mystery, this was a really great read. I loved the writing style: it was beautiful and unique and transported me completely into the book's world.

It did feel a bit slow for me at times, and I found some parts slightly confusing but I ended up really enjoying this regardless!

Once upon a time – we still see echoes of it today – people gave offerings to the water goddesses. And in this story we delve back into the myths surrounding these water goddesses and fairies and the birth caul, as well as the River Thames.
In the time when traffic on the river was heavy and barges came and went loaded up with goods that were easier to transport on water than road, we find ourselves stopping at ancient inns along the towpaths. And in the dark evenings, sitting around the fireplace, stories were told to keep the travellers entertained.
The Swan Inn was such an Inn situated in the watercress fields – fields nourished by the dead bodies of those that fell in a long ago battle. The Thames has been fought over for many centuries – from Alfred onwards. Later than the time of this story, a railway was built – called the WaterCress Line (!), just to bring this prized salad crop to London. Watercress is an aquatic plant species with the botanical name Nasturtium officinale.
In former times there was little choice of green vegetables in Winter and Watercress filled that gap with its ability to crop at least 4 times a Season. https://astonrowant.wordpress.com/ewelme-watercress-beds/
I really liked the way the story was told. The sentences and phrasing reminded me of nineteenths century novels. It is slow and detailed and the characters come to life and talk to you.
There is a narrator too who tells a different story – the story of rivers, the Thames and links into the various lore of the different traditions.

A beautifully written story with a Gothic atmosphere that keeps you hooked, a fairytale for modern readers that I enjoyed thoroughly and would recommend to anyone!

A book of many emotions is how I would describe this. It left me feeling perhaps a little unsettled at times and racing through to find out what happened next at others. The writing itself certainly has style; the author writes with charm and is extremely descriptive. I found myself reading the odd passage out to my husband, whether he wanted me to or not. I was utterly charmed at points.

I feel like it's a book I need to read again to fully appreciate it, but I would absolutely recommend it and do look first to reading more by this author.

Beautifully written atmospheric story. Cant believe its taken me so long to get around to reading this one. It's part historical fixtion, part mystery, part fairytale.and very magical. A great read. Thank you Netgalley for the digital copy in return for an honest.

A story of mystery and suspense set in Dickensian time by a river on a dark night. Kept me enthralled throughout - a good read

Whoops I missed this one it was a while ago but this is a great book. Very gothic and not recommended if you have a fear of water. It reads like a victorian novel which I really enjoyed and must be very fifficult to write

This is a book I have had for a while. I have tried to read it numerous time’s but keep putting it down and not wanting to pick it back up. I did finish it in the end but it clearly was not for me!

At the beginning I found myself mesmerised by the magic, however as time went on this fell flat for me and I found myself uninterested. There are so so many characters that I found myself so confused on who was who. There seemed to be very little development so I could not get my head around who was who and what had happened to them previously. This means that I couldn’t get into the book.

I did end up skim reading this book, just so I could get it done. But it did fall flat and it was such a shame!

Combining styles of folklore or myth, with more relatable tales, once upon a river has as its central concept the presumed reappearance of a missing child - but which child? Switching between focus on a range of characters we see different reactions to grief and reunion, some authentic and some less so. The reader is kept guessing as to what exactly is going on, whilst simultaneously becoming engaged in the lives and losses of these characters.

A magical realism tale with twists and turns plus beautiful, descriptive prose that gradually draws you in. Set by the Thames the story is one of mystery, emotionally charged and each element of the tale has depths like the dark, brooding river.
Don't want to give much away just read it and be enchanted by this engaging tale.

I fell in love with the writing of this author ever since reading, and subsequently re-reading The Thirteenth Tale and honestly didn't think she could surpass that story but she has! This was so well worth the wait.

I enjoyed the story so much (especially as its in my favourite genre, Historical Fiction) that I bought the book and then I listened to it on audiobook (which I HIGHLY recommend you do!).

The story carries you away to a far off time, gives you a little magic and a lot of questions to ask.

Please buy. You honestly won't regret it. Can't wait for her next book.

This was so different from The Thirteenth Tale, but I don't mean that as a negative at all. The aforementioned book is a favourite of mine and Once Upon a River didn't disappoint either.

Slow and steady in pace, it weaves a lot of characters through its narrative and demands your attention. It took time to build up the atmosphere and craft the folklore, story telling themes that are central. There'll be no spoilers from me, I encourage you to grab a cup of tea, settle in and let yourself get whisked into this wonderful, lyrically written book.

Oh my goodness, I loved it. Such a beautifully written tender tale that explores the depths of one's soul. Diane is my comfort author, the one I go to when I need a break. This book is so deserving of all its glorious reviews.

