I'm two-thirds of the way through this masterful story and it was impossible to put down at the end of my lunch break today. Packed full of folklore, suspense and romance, Diane Setterfield's new book is a beautiful story. Set along the Thames, it follows the tale of a girl who is found drowned but hours later she takes a breath and returns to life. What follows is a tale of human nature and stunningly written characters. I can't wait to finish it but know I'll be sad when I do!

I absolutely ADORED Diane Setterfield's Once Upon A River, a magical and moving novel about family, folklore and the power of stories. Definitely an early contender for the books of the year list!

I've loved Diane's writing ever since picking up her first novel, The Thirteenth Tale, on a whim some years ago. It was a genre-crossing tale that took a family drama and imbued it with a healthy dose of the Gothic, a dash of mystery, and more than a little tragedy. The result was a spellbindingly gripping tale. Once Upon a River, her third (and latest) novel, has the spellbinding quality of The Thirteenth Tale but the book itself is a very different beast. Where her debut was darkly sinister, Once Upon a River, whilst touching on some dark and difficult subject matter, is filled to brimming with warmth and comfort.

Opening in The Swan at Radcot, an inn on the River Thames famed for its storytelling, the novel follows the aftermath of one winter's night when a injured man and an apparently drowned child arrive at the inn. When it becomes apparent that the little girl is not only alive but also not the child of the man who bought her to the inn, the question of who she belongs to becomes paramount. Mr and Mrs Vaughan, a wealthy couple whose young daughter was kidnapped some years before, believe the girl to be their beloved Amelia. Robin Armstrong, a young man with both tragedy and secrets in his past, claims she is his bonny Alice. And Lily White, the parson's housekeeper, is convinced that the child is her missing sister Ann. As Henry Daunt, the photographer who bought the child to the inn, and Rita Sunday, the nurse who tended to her, attempt to find who the child really belongs to, the stories of all involved start to twist and turn like the river itself, merging together like tributaries before being carried forwards in the rising tide.


This is a multi-layered novel brimming with characters but meticulous crafting of the tale meant that I never became confused as to who was who or which strand of the story I was following. The opening, although full of drama, is slow to develop as Setterfield takes time to introduce her cast and set her scene. The pay off is a a set of characters that, over the course of the story, become as familiar as friends (or, in the case of a couple of them, old and bitter enemies) and whose trials and tribulations left me racing to the end, desperate to know if the good got their rewards and if the bad faced the justice they deserved. 

Filled to brimming with folklore, this is novel that revels in the art of storytelling, weaving stories within stories and ensuring every strand of the tale has real emotional resonance. As well as providing a thickly characterised narrative, Setterfield's prose is filled with lush descriptions of the river. Victorian Oxford and the surrounding villages lived and breathed on the page and, in her evocative descriptions of the churning water, I could easily imagine myself sat on the deck of Collodion with Henry Daunt, or tying up a punt at the jetty belonging to Buscot Lodge. 

Richly atmospheric and with more than a hint of magic, Once Upon a River is the perfect tale to curl up with on a cold winter's night. As I said at the start of this review, the novel is filled with heart and warmth, and the extremely satisfying ending left me with all the warm fuzzies. A bewitching tale, dazzlingly told, this is a real treat of a book that is perfect for curling up with and devouring over a weekend - a real cure for those January blues!

A girl is found drowned in the river but she lives. Who does she belong to?

The town is full of story telling but who’s story is real and who’s is gossip?

A magical, modern fairytale in which the stories of four families converge on a single night, at the winter solstice, in which a girl is found drowned, presumed to be dead, except she is not. Cue three families all claiming her, to whom does she belong?

Once Upon a River is a story about stories. It has that fairytale narrative quality which breaks down the fourth wall, engaging with the reader and playing with your expectations. It directly references stories and storytelling, and is embedded in a tradition of oral tales. Set near Godstow, Oxford, it also pulls on a truly magical rural place in British geography, birthplace of Alice and her Wonderland, home to Pullman's Lyra. However, Setterfield doesn't need to draw on that underlying magic, as she creates a world of her own which is so easy to get lost in. She draws you into these tragic tales of family, relationships, love and loss almost seductively. The narrative is rich and colourful, with different and seemingly disparate woven together so seamlessly.

The whole tale is saturated in mystery, teetering between magic and myth, and reality. However, unlike other mysteries, where you frantically search for the clues to the reveal, Setterfield's enchanting prose allows you to drift, as though on the river so central to the myth of this novel.

The only qualm I have in this novel is that the resolution of a few of the character's storylines points prioritises biological relationships, and leans towards nature vs nurture. This isn't necessarily the moral to the novel, and may be completely coincidence, but it was a shame that it abandoned the less conventional family structures which the book had initially set up so well.

