Diane Setterfield: Once upon a river (2018)
464 pages
English language
Published Nov. 3, 2018
When the seemingly dead body of a child reanimates hours after arriving at an ancient inn on the Thames, three families try to claim her.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Juliet Stevenson. If you like a long tale with stories folded into stories, you will be alternately lulled and excited by this one. The writing is solid, the characters (many!) are well-differentiated, and overall it's very well crafted. The setting is early 20th sometime, but mostly it's rather timeless.
"There are stories that may be told aloud, and stories that must be told in whispers, and there are stories that are never told at all."
An inn, a mysterious girl, three separate family stories, and the Thames all combine to create a story that I'm really glad I finally read! The story revolves around the girl -- who is she? Where did she come from? How did she get here? And the answers lead the reader down some really twisty family stories that sometimes lead to more questions before they get to the answers.
I thought this was a really fine example of magical realism; the fantastic elements were blended really well with real life to the point where you're left wondering if--maybe--there's some truth to it all after all. The cast of characters is large, but not so large that you lose track of who's who, and the …
"There are stories that may be told aloud, and stories that must be told in whispers, and there are stories that are never told at all."
An inn, a mysterious girl, three separate family stories, and the Thames all combine to create a story that I'm really glad I finally read! The story revolves around the girl -- who is she? Where did she come from? How did she get here? And the answers lead the reader down some really twisty family stories that sometimes lead to more questions before they get to the answers.
I thought this was a really fine example of magical realism; the fantastic elements were blended really well with real life to the point where you're left wondering if--maybe--there's some truth to it all after all. The cast of characters is large, but not so large that you lose track of who's who, and the answers at the end were surprising to me.
One of my favorites from this year. Highly recommend.