Ethereal is the word that sprang to mind while I was reading this beautifully written book. Once upon a river begins in 1887 at The Swan Inn at Radcot “where you went for storytelling.” A wonderfully meandering tale starting with the appearance of a man at the inn with a young girl, drowned in the nearby river. In the search for the parents of this child a complex and multilayered yarn develops. I loved it! Thank you to Diane Setterfield, Net Galley and Transworld Publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in the past, historical fiction fairy tale type story. My first book from this author - I didn’t know what to expect, quite slow going but very much worth the read. Magical traits woven in, superstition and heart-break.

I got a good way into this book and I absolutely adored it. Then I got to something that left a sour taste in my mouth and I stopped reading it. What I am referring to, is that one of the black characters is called a negro. Baring in mind that this was published in 2018, I was a bit taken aback. I'm not sure when the book is set, but even so, I just feel like these words that are highly offensive to some people, should not be used in work by modern writers. I find it incredibly hard to believe that writers, can't find another way of saying that a character is black and be able to show other characters' racism towards them, without using such sensitive language. People can think that I'm overreacting, but I don't think that you should be able to use any slurs in your work, if they don't affect you directly.

For example, I am a straight person and would never even dream of using slurs against LGBTQ people in a book, because it's not my place. I'm also struggling with the fact that authors who aren't poc, love to include racism in their books and I just don't understand why. You have the opportunity to create something and you choose to include racism, which doesn't even affect you, in your work. You are not writing to your personal experiences, so why do you need to include it. And if it's supposedly to educate other people (poc don't need educating about racsim), why not just have different poc existing happily in your world with the white characters. I mean, it's just an idea. It's getting to the point where poc and especially black characters, are only worthy of being included in a story, in order for others to be racist to them. And then at some point, characters decide that they're actually okay and racism is very bad. I'm sick of finally seeing a character of colour pop up in a book, only for them to be used as I just said.

Anyway, back to Once Upon A River. A year later, I saw that the audiobook was on offer and I thought, maybe I should get it. Maybe I overreacted before and should just finish it because, otherwise, I'd enjoyed it. Before making my decision though, I checked in my kindle edition, to see if negro had been used more than once. I knew that it would bother me to have to hear it again and again. It was in fact, used more than once and I also found this quote, 'Over time, as they got to know the new boss, they discovered that his blackness was only superficial and that underneath it all he was a man like any other, and even a bit better.' This quote made me so angry! So we've got to the part where everyone's realised that, oh, maybe racism is bad. And they suddenly decide that the poc character is okay after all. But the way that this revelation has been worded is so... The fact that they say that his blackness was 'only superficial' is so wrong. Our skin colour is not separate from us, it is part of who we are. And he's only 'okay', once they look past his skin colour, well newsflash, that means they are still racist! And to top it off, what a lot of authors love to do, is then make the poc into an angelic figure which is so bizarre. Like, of course now they think that 'he was a man like any other, and even a bit better'.

There are probably many people that will disagree with me, and you are entitled to your opinion. But this is how I, a black person, feel. And that will always be valid when discussing racism and if you don't want to hear what I have to say on the matter. Then stop including and consuming books that use racism as a theme in them, with such disregard for the people who actually experience it.

This is my first Diane Setterfield book and this novel has a great premise and it started off intriguing. I enjoyed trying to work out how the characters were linked and how all the threads were going to come together at the end. However, this intrigue and interest wavered at about 50%. I feel that Setterfield whose prose can be beautiful and lyrical and atmospheric was just trying to fit too much into this novel. It felt clunky and heavy-handed at times and I feel that had the story been simpler it would have been more of an engrossing read for me. As it is, I felt at a distance and a little too removed from the characters and the situations being explored.

This was such a pleasure to read. I loved the atmosphere the author created with rivers, rain and floods, old waterside inns, folk tales and unexplained mysteries. All just wonderful.

It is a book to read slowly and carefully because there are a lot of characters to keep track of and the author constantly drifts off into side stories, which are all equally interesting and deserve constant attention. The story winds as much as the river it describes. The central tale is the mystery of the drowned child who is recovered from the river and whether she is Ann, Amelia or Alice, but so much more goes on beside.

Diane Setterfield writes beautifully and she creates the perfect historical feel to the characters and their way of life. There is magic in it too which fits in well. I loved the idea of Quietly, the boatman who rescues people from the river and helps them home unless it is "their time" when he will see them over to the other side.

o good, this book literally rendered me speechless! Somehow this manages to be both completely fresh, and a folk story that feels like it's always existed!? I don't know how she's done it but I suspect witchcraft! The blend of historical fiction and magical realism was seamless and pitch perfect, and this one of the best books I read in 2019.

I struggled to get in to this one. Everything from the description, the cover and everything I'd heard about it screamed that it's one I'd love! Unfortunately just a little too slow for me.