If you have not yet read Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield and looking for a book to read over the Christmas holidays, then this is one book I happily recommend. A story of the Thames as a river and the people who live and work the river and the stories it gives up. The idea of locals gathering to tell stories over a pint on a dark evening and you can almost see yourself sitting there listening. It has just about everything the characters really stand out here and Diane Setterfield is a master of storytelling and you become totally absorbed in the detail and storytelling. I have left my review of One Upon a River to very late in the year as this is pretty much close to being my book of 2019. Now the mystery of the girl really begins who is she and just who is her rightful parents? Hearing the news more than one family come forward to claim her as their own. Soon the story of the dead girl coming back to life spreads across the local area. The girl now back from the dead never speaks. But who is the girl and where does she come from.

The girl who was clearly dead wakes and soon after the man regains consciousness and tells how he found the body of the girl floating in the Thames. Present in the inn is a midwife who examines the body of the deceased girl and at this point something miraculous happens. The man passes out and it becomes clear the girl he was carrying in his arms is deceased. Here the locals partake in the favourite drinks but that is not all as tales are told here but it is on one of those evenings that the tales abruptly ceased when the door burst open and a man stubbles in and he carrying a young girl.

The story is based along the river at Radcot, Oxfordshire and there stands The Swan an old in. Once a Upon River (Black Swan) by Diane Setterfield is tale based of folklore and suspense. From the author of The Thirteenth Tale comes a story based straight from the River Thames. My Review:įinally got to write a review for one of my favourite books of 2019. Hours later, the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life.Īn exquisitely crafted multi-layered mystery brimming 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.

In his arms is the drowned corpse of a child. On 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 and in steps an injured stranger. Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield Summary: