REVIEW: Once Upon a River

Once Upon a River
Author: Diane Setterfield

One cold winter night, all of the regulars are gathered at The Swan, a tavern near the Thames, to tell stories, drink, gossip....the usual. But this night is going to be anything but the usual. An injured man stumbles through the door and collapses to the floor. In his arms he carries a dead child....a little girl of about four years old. The local healer woman is called to tend to the man. When she goes to have a look at the corpse of the little girl, she finds her definitely dead. But, then....either by magic or otherwise....the little girl comes back to life. The mystery of the little girl has a deep effect on many. How did she come back to life? Who is she? And, what happened to them that night?

This book reads like a magical fairy tale. I love Diane Setterfield's writing style! The tale is really many stories within the story, as villagers try to piece together who this little girl might be. There are lots of characters in this story, but unlike most character driven books, it doesn't bog the story down. Everything unfolds in its own time. Bit by bit all sorts of secrets are revealed.

I read this book a chapter at a time, letting the story build slowly over a few days. Setterfield is quite the story-teller! She also wrote The Thirteenth Tale and Bellman & Black. Reading Once Upon a River makes me want to re-read her other two novels! And I'm eagerly awaiting her next book as well!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Atria Books via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**