For thousands of years, people have been sharing and listening to stories. Storytelling provides a flow of knowledge through the generations, passing along traditions, history and legends. A key theme in Once Upon a River is the art of storytelling and Setterfield’s own narration will certainly draw you in.

The story begins at the Swan Inn in Radcot, a town where superstition and storytelling are at the very heart of the community. An injured stranger stumbles through the door of the inn, carrying the lifeless body of a small girl. When the girl comes back to life, so begin the questions – Was she really dead? Who is she? Who is the unconscious man who carried her into the inn? he story quickly settles into a pursuit for truth, gradually unraveling the mystery of the girl’s appearance and her identity. With the hunt for the child’s true identity, comes the resolution to a few long-standing mysteries that have plagued a few of the main characters.

The plotting of the tale is very well done and results in a rich, multilayered story. The Thames river plays a significant role in the book, and with a part-gothic, part-folklore feel, the tale twists, turns and meanders along, like a metaphorical river. I enjoyed the balance between science and folklore within the story, with mentions of Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution and Rita's description of childbirth, running alongside more mythical beliefs such as the dragons in a local village and the intriguing story of Quietly the Ferryman and his watery mission. The book does address a number of themes, such as racial abuse, poverty, disability, mental health, death and yet it remains hopeful and positive.

One of the real joys of this book is the writing. The wording is very clever, frequently including river-themed metaphors whilst flowing along in a lyrical fashion, almost echoing the ebb and flow of the river. As a reader, you get the impression that much thought has gone into every single sentence. The author definitely has a way with words.

The characters are a delight. I did find the sheer number of central characters a bit confusing at first, yet I was struck by how the author masterfully creates such richly drawn characters with such apparent ease. Despite the era in which the story was set, I enjoyed seeing how strong each of the female characters were, no matter their position in life.

The story is wordy and gentle, this is not a fast-paced seat-of-your-pants kind of book. However it grabbed my attention and the final chapters are well worth the journey for the patient readers among us. It is a book that reaches over genres and is quite difficult to categorise. If you enjoy a mystery, or a historical novel, or even a fairy tale this may be a book for you.

Once Upon a River is a beautifully written, haunting and immersive tale. It really was a treat to read.

Nothing that I say will truly express how much I loved this book.

The descriptions are sublime and this is a London that I wish to visit.

Once Upon a River is a Gothic novel of loss set on the River Thames, bordering between science and magic. Changelings, underwater goblins, mermaids and ghosts are credited with causing unexplained events, making this novel feel far enough removed from real life to be a comforting read.

Author Diane Setterfield describes grief at times with dazzling beauty, but originality is not her strong suit and the closing chapters feel gimmicky, the denouement wildly melodramatic. There are similar stories that follow this pattern, thus making it another slow burner.

What a joy this book was! It tells the story of the night a man staggered into an Inn on the river carrying the corpse of a young girl. It also tells of what happened when the girl woke up. What I loved about this book was the characters and the way in which Setterfield has woven together the lives of so many people into a cohesive and glorious whole. Each character has their own motivations and behaviours that all seem authentic and believable and there is a real Dickensian feel to the narrative, in terms of the number of threads to the story. The writing is beautiful without being too flowery or purple, which I really appreciated and the plot itself is compelling throughout. I found the ambiguity in terms of a supernatural element to the action absolutely pitch perfect and there is a fairy tale vibe that lends a sense of wonder to the whole story. Overall, I found this to be an incredibly immersive and wonderful book and would recommend it to anyone who loves a well told tale.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I loved this book with every fibre of my being!!!!

Glorious characterisation and rich storytelling at it’s best!!!

I really enjoyed this book. I loved all the characters and how they interacted with each other. I liked that the story was a bit mystical with old local tales in the story. I have been recommending this book to customers as my colleagues also enjoyed it.

This book was a joy to read. The language was beautiful and lyrical. Based upon activities around and along a river, it seemed to me the words used were especially chosen to gently meander and flow through my head in the same way a river meanders through the country. I was totally entranced and absorbed with every single character. The story was a thing of great beauty and I was excited every time I got to sit down and pick up my kindle. I only wish I could go for a drink and a story at The Swan myself. Of course, from the pen of Diane Setterfield it's not a surprise that Once Upon a River is a wonderful creation; she is brilliant. There were even times I was sure I could feel the story singing to me. Wonderful and highly recommended.

This is not my usual kind of read but I really enjoyed it. The characters were really interesting and I liked the mystery aspect of who the girl might be as well as the general story and historical aspects and tales within the book too.

