Once Upon A River Review

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.

I’ve just finished Once Upon a River and I was enchanted. I didn’t know what to expect from this story or where it would go, so I went into it expecting nothing and ready for anything. Despite that, this book ended up being exactly what I thought it would be in an indescribable sort of sense. Something I can’t quite put my finger on, but an overall feeling it conveys. This was a story of people, stories, and a little bit of the inexplicable and the unknown. 

Firstly, if you’re looking for a story with a fast moving plot, this is not that story. This book meanders. It takes its time, building up slowly and never really reaching a point of white-knuckle-book-gripping excitement, but the story is worth the time. And I like meandering. The plot was one of intricacies and histories—stories of regular people all woven together, but how? Everyone in the local area of The Swan at Radcot knows the story of the girl that came from the river dead and lived again, but how is that story—and the girl—affecting everyone? That’s where this story takes us, along the Thames, reaching into many lives and showing us the connecting threads. There were questions around every corner and a sense of mystery that continued to unfold throughout the whole story. It’s definitely a slow, character driven book but I absolutely loved learning about them and how they were touched by the events that night at The Swan and how their lives changed because of it. There are family secrets, complicated relationships, forgotten events and misunderstandings all along the river. I can’t explain more of the plot without giving too much away, but I enjoyed it thoroughly and was wrapped up in the story from the very beginning. I loved the end. Though there were no points of wild excitement, there were several surprises that I didn’t see coming.

The real standout of the experience of reading this book was the writing. This is the first book by Setterfield that I’ve read and I’m completely enamored with her style. I felt wrapped up by the story, fully immersed and living inside her words. This is storytelling that feels like storytelling. It’s atmospheric and descriptive. It reaches out and pulls you in. I loved when she addressed the reader and made me feel like I was being told a tale, I loved when she introduced characters and told us something is going to happen. It built slowly and perfectly, creating a growing sense of anticipation that kept me flipping the page. I loved that the Thames was something of a character itself—always present, alive and watchful, as active a force in these peoples’ lives as any other person. I also loved that the river was a sort of literary device at the same time, woven into descriptions that used evocative words related to water. It reminded readers of the river, which so strongly affected the characters’ lives, when we weren’t actually focusing on it. I’m sure I didn’t catch every example of this, but I appreciated it when I did. I also loved the focus on storytelling itself within this story. Reading about how tales were told at The Swan made me want to be there.

There was a large cast of characters in this book. Near the beginning I had a few moments of confusion remembering who was who and how they connected but that faded quickly. I enjoyed how characters were introduced as we followed the story of the girl at The Swan spreading around town. All of these characters were very well written and believable. They were real and easy to care about. Their stories, as they connected to the Thames and the little girl, were easy to get wrapped up in. I felt like I knew them.

I have no complaints about this book. It’s the perfect rainy day read—slow and mysterious, perhaps a little bit magical. It’s one you can really settle into and spend time in. While slower, it’s not boring. I was intrigued by the many mysteries that arose and didn’t want to leave the story. I highly recommend this to people who enjoy historical fiction and folklore. I think you could enjoy it as much as I did.

5/5

Thanks for reading,

Madison