I loved this nineteenth-century story which has many twists and turns, just like the river that it is set upon. The author has produced writing at it’s finest, with this mystical, mythical story which is laced with folklore and magic.

Once Upon A River begins at an inn called The Swan, situated next to the river Thames. Locals gather there to while away the winters nights, drinking ale and telling stories. On the night of the winter solstice, a badly injured man appears holding what is first thought to be a small lifeless child. To the astonishment of all witnesses, the child who appeared to have drowned suddenly awakes whilst the nurse is tending to her. As news of the strange occurrence spreads throughout the village, more than one family come forward to claim the child as their own.

I found myself completely lost in this book. There are many characters but they are all multi-layered and really come to life on the page. I loved the mystical theories concerning ‘Quietly’ a ghostly ferryman who was believed to help villagers in peril on the river, by getting them safely home.

The many river references combine beautifully with the whimsical poignancy of this remarkable book. It was interesting to read about the many comparisons between a river and a story, both winding and flowing with many tributaries playing an integral part. The mystery element keeps you guessing and although it is not a fast-paced book it is really captivating and leads to a satisfying conclusion.

While this is slow and meandering, like the river which weaves its way through the story, it's also beautiful and compelling, slowly drawing you in and then not letting you go until you're done.

A man and a dead child burst into a pub one night. Miraculously, the girl comes back to life, but a question mark hangs over her head concerning her identity which gives rise to the mystery which slowly unfurls over the course of the novel.

It's hard to put my finger on what exactly makes this book so wonderful. Other similarly written tales I've struggled to complete, but I loved this one. To call it spellbinding would be a cliche, but it also happens to be true.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

I have read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and enjoyed it immensely. I didn't think she could write anything better but with Once Upon a River she has.
A creepy gothic chiller peopled with characters straight from a work of Dickens the story is a supernatural tale of missing children, stories told by locals and the ever present river.
On a dark December night a man carrying a seemingly dead girl arrives at the Swan Inn on the banks of the river Thames. The man, a photographer, is soon identified but the girl remains a mystery. Thought to be dead she is left in a room at the inn. When a local woman who is a nurse goes to see the body she discovers a pulse. Taking the girl into the inn causes the local storytellers to declare that she's come back from the dead . But who is she? She is unable or unwilling to talk and three families lay claim to her saying that she is their daughter/granddaughter/sister.
This is a page turner of a book with a fantastic plot and a great ending mixing fact with fantasy and medical facts. I loved it.

A dreamlike and complex tale of love, loss and yearning. This is a slow growing plot and went too slow for me as a reader, though I am sure it will appeal to those who enjoy literature with a more leisurely pace.

A beautiful, atmospheric read with a death defying mystery at it’s heart, Once Upon a River highlights the importance of stories and their ability to draw people together.

This is one of the most wonderfully written stories I’ve ever read. Setterfield has this ability to surround the reader with a magical setting and force them to really examine her characters and surroundings. At times I almost felt as though I was sat in a pub by the Thames on a cold and dark winter night, listening to stories while supping a pint. Her descriptions and settings are powerful, and perfect for the tales that are told by the fireplace. Her characters are also well defined and fully formed, both leaping from the page yet also subtlety drawing the reader into this world. It’s a rare craft, and it’s incredibly well done here.

The story itself is slow and meandering, much like the river where the story takes place. The tale at it’s heart, surrounding a missing girl brought back to life, creeps up on the reader at a snail’s pace, as more and more characters are added to the mystery and their back stories are unravelled. It’s not a book I could read in one day, feeling that it needed my undivided attention to really understand and appreciate it for what it was. There’s little action here, the story is built up around the characters and their surroundings, and this slow pace may bother some people. If you can get through the initial set up however, the reward is outstanding.

Magical writing at it’s best. Stick it out for a brilliant pay off in atmospheric story telling.

So, so excellent. Every single character and animal were so well imagined and gripped me from their first introduction. I want to live in this brilliant world.

A meandering, sometimes melancholy, always charming read that ends on a triumphant note as perhaps all fairy tales should. Setterfield enjoys telling stories about telling stories, and - like The Thirteenth Tale - here convinces that the telling of her tale is more important than the truth of it. That said, while there’s much to enjoy about these riverside character vignettes and minor mysteries I found very little happened for rather a lot of telling; it’s cosy but slow, if quietly satisfying. Luckily it’s also peopled with characters it’s easy to spend time with (Mr Armstrong was a particular favourite). One for whiling away wet evenings (or alternating, as I did, with something more rambunctious).

Do you remember the first time you heard those words: “Once upon a time…” ?

They were magical words.

Words that transported you into new worlds of good fairies and naughty imps; of brave warriors, damsels in distress and knights in shining armour.

As you grew older, fairies and goblin stories lost their appeal. In their place came family stories heard around the dinner table or the camp fire. Stories perhaps of war and adventure, or mysterious events and comic mishaps.

The characters changed and the stories changed. But what never altered was your love of a good yarn.

The characters in Diane Setterfield’s magnificently atmospheric and mysterious novel, Once Upon a River, are lovers of stories too. When the gravel-diggers and bargemen gather around the fire of an ancient inn at Radcot on the Thames, they love to share stories.


Stories keep them entertained on dark and dreary nights. It matters not that they’ve heard them all before: they’ve found new ways to enliven the tales, with ever more outlandish new versions.

None of them, however, came up with a tale as outlandish as the one that began one one winter solstice night.

The regulars at The Swan are indulging in another telling of their favourite story about the battle of Radcot, when the door to the inn bursts open. In staggers a man, soaked through and with his head bashed in. In his arms is what looks like “a large puppet, with waxen face and limbs and sickly painted hair.”

Except it’s not a puppet. It’s a young girl. And everyone in the pub agrees she is dead. Imagine their astonishment when hours later the girl revives.

For weeks afterwards the regulars of the Swan can talk about nothing other than this miracle.

Who is the mysterious girl? The girl herself doesn’t provide any answers since she doesn’t speak. Nor can the injured man help solve the puzzle. He can say only that he found her in floating in the river.

Theories are proposed. Gnawed over. Found wanting.

In the absence of any natural explanation, the villagers begin to wonder if other forces are responsible. Could this be the work of Quietly, a ghostly ferryman who features in many of their fireside stories? When someone gets into trouble on the river, Quietly appears

"… manipulating his pole so masterfully that his punt seemed to glide as if powered by an otherworldly force. He never spoke a word, but guided you safely to the bank so you would live another day."

He’s there to get you safely home. But to whose home does this mysterious child actually belong?

Three people claim she is theirs.

A local couple whose marriage faded when their daughter was kidnapped.

A prosperous mixed race farmer who believes she’s the illegitimate
off- spring of his ne’er do well son.

A simple housekeeper who believes her long dead young sister has returned.

Diane Setterfield takes her time to unravel the answer to this mystery. Just like the river her story “does not seem particularly intent on reaching its destination. Instead “it winds its way in time-wasting loops and diversions.”

That doesn’t mean Once Upon a River is a laborious read however. It’s simply that a leisurely pace works best for a tale that, for all its Gothic elements of mystery and menace, is ultimately about grief.

Sorrow that never fades is experienced acutely by all three families who believe the child is theirs. But is encapsulated best by the father of the kidnapped girl

"He saw her not here, in this room and not now in this hour, but in the infinity of memory. She was lost to life, but in his memory she existed, was present, and he looked at her and her eyes met his and she smiled."

Setterfield situates every aspect of the narrative in relation to The Thames.

It’s too simplistic to say that the river is as much of a character as the regulars at The Swan or the families who vie for the child. But The Thames is certainly a powerful presence, reigning god-like over the villagers of Radcot.

The river finds its way into their wells and is “drawn up to launder petticoats and to be boiled for tea” and ‘from teapot and soup dish, it passes into mouths’. The Thames provides them with transport and an occupation. It nourishes the crops needed to sustain their lives. But it also takes life away.

Once Upon A River is a beautifully crafted novel showing the thin border between the real and the unreal worlds. And how sometimes rational explanations do exist for strange and mysterious events.

For me the greatest pleasure lay in how Diane Setterfield uses the novel to celebrate the traditions of storytelling but also remind us that it’s an artifice.

Faced with a dearth of fact about a boy who died at the Radcot battle, the storytellers turn to invention.

"At each retelling the drinkers raised the unknown boy from the dead in order to inflict upon him a new death. He had died countless times over the years, in ways ever more outlandish and entertaining. When a story is yours to tell you are allowed to take liberties with it…."

Some, like the landlord of The Swan, realise that storytelling is as much about the performance as it is about the narrative.

"With a bit of practice he found he could turn his hand to any kind of tale; whether it be gossip, historic, traditional, folk or fairy. His mobile face could convey surprise, trepidation relief, doubt and any other feeling as well as any actor."

But as we see through the character of the landlord’s son, not everyone can be a storyteller.

"He opened his mouth and waited, agog, to hear what emerged from it. Nothing did. His face screwed squirmed with laughter and his shoulders squirmed in hilarity at himself."

This is a novel that shows what great storytelling is all about. And why we never tire of hearing a good tale.